Tuesday, August 27, 2002
Using Outlook categories to work with your data easier
Posted by Jason Dunn in "ARTICLE" @ 10:00 AM
Do you like having sub-folders for your Contacts and Calendar, but want to know how you can sync that data to your Pocket PC and still work with them easily? The Pocket PC can’t synchronize sub-folders for anything other than email, so if you want to get that information onto your Pocket PC, there’s a procedure that will help, and it revolves around using categories.
When I first started writing this, I was convinced that with enough diligence, you could keep the data on your Pocket PC isolated from syncing to a computer and have it contain both types of data (work and home) without pushing the wrong data onto the wrong machine. I spent hours cursing ActiveSync and the Pocket PC, but wasn't able to get it working. ActiveSync doesn't allow you to select categories for synching data BEFORE the first sync, so everything on your Pocket PC will dump onto the PC, even if you don't want it to. And if you select specific categories for the sync after the fact, it won't purge the Pocket PC or Outlook of the invalid data. Someone didn't think this matter though very well.
I was stunned - for nearly two years I had told people that they could keep their work and home data separate by using categories and only synching certain categories with each machine, yet I had never tried it (my home computer IS my work computer). I knew that all the right pieces were there (ActiveSync category selection), but I had no idea how badly broken they where. To anyone whom received my bad advice, I apologize - I evidently should try things before I suggest them to others.
This article morphed into using categories in the only way possible on the Pocket PC - to change views of your data. Enjoy! <!>
Categories Make Life Easier
Unpublished PocketPC.com article originally written April 20th, 2002.
The Pocket PC supports categories, a little-known feature that will help you sort your data easier
What You Need
• A functioning ActiveSync connection on both your work computer and home computer
• An installed version of Outlook. We use Outlook XP for this tutorial, but the basic concept will work in most versions of Outlook.
Gotchas
The only “gotcha” about this process is that you need to be vigilant about assigning a category to every piece of data. If you start to get lazy about it, your data won’t be easy to work with.
Step 1: Merge that folder data together
Before you can get that data onto your Pocket PC, you need to get back to using single Calendar, Contacts, Notes and Task folders. The easiest way to move the data is to select a piece of data inside the sub-folder (like a contact), press CONTROL+A to select all the data, then left-click and drag the data into your main folder. For some information, like Calendar entries, it’s easier to change the view (under the View menu, then click Current View) to a mode like “View by Category” to see everything. You should end up with all your sub-folder data in the root folders (Contacts, Calendar, Tasks, Notes). Now it’s time to get the categories ramped up!
Step 2: Create appropriate categories
You can assign categories to all Outlook data that is synchronized to your Pocket PC. This includes appointments, contacts, notes, and tasks. Journal entries are not synchronized, and email doesn’t factor in here because the Pocket PC can only synchronize email with one partnered computer – you’ll want to make sure you pick the appropriate computer the first time you do an email sync (likely your work computer).
Before you can start assigning categories to your data entries, you’ll need to make sure you have the correct categories set up.
1. In Outlook, click File > New > Appointment
2. A new appointment will open. In the bottom right-hand corner of the appointment window, you’ll see a categories button. The category field should be blank. Click the categories button.
Figure 1: The Categories window
3. A new window will open up – it will look something like Figure 1. This is where you assign categories to your data. You’ll see a list of 20 pre-defined categories that come with Outlook. They cover most of the basics, so in most cases you simply check a box and click OK to save the category assignment. What if you want to create a category that isn’t listed? Click on Master Category List.
Figure 2: The Master Category List
4. The Master Category List will open (Figure 2). To add a new category, you type in the category name in the New Category field, and click the Add button. Once you’ve done that, click OK.
5. You’ll now see your custom category listed in the categories window. Select it, and click ok. You can also assign multiple categories to an appointment if you wish.
Step 3: Categorize your current data
Once you have your categories ready to go, you need to assign your current data to them. The slow way of doing this is to open every item and repeat the steps outlined above. For most people, that would take hours, so here’s a faster way.
1. Switch to the folder that you need to categorize. Let’s say it’s Contacts.
2. Under the View menu, click Current View > By Category
Figure 3: Data with no categories assigned to it
3. This will give you a list of your data organized by categories. If you’ve never assigned categories to any of you information previously, you’ll likely see all your data under the “none” category (Figure 3).
