How to Use Categories in Microsoft Outlook on Windows 11

Posted on 20th June 2023

Categories in Microsoft Outlook help you organize your emails, tasks, calendar entries, and contacts. You can create your own categories or use the default categories that come with Outlook. In this article, we’ll show you how to use categories in Microsoft Outlook on Windows 11.

Create a New Category

To create a new category in Microsoft Outlook, follow these steps:

  1. Open Microsoft Outlook.
  2. Click Categories in the left pane.
  3. Click the + sign next to My Categories.
  4. Enter a name for the new category and click OK.

Assign a Category to an Item

To assign a category to an item in Microsoft Outlook, follow these steps:

  1. Open Microsoft Outlook.
  2. Click the item you want to categorize. This can be an email, task, calendar entry, or contact.
  3. Click Categorize in the top toolbar.
  4. Click the category you want to assign to the item.

Edit or Delete a Category

To edit or delete a category in Microsoft Outlook, follow these steps:

  1. Open Microsoft Outlook.
  2. Click Categories in the left pane.
  3. Right-click the category you want to edit or delete.

  4. To edit the category, click Rename and enter a new name for the category. Click OK.

  5. To delete the category, click Delete and click OK when prompted.

Change the Color of a Category

To change the color of a category in Microsoft Outlook, follow these steps:

  1. Open Microsoft Outlook.
  2. Click Categories in the left pane.
  3. Right-click the category you want to change the color of.
  4. Click Color and select a new color for the category.

Use Categories to Filter Items

You can use categories to filter the items in your Microsoft Outlook inbox. To do this, follow these steps:

  1. Open Microsoft Outlook.
  2. Click Categories in the left pane.
  3. Click the category you want to filter by.
  4. Click View in the top toolbar.
  5. Click Change View and select Categorized from the list.

You can also use the Search function in Microsoft Outlook to find items that are assigned to a particular category. To do this, follow these steps:

  1. Open Microsoft Outlook.
  2. Click Search in the top toolbar.
  3. Click Categories in the search options.
  4. Select the category you want to search by from the list.
  5. Click Search.

A category is a label that you can assign to an item, such as an email message, calendar event, or task. You can use categories to organize your items in Outlook. For example, you could create categories for different projects at work, or for different areas of your personal life.

When you assign a category to an item, the item is automatically sorted into the corresponding category folder. You can view your items by category by opening the category folder.

You can also use categories to filter your items. For example, you could filter your email messages to only show messages that are part of a certain project.

To create a category, click the Categories button in the ribbon.

In the Create New Category dialog box, enter a name for the category and click OK.

To assign a category to an item, open the item and click the Categories button in the ribbon.

In the Categories dialog box, select the category that you want to assign to the item and click OK.

To view your items by category, click the Categories button in the ribbon and select the category that you want to view.

To filter your items by category, click the Categories button in the ribbon and select the category that you want to filter by.

You can also use categories to color-code your items. To do this, open the item and click the Categories button in the ribbon.

In the Categories dialog box, select the category that you want to color-code and click the Color button.

In the Color dialog box, select the color that you want to use and click OK.

You can also color-code your categories themselves. To do this, click the Categories button in the ribbon.

In the Categories dialog box, select the category that you want to color-code and click the Color button.

In the Color dialog box, select the color that you want to use and click OK.

Color-coding your items and categories can help you visually organize your items in Outlook.

If you want to create a new category, click the Category button on the Home tab, and then select New Category in the drop-down menu. In the New Category dialog box, type a name for the category, and then click OK.

To add a category to an item, open the item, click the Categories button on the Home tab, and then select a category from the drop-down menu. To remove a category from an item, open the item, click the Categories button, and then clear the check box next to the category name.

You can use categories to organize your items, and you can use the Category view to see all the items that are in a category. To open the Category view, click the View tab, and then click the Change View button. In the Change View dialog box, click Category, and then click OK.

If you want to change the name or color of a category, right-click the category name, and then click Rename or Change Color. In the Rename Category dialog box, type a new name for the category, and then click OK. In the Change Color dialog box, click a color, and then click OK.

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