Please eloborate on "categories"...

[Guest]

Hello there,

I have went through the trouble of adding 7 different DL's to my contacts
and each DL has about 20-40 people. Now I find out that DL's are not flexible
and you can't merge DL's nor copy/paste contacts within the DL's.

So I realize that "categories" are the way to go as they are more relaible,
flexible, etc., etc., etc.

My questions are:
1. How do categories work?
2. How do I set them up?
3. Can I easily transfer the people in my DL's over to categories without
having to re-enter them?
4. Is there a website I can pull this info from so I am not wasting anyways
time trying to explain these things to me (I already went to-->
http://www.outlook-tips.net/archives/2003/20030730.htm but didn't find it
useful).

Thanks!

Sincerely,
Frustrated Outlook User

 

[Sue Mosher [MVP-Outlook]]

1) Categproes are a property of the item like any property. The main difference between Categories and, say, Subject, is that any item can have multiple categories, all stored in the one Categories property, but only one subject. The technical term for this is that Categories is a "keywords" property.

2) You don't have to set anything up. You can just type in the name of a category or multiple categories, separated by commas or semicolons, in the box provided on any item. If you click the Categories button, you'll have the opportunity to set up a Master Category List, which you can then pick from to keep your category choices consistent. But you don't have to set up a master list.

3) Not if your DLs contain people who are already in your contacts folder. You'll need to modify each one by hand.

4) The information in Outlook Help and at http://www.slipstick.com/outlook/olcat.htm should be helpful.

--
Sue Mosher, Outlook MVP
Author of Configuring Microsoft Outlook 2003

and Microsoft Outlook Programming - Jumpstart for
Administrators, Power Users, and Developers