When you’re done assigning color categories to people, you can quickly sort your contacts by color to see the ones you want. Click People. Click Home, and then in the Current View group, click List. To make sure emails from important contacts stand out and do not go unnoticed, you can set up a rule that makes the email appear in a specific color or a specific size and type of font.
Outlook does not use the registry for a master category list; they are stored in the default message store (mailbox or pst). If you are setting up a new system and using your old pst the color categories will be available on the new system.
If you imported from an old data file, right click on the root folder (Outlook Today), choose Properties and click the button to Upgrade to color categories. This will assign random colors to the categories assigned to items in your data file. You can use Group policy to push Categories out to users, merging new categories with their existing categories. In the Group Policy Editor (with the Outlook 2007 or greater ADM files installed), look under Miscellaneous.
You can also add the categories by adding a string value under the policy registry key. Add the categories in a comma or semicolon separated list. If you have more than one Email account in Outlook, categories added to the registry are available only to the default account or default data file. (nn = your version of Office.) HKEYCURRENTUSER SOFTWARE Policies Microsoft office nn.0 outlook preferences String: newcategories Value: New Category 1; New Category 2 The same path in the CURRENTUSER hive also works. HKEYCURRENTUSER Software Microsoft Office nn.0 Outlook Preferences String: newcategories Value: New Category 1; New Category 2 Note: if you remove a category name from the registry key (or edit the name in the registry), it remains available in the Category list (ex. Misspelled Cateory 1 in my screenshot).
To print a list of the category names and their colors, we have a macro and instructions. (video tutorial) Unlike with older versions, you cannot paste a comma separated list of categories into the master category dialog and add them all to the Outlook master list.
With the exception of the All Fields page of an Outlook contact, the only way to add categories to items is using the Category picker menu or dialog. You can use the All fields page to bulk add categories to Outlook 2007 or Outlook 2010.
Color Categories and IMAP Accounts Color categories are not available in IMAP accounts by default, since they are not supported on all IMAP servers. However, there is a way to add color categories to IMAP messages.
See for more information and the workaround. Assigning Categories to Sent Email By default, Outlook does not allow you to assign a category to mail before sending it.
This change was made to prevent user data from 'leaking'. For example, if you use a category named 'PITA Customer' you would not want it included on email sent to customers.
(Yes, this type of scenario really happened, more than once.) If you need to include the categories all the time, use the SendPersonalCategories registry entry. Exchange admins can configure Exchange to remove categories. If you use Exchange and it's configured to remove categories, adding the key to Outlook will not work, you'll need to speak to your admin. This key works with Outlook 2003 and up, you'll need to use the correct path in the registry for your version. This can also be set using Group Policy; look for it in the Office adm files, under Outlook Miscellaneous. Create the key or path if it does not exist.
Outlook 2016 HKEYCURRENTUSER Software Policies Microsoft Office 16.0 Outlook Preferences DWORD: SendPersonalCategories Value Data: 1 to keep categories on sent mail, 0 to not include categories Outlook 2013 HKEYCURRENTUSER Software Policies Microsoft Office 15.0 Outlook Preferences DWORD: SendPersonalCategories Value Data: 1 to keep categories on sent mail, 0 to not include categories Outlook 2010 HKEYCURRENTUSER Software Policies Microsoft Office 14.0 Outlook Preferences DWORD: SendPersonalCategories Value Data: 1 to keep categories on sent mail, 0 to not include categories. Outlook 2007 HKEYCURRENTUSER Software Policies Microsoft Office 12.0 Outlook Preferences DWORD: SendPersonalCategories Value Data: 1 to keep categories on sent mail, 0 to not include categories If you don't want to edit the registry yourself, download and run the registry file for your version of Outlook. Remember: if you set this key, the categories will be included on the sent message and the recipient will be able to see the category (unless the recipient uses a rule to remove categories from messages they receive). Categories in Shared Folders Only categories are visible on items when you share folders on Exchange server; colors are per user. Other users will see your categories in a white color (unless it's already in their color category list). To add a category that is not in your master list, to your master list:.
Select it (so it's highlighted). Click the New button. Outlook will assign the next unused color; change the color and set a shortcut key, if desired, then click Save.
Managing Categories To add, remove, rename, or assign shortcuts to categories, expand the category selector and choose All Categories from the end of the menu to open the Color Category dialog, shown below. Select the category on the left then the appropriate button in the dialog to add, edit, delete categories, or assign colors or shortcuts to categories. You cannot add categories in bulk using this dialog. Bulk Add Categories in Outlook 2007 and up While you can bulk add categories to any item in older versions of Outlook by typing in the category field; beginning with Outlook 2007, you need to use the category menu or dialog to select categories. Also possible in older versions, you could type (or paste) a comma-delimited list in the master category dialog then add the list to your master list. While this is not possible to do from the master category list in newer versions of Outlook, it is possible to type a list of categories and add them to the master list.
