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.