Outlook 2000 in a Nutshell

The Power of Categories

A category is a keyword or phrase you associate with an Outlook item. You can then use this category as a way to sort, group, or filter a view, to find a lost item, or to organize a group of records, related by topic, but scattered across a diversity of item types. Outlook’s categories are unique in today’s world of software features—they’re simple, powerful, and flexible.

Note

There is one key to categories—you have to use them.

Using Categories is much like investing in a compound interest savings account. At first, the money you put there doesn’t seem significant or even all that useful. But as time goes on, and your investment grows, the day arrives when your discipline and efforts are rewarded many times over. Think of your data as an investment and categories as the tool that leverages its growth. The analogy here is to start small and simple—categorize all the records you create that have long-term potential. As your investment in categories grows, you’ll soon be using them to manipulate data in ways you never expected. For example:

• Categories allow you to sort and view related items stored in the same folder. You can track business and personal tasks in the same folder and use the Business and Personal categories to sort, group, or filter your view. Every Outlook component has a View → By Category command specifically for this purpose.

• When you start a new project, create a category for it. Assign this category the people, meetings, appointments, notes, ...