How to Use Application Categories in Category Management - AnySecura Manual

This guide will help you organize the applications discovered across your network using the Application Categories feature within AnySecura's Category Management module. You'll learn how to create logical groups, move applications into them, and understand the system's default categories.

We'll then explore how to automate this process using AnySecura's Application Identification Rules. By setting up these smart rules, you can ensure future applications are categorized correctly as soon as they appear, saving you time and maintaining a well-organized application library for effective policy management.

To facilitate queries, reporting, and policy configuration, administrators can predefine categories in the system. Category management includes: application categories, website categories, removable storage categories, software installation package categories, software uninstall categories, time type categories, network address categories, network port categories, email categories, watermark template categories, and sensitive information category libraries.

Select Category Management → Applications to open the application category window. By default, the system defines two categories: Windows Application and Unclassified.

Windows Application refers to programs related to the operating system. To prevent critical issues, these system programs are separated into this category. Administrators may also move other programs into this category as needed.

All applications are collected from client machines. If an application does not match any existing category, it is classified as Unclassified. Administrators can create new categories and move relevant programs from Unclassified into the new category, but applications cannot be manually added.

Applications can also be categorized using Application Identification Rules. These rules act like tags: any application that matches a rule is automatically assigned to the category associated with that rule.

Administrators organize applications with similar types into a single category. Available operations for managing categories include:

Operation	Description
New Category	In the root directory of application categories, select Action → New Category or right-click New to add a new category and enter its name. Subcategories can also be added: select an existing category, right-click Add, and a subcategory will be created under it.
Move Applications	After creating a category, relevant applications need to be moved into it. Locate the applications, right-click Set Application Category or choose Action → Move To to transfer them to the target category, or drag them with the mouse to the desired category. A Set Identification Rule window will appear, allowing you to specify the target category and the type of identification rule. Multiple applications can be selected simultaneously by holding Ctrl or Shift.
Search	Click the "" on the toolbar or select "Action -> Search" to open the search window, which allows you to locate specific applications, their categories, or application recognition rules. The application library search has two modes: Search by Recognition Rule and Search by Application Record: 1. If the "Application Identification Rules" column is displayed in the application library, the search box is in Recognition Rule Search mode. Enter your criteria and click search to find the corresponding recognition rules. 2. If the "Application Identification Rules" column is not displayed, the search box is in Application Record Search mode. Enter your criteria and click search to find the corresponding application records. The search function can also speed up classification. For example, to move all Google programs to the Google category, enter “Google” in the search; all matching programs will appear and can be dragged to the Google category, greatly simplifying the classification process.
Export Applications	Select an application or an application category, then choose "Action -> Export" or right-click and select "Export" to export the selected applications.
Display Identification Rules	Click the Display Identification Rules icon"" on the toolbar to toggle the display of the application identification rules panel. When enabled, the application classification view splits into two sections: identification rules appear in the upper pane, and applications appear in the lower pane.
Create a New Identification Rule:	Click the New Identification Rule icon "" on the toolbar, select Action → New Identification Rule, or create it directly from an application record. The Set Identification Rule window opens, allowing you to define a new rule based on Name, File Name, Company Name, Icon, or Application Category. Once the rule is selected, the applications that match it will appear in the application panel.
Import Identification Rule Library	Select Action → Import Identification Rule Library to import a identification rule library file. The file must be in .csv format.
Export Identification Rule Library	Select Action → Export Identification Rule Library to export the identification rules from the application library to a local file in .csv format.
Delete Identification Rule	Select a rule and choose Right-click → Delete to remove the identification rule. The associated application records will not be deleted; they will attempt to match other identification rules. If no match is found, they will automatically revert to the Unclassified category.

Creating Identification Rules

The currently supported identification rules are as follows:

There are two ways to create identification rules: manual creation and creation via application records.

Steps for manual creation:

• Click the Display Identification Rules icon "" on the toolbar to display the application identification rules pane.
• Select an application category group, then click the New Identification Rule icon "" on the toolbar or choose Action → New Identification Rule to open the identification rule settings window.
• In the settings window, enter the Name and File Name, optionally select Company Name, choose the target category, add any remarks, and click OK.
• The newly created rule will appear under the selected application category group. Selecting this rule will display all applications that match it in the application pane.

Steps to Create an Identification Rule via an Application Record:

• In the Applications panel, select an application record, then either right-click → Set Program Category or drag the record to a group in the left-hand category tree. The Set Identification Rule window will appear.
• In the window, click the icon button to select the target application group. If using drag-and-drop, the group defaults to the one where the record was dropped.
• Choose the type of identification rule to create: File Name, File Name + Company Name, Feature of This Type of Application, or Feature of This Application.
• Click OK. The new identification rule will appear under the selected group. Selecting this rule will show all applications in the panel that match it.