Organizing Contacts by Using Color Categories

Organizing Contacts by Using Color Categories

You can organize contacts in related groups by assigning them to categories . For example, you might assign contact records for customers to a Customers category. You can sort and filter Outlook items by category.

Whereas previous versions of Outlook used simple named categories, Outlook 2007 uses color categories in which category names are linked to colors to provide a quick visual representation of information. You can change the name or color of any category, and create new categories. Twenty-five colors are available, but if that's not sufficient, you can assign the same color to multiple categories. When you assign a contact to a category, the category color appears at the top of the contact record.

See Also For more information about color categories, see "Organizing Messages by Using Color Categories" in Chapter 5, "Managing Your Inbox." For information about grouping contact records by color categories, see "Displaying Different Views of Contact Information" later in this chapter.

In this exercise, you will assign contacts to color categories and rename a category.

USE the Andrea Dunker and John Emory contact records you created earlier in this chapter.

BE SURE TO display the Contacts module before beginning this exercise.

1. Double-click the contact record for Andrea Dunker to open the contact window .

2. On the Contact tab, in the Options group , click the Categorize button, and then in the list, click Green Category .

   Because this is the first time you've assigned an item to this category, the Rename Category dialog box opens.

   

3. With the current category name selected, type Marketing , and then click Yes .

   Tip

   You can assign shortcut keys to up to 11 categories.

   A green category bar labeled Marketing appears across the top of the contact record.

   

4. In the Actions group, click the Save & Close button.

5. Double-click the contact record for John Emory .

6. In the Options group, in the Categorize list, click All Categories .

   The Color Categories dialog box opens.

7. In the Name list, select the Marketing check box, select the Purple Category check box, and then click Rename .

   The Purple Category name is selected for editing.

   

8. Type Personal to rename the category, and then click OK .

   Purple and green category bars at the top of the contact record indicate that John Emory is a member of the Personal and Marketing categories.

CLOSE the open contact record to return to the Contacts pane.

Creating a Distribution List

In an address book, you can create a contact record containing a variety of contact information for an individual person, or a distribution list containing the e-mail addresses of multiple people. You can add people to a distribution list by selecting them from an address book or by manually entering e-mail addresses.

When you send a message to a distribution list, each member of the distribution list receives a copy of the message. This is a useful tool if you frequently send messages to specific groups of people such as employees working in the marketing department, clients located in a particular region, or players on a sports team.

If you want to send a message to most, but not all, members of a distribution list, you can remove people from the recipient list for a specific message at the time you send it.

In this exercise, you will create a distribution list and add new contacts to your address book.

USE the John Emory contact record you created earlier in this chapter.

BE SURE TO display the Contacts module before beginning this exercise.

1. On the Standard toolbar, click the New Contact arrow, and then in the list, click Distribution List .

   A distribution list window opens.

   

2. In the Name box, type Clients , and then on the Distribution List tab, in the Members group , click the Select Members button.

   The Select Members dialog box opens. If your organization has a Global Address List, Outlook displays its contents.

3. If your address book isn't already displayed, click the Address Book arrow, and then in the list, under Outlook Address Book , click Contacts .

   

4. In the Name list, click John Emory . Click the Members button, and then click OK .

   Tip

   You can add multiple names to a distribution list by double-clicking each name to insert it in the Members box and then clicking OK, or by holding down the Ctrl key while selecting multiple names , clicking the Members button, and then clicking OK.

   The Clients distribution list now includes John Emory.

5. In the Members group, click the Add New button.

6. In the Add New Members dialog box, type Pat Coleman in the Display name box, and then type pat@consolidatedmessenger.com in the E-mail address box.

7. Select the Add to Contacts check box to add Pat to your address book as well as to the distribution list.

   

8. In the Add New Member dialog box, click OK .

   The distribution list now includes John Emory and Pat Coleman.

9. Repeat steps 5 through 8 to add the following people to the Clients distribution list and to your address book:

   Open table as spreadsheet

   Display name	E-mail address
   Holly Dickson	holly@consolidatedmessenger.com
   Max Stevens	max@consolidatedmessenger.com
   Linda Mitchell	linda@lucernepublishing.com
   Jill Shrader	jill@lucernepublishing.com

   Each new distribution list member appears in the distribution list in alphabetical order.

   

BE SURE TO retain the distribution list for use in a later exercise.

CLOSE the Clients distribution list window, saving your changes when prompted to do so.

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