If you migrate to Office 365, Outlook.com, or Exchange server, or import contacts, appointments, or mail that is categorized but the category is not on the master list Outlook has a feature that will look for categories assigned to your Contacts, Appointments, and Mail and add them to your master categories list. The colors will be randomly assigned (not totally random: Outlook chooses the next color on the list).
Do this by right clicking on the top level folder (where Outlook Today is, or for secondary accounts in your profile, on the top level of the data file) and choose Data File Properties from the menu.
It should be the last command, as seen in the screenshot, but may not be the very last item if you have add-ins installed that add commands to this menu.
In the Properties dialog, click the button to Upgrade to Color Categories. This will convert the categories and add any not already on your master color category list, to it.
If you have more than one account in your profile that uses an existing data file, you need repeat these steps for each account.
To share color categories with other users, see the Tools below.
Tools in the Spotlight
Category Manager allows sharing of color categories; it adds a sidebar to the folder view as well as opened items, in which you can group your categories and assign them lightning fast; and it adds a reminder, which optionally prompts you if you forget to assign a category. Version 3 |
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ReliefJet Essentials for Outlook is a large set of useful and easy-to-use tools for every Microsoft Outlook as well as Exchange Server users. The latest 4.12 version introduces three more utilities, improves most of the existing utilities and fixes all issues found to the moment. It also improves performance when selecting Outlook folders. All ReliefJet macros now allow you to take the raw value "as is". This enables you to insert HTML code snippets to message bodies. |
Tools
Categories Administrator was specifically designed for users to easily administer Master and Individual Contact Categories in Outlook/Exchange/BCM. Add, rename, merge, remove, delete, import, and create categories in Outlook/Exchange/BCM. Create a query and then map it to the selected contacts. |
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CodeTwo CatMan allows sharing of Outlook categories with other users on the local network. Centralized management using a shared configuration file. Version 3.0.1 |
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Exchange Category Manager is a plug-in for Exchange Server and Office 365. It enables you to manage the Outlook categories and colors that are available in Outlook. Define an unlimited number of groups with different users. Each group can have it's own set of categories and colors to choose from. You can add categories to the existing category list that a user has in Outlook or replace everything with the predefined list. As it integrates with Exchange server directly, the users do not have to do anything, their category list is automatically managed. No software has to be installed on the client pc's. |
Hi Diane,
There is a user mailbox in exchange 2013, whenever we re-create his outlook profile, in his calendars entries double categories appears itself.
So suppose if he has entry in calendar "traveling some where" and a category is assign to it as
"Travel", after recreating his outlook profile , the same entry will have
now two categories "Business" and "Travel".Do you know what can cause this.
Is he syncing with something? Using BCM? Either could be a potential cause, depending on his configuration.
Outlook 2016. In the column Categories in the emails list I see only names of categories without color (single line, reading pane off). Is it possible to replace text here with a color box as it was in Outlook 2010?
You should have the color box and the name unless you changed the field format to text only (View settings, Format)
In Novell GroupWise assigning a category changed the color of the entire subject line (in a list view) which made them stand out easily. The way Outlook handles categories is very much more subdued. Is there a way, either in Outlook or a 3rd party software, to make items flagged with a category stand out more?
You can create conditional formatting rules for a view. I would make a new custom view and add the rules so they don't accidently get reset.
Awesome! This is great! Thank you Diane!!
1. Is there a 'master category list' that can be managed independently of the Categorize button that appears for Contacts and Email? A place where I could create names/colors and then expect to see them available when I next create a Contact/appointment, or read an emai, and want to categorize it?
That is, I do not see the Categorize button ever 'active' unless some outlook item is selected.
2. If you follow these procedures and click on the Upgrade to Color Categories button, what do you see that is evidence of the conversion/upgrade having been completed successfully? I never see the button greyed out.
Ah, I see that Anniversary and Birthday and Groups and Important and Must Attend have appeared along with my other categories. Is this "the sign" that I was looking for?
Yes, that is te sign you were looking for. :)
1. No. The only list is on the button - All categories command. there are 3rd party utilities that make managing the categories easier.
2. the only evidence is that the categories that were on items but not on the master list as now on the aster list. it is not disabled after it runs.
OL 2016 client for Office 365 E3.
1. I have a bunch of ancient categories from ten years ago Exchange that I want to delete for one mailbox and then create new ones. Don't see any way other delete one by one in OL and the 3rd party tools not obviously compat with OL 2016?
2. In an Office 365 situation, would the categories deleted or added for a specific user on one local profile, get synched to that same Office 365 users profile on another pc?
I have a macro that can do it - but the utilities should work with 2016. The delete code is near the end of this article - https://www.slipstick.com/developer/get-color-categories-and-restore-them-using-vba/
Yes, if the categories are in an exchange mailbox, including office 365 or (the new) outlook.com, categories will be in the profile on any computer using outlook. Some smartphone apps will have the categories too.
Diane,
This is awesome! I just recently upgraded and all my categories went missing.
This helped me bring them back and get running again. Thank you for the great information! Cheers.
is it possible to do color category for Meetings and Appts so all user sharing calendar folders can identify quicly Meetings by color on Outlook 2011 Mac ? We use Exchange 2007 server with the Provider. we don't use pst with Macs.
How do you get the COLOR of an email's assigned category to display under the Category field/column instead of the name/text of the category?
Are you using the single line message list view, with the reading pane off or on the bottom? The category color should be in the category block, but the wide list view will include the category names. "Text" is the only field format available when you aren't using the compact message list.