Customizing Your Category List

Before you assign categories to Outlook 2007 items, you should go through the category list and add the categories you need or tailor the existing categories to suit your needs. To determine which categories to add, spend some time thinking about how you intend to use them, including which colors you want to apply to specific categories. Although you can always add and modify categories later, creating the majority up front not only saves time but also helps you organize your thoughts and plan the use of categories more effectively.

Follow these steps when you’re ready to create categories:

  1. Open the Color Categories dialog box, shown in Figure 5-3, by selecting any item in Outlook 2007 and choosing Edit, Categorize, All Categories or by right-clicking an item and choosing Categorize, All Categories on the shortcut menu.

    You can add a new category in the Color Categories dialog box.

    Figure 5-3. You can add a new category in the Color Categories dialog box.

  2. Click New to open the Add New Category dialog box.

  3. Type the new category name in the Name field, select a color in the Color drop-down list, optionally specify a shortcut key, and then click OK.

    Note

    Select None in the Color drop-down list if you want a text-only category.

  4. Repeat steps 2 and 3 to add other categories as desired, and then click OK to close the Color Categories dialog box.

Note

When you create a new category, Outlook 2007 automatically adds the category to the selected item. You must deselect the category if you don’t want it assigned to the selected item. For information about creating new categories while you are assigning categories to an item, see the next section, "Assigning Categories to Outlook Items."

The categories you add to your category list depend entirely on the types of tasks you perform with Outlook 2007, your type of business or organization, and your preferences. The following list suggests ways to categorize business-related data:

  • Track items by project type or project name.

  • Organize contacts by their type (for example, managers, assistants, technical experts, and financial advisors).

  • Keep track of departmental assignments.

  • Track different types of documents (for example, drafts, works in progress, and final versions).

  • Track contacts by sales potential (for example, 30-day or 60-day).

Organize items by priority. The following list offers suggestions for categorizing personal data:

  • Use color to identify critical or urgent issues.

  • Organize personal contacts by type (friends, family, insurance agents, legal advisors, and medical contacts, for starters).

  • Track items by area of interest.

  • Organize items for hobbies.

  • Track items related to vacation or other activities.

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