Open a contact form and switch to the All Fields page. Select Frequently used fields from the Select from menu, then type (or paste) a comma-separated list of categories into the Category field. Next, right click on the top level of your data file (where Outlook Today is) and choose Properties. Click Upgrade to Color Categories button FAQ: Color Categories Q: How do I reset the categories? A: In Outlook 2007 or Outlook 2010, you can remove the categories you added and restore the defaults using the /cleancategories switch. Close Outlook and type or paste the following command in the Start Search field (Windows 7) or in the Run command (WinXP): outlook.exe /cleancategories This will remove all categories from the master category list and restore the default category placeholder names (Red Category, Blue Category etc).
This will not remove the categories from individual items. To remove categories from Outlook items, create a search folder to find the items that have categories assigned then remove the categories using Select All, then right click and choose Clear All Categories. If you decide you want to restore the categories to the master list (and haven't deleted them from the items yet), use Upgrade to color categories. In Outlook 2003, go to Edit menu, Categories, Master Category List.
Click Reset and close the dialog. Q: How is the Category list organized? A: When you expand the Categories button, the flyout is ordered by the most recently used categories. If you click All Categories to open the Color Categories dialog, the list should be alphabetical. Master Category List In current versions of Outlook, beginning with Outlook 2007, the master category list is stored in the Outlook data file. If you use a pst file and move the pst file to another computer, you'll keep your categories.
If you use Exchange server, including Office 365 email or Outlook.com, your categories are stored in your mailbox. In Outlook 2003 (and older) the master category list is stored in the Windows Registry.
Each user has a different category list. To back up the Master Category List in Outlook 2003:. Run Regedit and go to HKEYCURRENTUSER Software Microsoft Office 11.0 Outlook and select the Categories key. Choose Registry Export Registry File to make a copy of the Categories branch of the registry. Note that this list is in Unicode encoding and is not compatible with versions other than Outlook 2002. To use any of these methods to move categories to another computer using a compatible version of Outlook, you'll need to change the version number in the key before importing.
You can use this exported branch to distribute a category list to other Outlook users. See the MSKB article How to Migrate Custom Categories to Other Users.
CAUTION: Using a.reg file to propagate a category list does not update a user's own list; instead it completely replaces it. I personally do not recommend this method, because it eliminates much the utility of the Category feature for users. See the next section for what I think is a better method. If you remove a category from the master list, any items marked with that category are not affected. In the Categories dialog box, that category is listed as '(not in master list).'
Keeping Categories Consistent I'm convinced that many people worry too much about keeping the Master Category List consistent from user to user, when what they really want is to keep the categorization of the items themselves consistent. It is critical to remember that the category set on an individual item is totally independent of the user's Master Category List. For example, you can set a category of Blue on an item, then delete Blue from your personal Master Category List.
The item is still categorized as Blue. In the Categories dialog, you should now see its category as 'Blue (not on master list).' Anyone who has never had Blue on the master list will see the same thing. Yes, it would be nice if Microsoft had made this easier, but the real issue usually is making category assignment consistent.
In a public folder, consider handling that with a custom form that forces users to pick from an 'official' list of categories. I've put together a sample form at.
Another approach would be to use code behind the form to make category assignment automatic based on the value of other fields in the form. One situation where the Master Categories list makes a difference is when you are working with a large folder and dragging a large number of items between categories. When a category is not in the Master List, you risk losing the original categories from items added to new categories. You can avoid problems by dragging fewer items at a time or select the items, right click and choose Categories. To filter a folder on multiple categories.
On the More Choices tab in the Filter dialog, type the names of the categories separated by 'AND' Do not use the Categories button. For example, to display contacts who are in both the Personal category and the Business category, type in 'Personal AND Business.' In Outlook 2007, use the Advanced tab to create the filter. Use Categories for the Field, select contains as the Condition and enter the category names, separated by AND in the Value field. The QueryBuilder can be used to create the AND filter if you use Outlook 2002, 2003 or 2007. See for more information.
Remove Categories From Messages To remove categories from incoming messages, create a rule and choose the condition to 'clear messages's categories'. If you use an older versions of Outlook, Rules Wizard doesn't have an option to remove categories from messages you send or receive, it can only add more categories. You'll need to use VBA to remove categories. Private Sub ApplicationItemSend(ByVal Item As Object, Cancel As Boolean) Item.Categories = ' End Sub Visit for assistance with Outlook programming. Category-based Mail Merge Note that this section does not apply to Outlook 2003/2007/2010. In any of these newer versions you can filter or group by category, select the contacts in the category and start the mail merge using Tools, Mail merge. You can't use categories directly as selection criteria for a Word mail merge in Outlook 97 and Outlook 98.
(It is added in Outlook 2000 - but works only if each item has only one category assigned to it.) That does not mean that it can't be done, though. It just takes a bit of extra effort. Here are several methods: Method #1: Select Contacts by category using a filter, copy all matching items to a new Contacts folder, add that folder to the Outlook Address Book, and use it as the mail merge source. See the MSKB article Q160521: Categories Unavailable to Mail Merge in Word. Also see for a VBScript routine to do the copying to another folder for you. Method #2: You can use Excel to drive a bulk mailing based on a category.
