using categories

[gba1]

having read the help materials for imatch 2017, I've concluded that I'm not using categories correctly.  I'm mostly interested in categories for organizing family, and extended family, photographs.  Apparently, the  main category should not actually have any images assigned to it; they should all be assigned to the child categories.   But how do you know what level categories should not have photos assigned to them?  In a sense, all child categories, because they can have sub categories (additional child categories), are a form of "category."

My error here explains why, with some categories when I use the "recent category" feature, adds an upstream category selection that I didn't actually make--presumably, that's because that's a parent category to a child category I did select (but that doesn't always happen.....).

Mostly, I think what would be helpful, and perhaps should be included in the help manual, is a fairly detailed example of someone who has put together a family relationship tree that works well with imatch.  I recongize that many on this board are professional photographers who don't have these kind of concerns.  Thanks for your help.

[Mario]

Usually you assign files to the leaf (bottom) level of your category hierarchy.
Parent categories automatically (virtually) contain all files assigned to their child categories, recursively.

I think there is an example with a Family hierarchy in the categories help:

Quote:

Family
  Ellis
     Brad
     Peter
     Vivian
  Miller
     Frank
     Gerty
     Mike
     Susan


If you assign files to Brad and Vivian, they will show up in Ellis and also in Family. This automatic relationship is one of the key features of hierarchical structures like IMatch categories or keywords. You only care for the bottom level, and let the system do the rest.

Tip: If you have accidentally assigned files to levels like Brad and also to Family, you can just select the Family category, select all files in it with Ctrl+A and then press <U> to un-assign them. This will remove all files from "Family" but keeps the files in "Brad".

The category count for Family will then be 0. But the files assigned to Brad (and Vivian, ...) will still show in Family.

Let us know if you need more details.