4. Now you need to assign the information to a category. If you have a mixture of business and personal contacts, hold down the CTRL key as you click on each contact that falls in the business category – this allows you to select multiple contacts that aren’t sequential. After you’ve selected ten or twenty contacts, right click on one of the contacts and select Categories from the menu. The Categories window (Figure 1) will appear, and you can assign those contacts to the business category. I suggest you do this in batches, because after you’ve selected dozens of contacts it’s very frustrating to accidentally left click by mistake and lose your selection. Repeat the same procedure for all your personal contacts. Alternatively, you can drag and drop them into the appropriate category as long as there’s at least one contact in that category – remember that categories aren’t visible until after there’s at least one piece of data assigned to that category.
Figure 4: Data assigned to categories
5. Once you’ve completed assigning categories to your contacts, you’ll see them grouped together. You’re done assigning categories! Remember you’ll need to do this on any computer you want to sync with – and the categories need to be named the same way.
The procedure outlined above used contacts as an example, but it will work for calendar, notes, and tasks. The basic procedure is the same for all the data types.
Step 4: Working with categories on your Pocket PC
Now that you’ve done all the hard work of assigning categories to all your data, let’s look at how it works on your Pocket PC (you’ll need to Synchronize your data at this point). Contacts, Calendar, and Tasks are category-aware. Notes is not – you can view, sort, and work with categories for your Notes on the desktop, but on the Pocket PC it simply lists them all.
Figure 5: Changing categories in Contacts
The Contacts application on your Pocket PC works wonderfully with categories – you can tap the Show menu (Figure 5) to see all the categories you have available. I’ve divided mine up in several ways – the categories make it really easy to find the contact information I need, whether it’s for a client I need to call or a store I want to buy something at. You can also cycle through the Contact categories by hitting the Contacts hardware button on your Pocket PC.
Figure 6: Changing categories in Calendar
Calendar works a little differently with categories. Once you’ve loaded the Calendar application, tap Tools, then Categories. This loads the category list (Figure 6) where you check off the category you want to see. This acts as a filter – you’ll only see appointments that are in the category you picked.
Tasks work similar to the way Contacts works – tap in the upper-left, and select the category you want to look at.
Conclusion
Categories are a great way to get rid of those Outlook sub-folders, get all your important data onto your Pocket PC, and work a little faster on it. Give it a try!
When I first started writing this, I was convinced that with enough diligence, you could keep the data on your Pocket PC isolated from syncing to a computer and have it contain both types of data (work and home) without pushing the wrong data onto the wrong machine. I spent hours cursing ActiveSync and the Pocket PC, but wasn't able to get it working. ActiveSync doesn't allow you to select categories for synching data BEFORE the first sync, so everything on your Pocket PC will dump onto the PC, even if you don't want it to. And if you select specific categories for the sync after the fact, it won't purge the Pocket PC or Outlook of the invalid data. Someone didn't think this matter though very well.
I was stunned - for nearly two years I had told people that they could keep their work and home data separate by using categories and only synching certain categories with each machine, yet I had never tried it (my home computer IS my work computer). I knew that all the right pieces were there (ActiveSync category selection), but I had no idea how badly broken they where. To anyone whom received my bad advice, I apologize - I evidently should try things before I suggest them to others.
This article morphed into using categories in the only way possible on the Pocket PC - to change views of your data. Enjoy! <!>Categories Make Life Easier
Unpublished PocketPC.com article originally written April 20th, 2002.
The Pocket PC supports categories, a little-known feature that will help you sort your data easier
What You Need
• A functioning ActiveSync connection on both your work computer and home computer
• An installed version of Outlook. We use Outlook XP for this tutorial, but the basic concept will work in most versions of Outlook.
Gotchas
The only “gotcha” about this process is that you need to be vigilant about assigning a category to every piece of data. If you start to get lazy about it, your data won’t be easy to work with.
Step 1: Merge that folder data together
Before you can get that data onto your Pocket PC, you need to get back to using single Calendar, Contacts, Notes and Task folders. The easiest way to move the data is to select a piece of data inside the sub-folder (like a contact), press CONTROL+A to select all the data, then left-click and drag the data into your main folder. For some information, like Calendar entries, it’s easier to change the view (under the View menu, then click Current View) to a mode like “View by Category” to see everything. You should end up with all your sub-folder data in the root folders (Contacts, Calendar, Tasks, Notes). Now it’s time to get the categories ramped up!
