Meaning of として in this sentence

Question

I don't get why として is used instead of を in this sentence, as it doesn't seem to fit with the "as" sense that I know.

品詞と無関係にコソアドとして一括して扱うのが一般的です。

What I understand is this:

Treating コソアド as a group, regardless of their part of speech, is common.

Thinking while writing: I was assuming that として was related to 扱う. But if instead it is related to 一括して then Yとして一括して would mean by grouping them as Y.

Which would mean that something like それを would be omitted in the sentence

「コソアとドを」コソアドとして一括して扱うのが一般的です。
It is common to treat (コソア and ド) by grouping them together as コソアド.

Am I correct?

Answer 1

Assuming that the phrase was taken from this page, the use of 「として」 is 100% correct and natural.

You cannot use 「を」 in place of 「として」 because the direct object of that sentence is NOT 「コソアド」. It is 「[指示詞]{しじし}と[疑問詞]{ぎもんし}」 or more formally and appropriately in this context,　「指示詞[及]{およ}び疑問詞」, which was omitted.

Thus, it is talking about "treating 指示詞及び疑問詞 (demonstratives and interrogatives) by lumping them together as コソアド independently of parts of speech."

You were correct in sensing that a word was being omitted.