Create your categories first. By creating your category list up front before you start assigning categories, you force yourself to take the time to think about what categories you need and how you will use them. What makes sense for someone else might not fit your needs, and vice versa. This doesn’t mean that you can’t add categories after the fact or change the way you use categories, but some planning up front will help ensure that you get the most out of categorization.

Use categories in combination with folders to organize messages. Categories offer an excellent means for you to organize your Outlook 2007 data. Some people use folders to organize their messages; others use categories exclusively to manage their messages, keeping everything in the Inbox but assigning categories so that they can quickly identify messages. The best approach falls between, with a combination of folders and categories. Use categories to classify messages, but also use folders to organize those messages. For example, you might create a folder named Toy Show to store all messages relating to the upcoming toy show and then use categories to further classify messages in that folder.

Use search folders in combination with categories. After you have categorized your messages, you can use search folders to quickly locate all messages with specified categories. Search folders give you the benefit of potentially searching all of your message folders for specific items, enabling you to quickly locate all items with a specific category, regardless of where they are stored. Take some time to consider which search folders will best suit your needs, and then create them.

Rely on colors to help you visually identify items. Although you can create categories with no color, color will help you tell at a glance that a given message, appointment, or other item fits a specific category. For example, you might color all of your important meetings in red, personal appointments in green, and optional appointments or meetings in yellow. The ability to tell at a glance what an item is will help improve your productivity and effectiveness.

Assign color categories to messages using rules. Although you can certainly assign colors to messages manually, you should also take advantage of rules to assign categories for you automatically. For example, you might categorize messages from specific senders so that you can easily identify them in your Inbox. Or use categories to identify messages from mailing lists, friends, and so on.

Identify your most commonly used category. Determine which category you use the most, and define that category as your Quick Click category. You can then assign that category with a single click of the mouse.