See the Microsoft article Using Microsoft Excel To Do a Bulk Mailing in Microsoft Outlook. Some of the third-party also support merging by category. More Fun with Categories See for details on how to use categories to create instant Personal Distribution Lists. You can use categories in Rules Wizard rules, both as part of conditions and as actions, assigning one or more categories to an item. For example, I used to use an autoresponder to handle subscription requests for my and marked the incoming requests with a category of 'Response sent.' If you create a new Outlook item from another item, the categories carry over.
Back to the autoresponder example: I manage the mailing list in a Contacts folder that uses a custom form. New items are created by dragging the incoming message to the folder. When the new recipient is created, it has the category of 'Response sent.'
This also works with replies and forwards; as long as you send in RTF format, the recipient will see any category you apply. Demonstrates how to use an Outlook form to display all contacts by category. It's up to you to take the next step of writing code to do something with all those contacts. Also see:. Things You Can't Do with Categories You can't create a view that shows both categories and subcategories. In other words, the Categories field can be used for grouping just once.
What you might try is a set of categories that themselves include a subcategory: Friends - Good, Friends - Very Close, etc. You can't search and replace a category directly without writing code. However, you can select a bunch of categories, then right-click, choose Categories from the pop-up menu and work with the Categories for the entire group of items.
Problems and Issues We have a report that GoContactSync (an Outlook/Gmail sync utility) resets the master category list. Categories are not removed from the Outlook items, but the categories are shown as 'not in master Category'. Color Names Although knowing the names of the colors is less than useful for most users, they are in the Object model as OlCategoryColor. The 25 color names are as follows. Black Dark Maroon Dark Red Green Purple Blue Dark Olive Dark Steel Maroon Red Dark Blue Dark Orange Dark Teal Olive Steel Dark Gray Dark Peach Dark Yellow Orange Teal Dark Green Dark Purple Gray Peach Yellow White: No color assigned. To print a list of the category names and their colors, see.
Category Tools and Utilities 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 The new big update of ReliefJet Essentials is fully compatible with Microsoft Office Outlook 2019, includes eight new utilities and brings the new functionality to utilities already included in the product. 'Export Outlook Messages to PDF Files' converts Outlook email to Adobe PDF documents, saves attachments and downloads external images if needed. 'Merge PST Files' combines multiple PST Outlook data files into one and allows you to limit the maximum size of the resulting PST file. 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. CategorieZ adds a sidebar to Outlook allowing instant access to your categories.
Select a contact and instantly see the categories assigned, need to make changes, easy just use the checkboxes. Set filters to show only the items in specific categories. Categorize Plus enables users to categorize and search Outlook items using a selectable menu hierarchy. Categorize Plus also allows user to automatically process emails by creating Category Actions. In addition, Categorize Plus will automatically assign categories to items as they arrive in your Inbox or any other folder that you choose. Categorize Plus also includes a dock-able Category Editor that is used to quickly edit item categories and commands to copy/paste categories and to undo/redo categorizations. Available in both Free and Paid versions and works with Outlook 2003/2007/2010.
This first release displays all categories in one menu and contains all of the basic functionality of the new 'Categorize' button for Outlook 2013. 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 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. SimplyTag helps you categorize Outlook messages quickly and efficiently. It learns about your tagging patterns and enables you to assign the right tag to a message literally with a single click. Works on sent and received messages. Also support searching messages by categories.
Adding them to the contact keeps the names - then you can use upgrade to color categories to add to the master list and colorize (although not necessarily with the correct colors.) This is generally the easiest if you don't mind random colors. If you want specific colors, you can use a macro to backup the names and colors and restore it - The categories are stored in the default data file or pst, so you shouldn't have lost them, unless you reconfigured your outlook profile or created a new pst.
Exchange accounts, outlook.com and office 365 mailboxes sync categories back to the server, so they shouldn't be lost if you create a new profile. Diane - I'm wondering if you know of a way to keep categories on items that you want to archive but want to come back to later. I am an instructor at a local college. I have categories created for each of my classes which I use for task and calendar items. In the past I have simply removed the categories from my master list so the old categories don't clog up the list so my current class categories are always at the top (I put a zero as the first character to keep them at the top). Now I have started keeping information in the calendar I will want to refer back to so I'm hesitant to remove the category since I won't be able to view all the calendar items for that class quickly with a 'view'.
I've run into tons of problems when I 'rename' categories so I'm nervous about the obvious simple solution. Hi Diane, How do you sync Outlook contact categories to the iphone or other mobile devices? We have Microsoft Office 365/Exchange 2016. Are there any iphone apps or Microsoft Products/Upcoming releases that can do this? We have heard of DejaOffice/CompanionLink, but were wondering if there were any more recent solutions/apps considering there must be a vast amount of users who want/need this functionality.
We have done a lot of research on this and haven't been able to find anything else that will sync with Office 365. Thank you tremendously!