Sorting and Grouping Problems in Outlook 2003

[Marc Bressman]

First, let me say that I'm incredibly confused by the new methodology that
Microsoft has implemented in Outlook 2003 to handle sorting, grouping,
views, etc. I wish they would have left it the way it was in Outlook 2002,
as it was relatively simple and easy to understand, as well as easy to
accomplish what you wanted.

From what I can understand, these new sorting and grouping methods, called
Arrangements, seem to control alot of how sorting and grouping is done.
However, at times, I like to be able to sort and group independently of each
other, which it seems very hard to do. The way my Outlook email folders are
set up is that I tend to file things that I want to save in sub-folders off
of the Inbox folder (or sometimes sub-folders of sub-folders of the Inbox
folder, etc.). Because anything I want to save in these sub-folders I
automatically add a category too, I like for all of these sub-folders off of
the Inbox folder (although not the Inbox folder itself) to show me their
contents grouped by categories. Usually, I also like everything to be
sorted in received order (so that when I expand a category grouping, I see
the most recent email items first, and then they get older as I go down the
list). However, at certain times, I like to sometimes change the sorting
order (perhaps to sorting by subject, by who the email is from, etc.).
However, when I change the sorting order, I still like for the email items
to remain grouped by categories. I used to (back in Outlook 2002) be able
to accomplish this change in sorting order simply by clicking the column
heading and this would re-sort based on that column without changing the
grouping. However, now it seems whenever I do this, it changes not only the
sorting, but the grouping as well. How do I get it so that when I click the
column heading, it simply changes the sorting method, and leaves the
grouping alone. This is driving me absolutely crazy!

Also, once I figure this out, I'd like to change all of my sub-folders and
sub-folders of sub-folders, etc. to this methodology. However, I'd prefer
not to have to go through each and every one and make this change. Is there
any way to apply view changes to a group of folders (or perhaps to the
parent folder and then have it affect all child folders)?

Thanks for the help!

- marc

 

[Lee]

I used to (back in Outlook 2002) be able
to accomplish this change in sorting order simply by clicking the column
heading and this would re-sort based on that column without changing the
grouping. However, now it seems whenever I do this, it changes not only the
sorting, but the grouping as well. How do I get it so that when I click the
column heading, it simply changes the sorting method, and leaves the
grouping alone. This is driving me absolutely crazy!

Join the group. Notice how MS hasn't addressed the fact that they
"broke" a very nice feature in Office 2000 when you "upgrade" to 2003.

Now if you want to rearrange the sort order you must perform multiple
key strokes and mouse clicks whereas in O2K you could simply click on
the column headers to change the sort order.

For the MVP types a clarification as to what "we" are talking about.
O2K
Set your contact view to View by Category. (If not already the default
view)
Expand One of the categories by clicking on the + sign.
Click on any column heading and change the sort order.
Nice and simple. Here's the "improvement" brought to us by MS...

O2003
Set you contact view to View by category (Again if not already set)
Right click on a category and click Collapse all groups
Click on the + sign of the one group you want open.
Click on a column heading to change the sort order. Outlook now sorts
ALL contacts as one "group"
Click on View and change it back to View by category
Right click on a category and select Collapse all
Click on the plus sign of the one group you are working with.
You will now have the contacts sorted in the category you originally
started with.

Remember this is an "improvment"

Now for all you MVPs types, Is there any way to repair this mess and
go back to the original very nice and easy to use sorting method?

Lee

 

[Sue Mosher [MVP-Outlook]]

No, it's just plain broken.