Categories in Outlook
Categories are used in Outlook so users can easily find, sort,or filter items by a specific keyword or phrase. After a category is created, it can be assigned to any item in Outlook, such as a mail message, contact, calendar appointment, etc. One example of how Categories can assist users is creating and assigning a category to all items related to your annual review. When it is time to pull things together for that review, you can filter those items based on the keyword or Category you assigned to the item. The Computing Tip this week covers how to create, assign, and, filter items in a specific category. Remember, if you have ideas for the Computing Tip of the Week,please send them to Pat Fellows.
Creating Categories
Outlook provides a default list of categories in the "Master Category List". Users can utilize the default categories, or add their own custom categories. In preparation for working with categories, look at the "Master Category List" create a list of custom categories. Remember this can assist in tracking work done on projects, professional development, to track vacation time and sick leave, etc.
To view the "Master Category List", in the Inbox, click on Edit>Categories. The Categories dialog box appears. Then click on the Master Category List button.
The Master Category List dialog box opens.
Review the category options and then enter any new categories. Click on the Add button after each entry. This will add the new categories to both the Master Category List and the Categories list that appears when clicking on Edit>Categories.
Categories can also be created on the fly. When creating a calendar item click on the Categories button, and follow the steps above to create the new category. Then follow the directions outlined below to assign that item to the newly created category.
Assigning Items to Categories
In most Outlook items there will be a Categories button. The two exceptions are Email messages and Notes. In mail messages, click on Options and then on Categories to assign a category. In a Note, left-click on the icon in the upper left corner of the new note and click on Categories.
Once the Categories dialog box appear, put a check next to the Category or Categories that should be assigned to the item.
In this example, I assigned an appointment to these two categories, Hybrid and Prof. Dev.
I went ahead and assigned "Prof. Dev." to several items and will use those items in the next section on how to filter your Outlook folders to show those items in that specific category.
Existing items can also be assigned to categories. Open the item, click on the Categories button and assign the category. Be sure to Save the item after making that change.
Filtering by Categories
Depending on the type of items users are looking for that have been assigned to a specific category there are a couple options for finding those items.
The first is for items that are in one folder. That is, for example, all calendar items. In this case begin in the Calendar folder and click on View>Arrange By>Current View>By Category. This will sort all items in the Calendar Folder into any categories that have been assigned. Then look for the category in question. See below.
In some cases when sorting by category, the user will need to click on the Categories button shown below on the gray bar. The Red arrow is pointing to that button.
What if the items are not all in on Outlook Folder? In this case, use the Find button
located on the Standard Toolbar in the Inbox. Click on Find. This will open the Find toolbar. Click on the arrow next to Options on the toolbar and select Advanced Find.
The Advanced Find dialog box appears. Click on the arrow next to the "Look for ..." and select "Any type of Outlook item". Then click on the More Choices tab. Click on the Categories button and select the category to be used as the filter. Click on the Find Now button. This will begin the search for items assigned to the selected category.
Here is what the results look like once the search is complete.
While categories may appear to be a bit clumsy, once the groundwork is laid, it is easy to assign categories and search for items assigned to those categories.