OL98: How to Color-Code Contacts by Category

ID: Q181393

The information in this article applies to:

SUMMARY

Microsoft Outlook 98 provides a new feature that enables you to color-code items that meet certain criteria. By using this feature, you can visually identify a set of items without having to group or sort them. This article describes how to color-code your contacts by Category.


MORE INFORMATION

You must first assign a common Category code to each Contact you wish to assign to a color group and then you can apply a color to that category group.

To Assign Categories to Your Contacts

  1. In the Contacts folder on the Tools menu, click Organize.


  2. In the Organizer, click Using Views, and then click to select By Category. The (none) group contains those Contacts to which you have not assigned a category.


  3. In the Organizer, click Using Categories.


  4. In the list of Categories, click to select the category you want to add the Contacts to.


  5. Hold down the CTRL key and click to select each contact that you wish to add to the category.


  6. After selecting all Contacts you wish to add to the category, click Add.


This adds the category code to each selected contact. Repeat steps 4 through 6 for each category group you wish to define.

To Apply Color-coding to Your Category Groups

  1. In the Organizer, click Using Views, and then click to select the view you wish to see your Contacts in.

    NOTE: You can only see the color-coding you are about to apply in this selected view. If you want color-coding in other views, you must set them up separately using these procedures.


  2. Click "Customize current view," and then click Automatic Formatting.


  3. Click Add, and then type a name for the new rule. In this case, it may be beneficial to name it after the Category you assign the color to.


  4. Click Font, click to select the desired color, and then click OK.


  5. Click Condition, and then on the More Choices tab, click Categories.


  6. In the Available Categories list, click to select the category being color-coded, and then click OK, OK, OK, and OK to close all dialog boxes.


This will apply the selected color to Contacts with the selected Category code. Repeat steps 2 through 7 for each color group you wish to define.

Additional query words: 


Keywords          : GnlCont 
Version           : WINDOWS:
Platform          : WINDOWS 
Issue type        : kbhowto

Last Reviewed: July 27, 1999