# Trying to Segment my Lists by Various Categories that do no exist in Mautic

**URL:** <https://forum.mautic.org/t/trying-to-segment-my-lists-by-various-categories-that-do-no-exist-in-mautic/20700>\
**Category:** Product Support\
**Created:** [September 2, 2021, 6:15pm UTC](https://forum.mautic.org/t/trying-to-segment-my-lists-by-various-categories-that-do-no-exist-in-mautic/20700 "2021-09-02T18:15:37Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![drold](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/forum.mautic.org/drold/32/2400_2.png) [@drold](https://forum.mautic.org/u/drold)\
**Post date:** [September 2, 2021, 6:15pm UTC](https://forum.mautic.org/t/trying-to-segment-my-lists-by-various-categories-that-do-no-exist-in-mautic/20700/1 "2021-09-02T18:15:37Z")

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**Your software**  
My Mautic version is: bran new  
My PHP version is: bran new  
My Database type and version is: MariaDB

**Your problem**  
My questions is: I would like to segment my lists by categories that do not exist in Mautic.

I guess we can’t create a new category.

How do I attach characteristics to contacts that would allow me to segment?

Why isn’t this simple?

Do not lists include potentially complex categories that can be used to segment?

This is like a car with no tires. You kinda need tires. I kinda NEED to segment my list by various categories.

I mean. This is basic NO?

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**Author:** ![drold](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/forum.mautic.org/drold/32/2400_2.png) [@drold](https://forum.mautic.org/u/drold)\
**Post date:** [September 2, 2021, 6:16pm UTC](https://forum.mautic.org/t/trying-to-segment-my-lists-by-various-categories-that-do-no-exist-in-mautic/20700/2 "2021-09-02T18:16:43Z")

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mailchimp does this easily btw

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**Author:** ![joeyk](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/forum.mautic.org/joeyk/32/11164_2.png) [@joeyk](https://forum.mautic.org/u/joeyk)\
**Post date:** [September 2, 2021, 8:14pm UTC](https://forum.mautic.org/t/trying-to-segment-my-lists-by-various-categories-that-do-no-exist-in-mautic/20700/3 "2021-09-02T20:14:53Z")

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Yes. Mailchimp does it easy.  
Mautic does it perfect:

1. There are no lists. Just dynamic segments. It means, you set a filter, and you list will be created (and updated all the time according to the filter settings)

2. Segments can be set based on any custom field you set OR based on collected data (visits, events, actions…)

3. You can add your own custom fields to contacts (probably you haven’t found it). Settings - Custom fields. You have complete control of your custom field strategy: decide if you want to use checkbox, multiselect, lookup, etc…

Not sure what do you use categories for, but you can solve everything with custom fields, tags and segments in Mautic.

Let me know if this is any help.