48. Using Color Categories
Color categories take categories to a new level by highlighting the item with color when you assign a category. This enables you to color code Outlook items so it’s easier to visually identify them, or use Instant search to find the items within a specific category.
You can “group” categories that have similar purposes by assigning them the same color or color family. For example, suppose you are working on several projects for a client and created categories for each project, calling them Project1, Project2, and Project3. You are using the blue category colors for this client. Project1 is active and uses the dark blue category color. Project2 and Project3 are still in the planning stage and the category color is light blue. All email, appointments, and tasks that are associated with these projects are assigned the appropriate category. When you glance over your calendar, you know which client and project the appointment is for, just by seeing the category color.
Assigning Color Categories to Outlook Items
Assigning a color category to an email message, appointment, task, or contact is simple. First, select what you want to categorize. Like all things in Windows, there are several ways you can assign a category:
• Right-click a message in the message list and choose Categorize, and then select a category from your list of categories (see Figure 48.1).
FIGURE 48.1 Right-click a message and choose Categorize; then select a category from the menu to add it to the email message.
• Click the Categorize button on the Home tab and choose a category from the menu.
• Click in the category column to apply the Quick Click category or right-click to choose from your list of categories.
• When an Outlook item is open and has a category assigned, double-click or right-click the category in the message header to access the Category menu.
After you assign a category to a selected item, the category is highlighted with a pale blue border on the Categorize menu or has a check mark beside the category name in the Color Category dialog box.
The 15 most recently used categories are shown on the Categorize menu in alphabetical order. Select All Categories from the bottom of the Categorize menu to open the Color Category dialog box. In this dialog box, you can select a category from your entire list of categories, including those not listed in the menu. The Clear all Categories command removes all categories assigned to the currently selected item.
Note
The first time you select each one of the default color categories, Outlook displays the Add New Category dialog box so you can give the category a more descriptive name.
Tip
Another option for color categories is to use them to create contact groups, which is preferable to using multiple folders to group similar contacts. Each contact can belong to multiple categories.
Using the Quick Click Category
Outlook has a handy little feature to help you out, called the Quick Click Category. You set your most frequently used category to use the default color category. Then when the Category field is shown in a view, you can click in the color category column to add the color category to the item, saving time and a lot of mouse clicks.
To set one of your most frequently used categories to the Quick Click, follow these steps:
1. On the Home tab, click the Categorize button to expand the category menu.
2. From the menu, select Set Quick Click.
3. In the Set Quick Click dialog box, shown in Figure 48.2, choose the color category you want to use as your default category and click OK.
4. Click the color category column. Outlook adds this color category, enabling you to categorize an item as the default color. If you click again, the category is removed from the color category column.
The Quick Click Category field is supported only in single line List views; it is not available in the Compact view, which is the default view in all Mail folders. Turning the Reading pane off switches the Inbox to a single-line view.
Clicking in the Category field toggles on and off the category assigned to the Quick Click. Right-click the Category field to select from the list of most recently used categories. Selecting a category from the Category menu toggles the category on and off, enabling you to add more than one category to the selected item (see Figure 48.3).
FIGURE 48.3 When the view shows the Category field, you can click in it to apply the Quick Click category.
Note
The Color Category Picker is not available in Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP) accounts. You can assign keyboard shortcuts to color categories, and then use the shortcuts to add categories.
Creating Additional Color Categories
Outlook comes with six predefined color categories. You can add as many additional categories as you need and assign keyboard shortcuts on up to 11 categories. You are limited to 25 colors, but each color can be assigned to multiple categories.
To create a new color category, follow these steps:
1. On the Home tab, click the Categorize button to expand the Category Picker.
2. Select All Categories to open the Color Categories dialog box.
3. Click New.
4. In the Add New Category dialog box, type a name for your new category (see Figure 48.4).
FIGURE 48.4 Use the Add New Category dialog box to create new color categories or edit existing categories.
5. Select a color.
6. Select a shortcut from the list of available Shortcut Keys, if desired.
7. Click OK to create the category.
If you decide you want to delete the category, change the category name, use a different color, or assign (or change) the shortcut key, select the category name and use the buttons on the right. When you choose Rename, you edit the name in place (see Figure 48.5).
Tip
If you assign keyboard shortcuts to your frequently used color categories, you can assign categories without using the mouse.
Managing Color Categories
In this section, you explore how to upgrade to color categories, share categories, and remove categories.
Upgrading to Color Categories
When you import an Outlook Personal Folders file (.pst) that has categories assigned to items, you need to use Outlook’s Upgrade to Color Categories command to add these categories to your Master Category list. Outlook assigns random colors to the categories.
When some of your categories are not listed on the Master Category list, or are not assigned a color, you need to follow these steps to add the Categories to the Master Category list. If you aren’t sure, go ahead and run Upgrade to Color Categories; it’s completely safe to use.
1. Right-click the top-level folder in your mailbox. This is the folder that displays your email address; if it’s your default data file, clicking this folder opens the Outlook Today screen.
2. From the menu, click Data Files Properties.
3. Click the Upgrade to Color Categories button (see Figure 48.6).
FIGURE 48.6 If you previously used Outlook, upgrade your categories to color categories before creating new color categories.
If you don’t use the Upgrade to Color Category option, categories not in the master list are colored white and marked “not in Master Category list.” These one-off categories cannot be used on other Outlook items until they are added to the Master List.
Sharing Color Categories
Color categories are stored in the mailbox and are available only to the current mailbox. If you have multiple accounts in your Outlook profile, each account has its own set of color categories. If you want the same categories available in each account, you need to create the categories in each account.
This same limitation applies to shared mailboxes and folders; when you share folders in an Exchange mailbox with coworkers, they won’t be able to see the colors assigned to categories or create and edit existing categories unless they have Owner permission to your mailbox.
Tip
Outlook doesn’t provide a built-in method to share categories with other people. It’s possible to create a list of your categories and add the list to the Master Category list using a macro or a third-party utility. You can find a macro that does this at http://slipstick.com/categoriesmacro and a list of utilities at http://slipstick.com/categories.
Removing Categories
To clear one or all categories assigned to an item, follow these steps:
1. Select the categorized item.
2. On the Home tab, click the Categorize button to expand the menu.
3. To remove one category, select it from the menu.
4. To remove all categories, select Clear All Categories (see Figure 48.7).