Step 2: Create appropriate categories
You can assign categories to all Outlook data that is synchronized to your Pocket PC. This includes appointments, contacts, notes, and tasks. Journal entries are not synchronized, and email doesn’t factor in here because the Pocket PC can only synchronize email with one partnered computer – you’ll want to make sure you pick the appropriate computer the first time you do an email sync (likely your work computer).
Before you can start assigning categories to your data entries, you’ll need to make sure you have the correct categories set up.
1. In Outlook, click File > New > Appointment
2. A new appointment will open. In the bottom right-hand corner of the appointment window, you’ll see a categories button. The category field should be blank. Click the categories button.
Figure 1: The Categories window
3. A new window will open up – it will look something like Figure 1. This is where you assign categories to your data. You’ll see a list of 20 pre-defined categories that come with Outlook. They cover most of the basics, so in most cases you simply check a box and click OK to save the category assignment. What if you want to create a category that isn’t listed? Click on Master Category List.
Figure 2: The Master Category List
4. The Master Category List will open (Figure 2). To add a new category, you type in the category name in the New Category field, and click the Add button. Once you’ve done that, click OK.
5. You’ll now see your custom category listed in the categories window. Select it, and click ok. You can also assign multiple categories to an appointment if you wish.
Step 3: Categorize your current data
Once you have your categories ready to go, you need to assign your current data to them. The slow way of doing this is to open every item and repeat the steps outlined above. For most people, that would take hours, so here’s a faster way.
1. Switch to the folder that you need to categorize. Let’s say it’s Contacts.
2. Under the View menu, click Current View > By Category
Figure 3: Data with no categories assigned to it
3. This will give you a list of your data organized by categories. If you’ve never assigned categories to any of you information previously, you’ll likely see all your data under the “none” category (Figure 3).
4. Now you need to assign the information to a category. If you have a mixture of business and personal contacts, hold down the CTRL key as you click on each contact that falls in the business category – this allows you to select multiple contacts that aren’t sequential. After you’ve selected ten or twenty contacts, right click on one of the contacts and select Categories from the menu. The Categories window (Figure 1) will appear, and you can assign those contacts to the business category. I suggest you do this in batches, because after you’ve selected dozens of contacts it’s very frustrating to accidentally left click by mistake and lose your selection. Repeat the same procedure for all your personal contacts. Alternatively, you can drag and drop them into the appropriate category as long as there’s at least one contact in that category – remember that categories aren’t visible until after there’s at least one piece of data assigned to that category.
Figure 4: Data assigned to categories
5. Once you’ve completed assigning categories to your contacts, you’ll see them grouped together. You’re done assigning categories! Remember you’ll need to do this on any computer you want to sync with – and the categories need to be named the same way.
The procedure outlined above used contacts as an example, but it will work for calendar, notes, and tasks. The basic procedure is the same for all the data types.
Step 4: Working with categories on your Pocket PC
Now that you’ve done all the hard work of assigning categories to all your data, let’s look at how it works on your Pocket PC (you’ll need to Synchronize your data at this point). Contacts, Calendar, and Tasks are category-aware. Notes is not – you can view, sort, and work with categories for your Notes on the desktop, but on the Pocket PC it simply lists them all.
Figure 5: Changing categories in Contacts
The Contacts application on your Pocket PC works wonderfully with categories – you can tap the Show menu (Figure 5) to see all the categories you have available. I’ve divided mine up in several ways – the categories make it really easy to find the contact information I need, whether it’s for a client I need to call or a store I want to buy something at. You can also cycle through the Contact categories by hitting the Contacts hardware button on your Pocket PC.
Figure 6: Changing categories in Calendar
Calendar works a little differently with categories. Once you’ve loaded the Calendar application, tap Tools, then Categories. This loads the category list (Figure 6) where you check off the category you want to see. This acts as a filter – you’ll only see appointments that are in the category you picked.
Tasks work similar to the way Contacts works – tap in the upper-left, and select the category you want to look at.
Conclusion
Categories are a great way to get rid of those Outlook sub-folders, get all your important data onto your Pocket PC, and work a little faster on it. Give it a try!
