# Data mapping annotations

Data mapping annotations categorize user and system data, permitting Fides to access or delete user data for a DSR.

## Fideslang data categories [Permalink for this section](/content/docs/data-mapping/guides/data-mapping-annotations#fideslang-data-categories/index.html)

To handle privacy requests, Fides needs to know how to find and process categories of personal data. By relating data fields to FidesLang **data categories**, Fides can identify where personal data sits in your data architecture.

For example, if a data subject submits a request to have their personal data removed, Fides has to know where to find categories of personal data like *user contact info*, *demographic info*, or *purchase history*.

Moreover, if a table contains fields with *user contact data*, annotating it with the label `user.contact` from the [FidesLang Taxonomy (opens in a new tab)](https://ethyca.github.io/fideslang/taxonomy/data_categories/) instructs Fides to treat this information as contact information.

## Annotating through the UI [Permalink for this section](/content/docs/data-mapping/guides/data-mapping-annotations#annotating-through-the-ui/index.html)

Within the Manage Datasets page, navigate to a dataset field, and click the plus button next to the field you want to annotate.

## Annotating through the CLI [Permalink for this section](/content/docs/data-mapping/guides/data-mapping-annotations#annotating-through-the-cli/index.html)

The `fides annotate` command provides an interactive command line prompt to annotate a dataset.

```
$ fides annotate dataset .fides/<your_dataset>.yaml
> Loaded config from: /fides/.fides/fides.toml
####
Annotating Dataset: [sample_dataset]
####
Annotating Table: [user]

Field [user.id] has no data categories

Enter comma separated data categories for [id] [s: skip, q: quit]:
```

The on-screen prompts will walk you through the annotation process, allowing for you to save state if you do not complete the annotations in a single session so that you can return and complete later.

```
...
Enter comma separated data categories for [id] [s: skip, q: quit]: system.operations
Setting data categories for user.id to:
            ['system.operations']

Annotation process complete.
```

Additional information for the `fides annotate` command can be found in the [CLI guide](/content/docs/cli-reference/manage/cmd-annotate/index.html).

## Annotating with YAML [Permalink for this section](/content/docs/data-mapping/guides/data-mapping-annotations#annotating-with-yaml/index.html)

You can specify the data category for each field of a collection in a Fides dataset by adding a `data_categories` key to the field.

The following example describes a table called `customer` within a database called `postgres_example_dataset`. This table has the fields `id`, `email`, `name` which have been appropriately labeled for privacy request processing.

```yaml
collections:
  - name: customer
    fields:
    - name: email
      data_categories:          # Add data categories section
      - user.contact.email      # Specify the data category (in this case email)
    - name: id
      data_categories:
      - user.unique_id
      fides_meta:
        primary_key: True
    - name: name
      data_categories:
      - user.name
      fides_meta:
        data_type: string
        length: 40
```

[Data Map Reporting](/content/docs/data-mapping/guides/reports "Data Map Reporting"/index.html) [LLM Classification](/content/docs/data-mapping/guides/llm-classification "LLM Classification"/index.html)