Hank Leukart on Color Categories
The following is from guest blogger and fellow PM, Hank Leukart. Enjoy!
-Melissa
Greetings! My name is Hank Leukart, and I am a Program Manager for Microsoft Office Outlook. I have worked on Outlook 2001 for Mac, Outlook 2002 (XP), Outlook 2003, and Outlook 12; I’ve been involved in designing – among other features – Search Folders, the Mail Views, the Navigation Pane (originally called The Wunderbar), date-based For Follow Up flags, the To-Do Bar, The Daily Task List, the new Calendar’s visual look, and Calendar Overlay. Today, I’ll talk about the new Color Categories feature and how it improves information and time management in Outlook 12. Then, I’ll brace myself for your feedback to learn how much you love or hate me (or more importantly, this feature).
During the time I have worked on Outlook, I have heard reams of customer feedback. I usually keep an Outlook Note (am I the only one who uses these?) containing feedback and feature requests to which I refer back when I’m thinking up new features. When I set out to design the Color Categories feature for Outlook 12, I found some of these nuggets in that little yellow Note:
“I wish I could label my flag colors!”
“Six For Follow Up flag colors is not enough.”
“I wish I could assign multiple flags or labels to an item.”
“I love coloring my Calendar!”
“I like to group Mail and Tasks by project.”
“When I want to label or file an item, it’s hard for me to decide whether I should use a Folder, a Category, a For Follow Up flag, or a Calendar Label.”
In my experience, software companies (including Microsoft) are good at adding great features to their products but not always as good at reconciling how new features work with existing features, sometimes resulting in a confusing mess. We usually do this for the right reasons – we don’t want to make anyone unhappy by removing or changing existing features they’ve come to love – but often the outcome is not optimal.
Outlook Categories are a great example of this. First, Outlook 97 had Categories and Folders, two features unrelated to each other. Most people used Folders for Mail but Categories for Contacts and Tasks. Then, customers wanted to be able to color their calendars, so we added Calendar Labels, a feature totally unrelated to Categories. Then, customers wanted to be able to follow up on their mail with multicolored flags, so we added that feature – also unrelated to Categories. Including Automatic Formatting and Note colors, Outlook 2003 gave customers six different ways to label or color an item.
Thus, for Outlook 12, my mantra was, “Simplify, simplify, simplify.” I imagined a world in which one feature could be used to label and color items of any type. That feature became Color Categories.
In concept, Color Categories are simple. With one or two clicks, you can add a color and text label to any item in Outlook. For me, my categories usually relate to projects upon which I am working. Thus, my Inbox workflow tends to work like this: 1) flag an incoming message with a date, 2) right-click on the message’s category column to assign a category that corresponds to a related project, and 3) arrange my To-Do Bar by Due Date when I want to focus on due dates or by Category when I want to focus on projects. I also categorize appointments with the same categories, based on which project a meeting is about. The same goes for Contacts; the people with whom I work on certain projects are categorized with the corresponding project categories. I even categorize my Notes by project. (I know, I’m the only one.)
Right click on category column to categorize an item
Some people I know prefer to use Color Categories exclusively as a way to mark items for later review. They tend to use the “Categorized Mail” folder to see all of their categorized items. Others use categories both to mark items for review and also to associate them with projects, which is possible because more than one Color Category can be assigned to an item.
Once you have categorized items, you can also search by Color Category in any module by typing the category name in the Instant Search pane. For example, you can type “Personal” or “category:(Carson Project)” to search for items to which those categories are assigned. If you’re feeling especially motivated, you can create a Search Folder for mail messages with a specific category by clicking File/New/Search Folder, selecting “Create a custom Search Folder,” then specifying the category as part of the Search Folder’s criteria. We’re hoping to make this process easier for Beta 2.
Search within a category with search syntax
Because I also have been involved in many of Outlook 12’s visual changes, some of my fellow Program Managers have joked that I am the “pretty colors PM.” Maybe for Outlook 14, it’ll be shapes.
Tip #1 for advanced users: you can assign a Shortcut Key to any category for easy assignment of your most-used categories. I use Ctrl+F12 any time I want to use my “Important” category.
Tip #2 for advanced users: if you right-click on an item’s Categories column and click “Set Quick Click…,” you can select a category that will be instantly assigned to any item when single-clicking on the category column.
Comments
Anonymous
February 17, 2006
I really, really like the new color / categories features, and the to-do bar blows me away. I'm addicted to getting things done now.
I feel like Outlook has really come around this version, and I can't wait to get it on desktops of people in my office.
The only suggestion I have is this: Allow me to dock the To-Do bar to my desktop, rather than just having it in Outlook. It would be great if I could have it docked to the right side of my screen (maybe minimized), so that I can mouse-over and quickly add a task, see what I still have to do for the day, and see the upcoming events on my calendar.
I believe it was Jensen Harris's blog (it may have been this one) where he said MS found that many users were just double clicking on the system clock to check calendar days, and that totally describes me. However, even with the To-Do bar in Outlook, it still takes me a click (or an alt-tab) to quickly look at a calendar.
Put a calendar, my task list, and upcoming events right in front of my face! Before the Outlook To-Do bar, I would keep a paper list on my desk, because I could quickly see what I had to do. I liked it, because my task list was always in the corner of my eye nagging me. It would be great to attach it to my desktop, instead of "hidden" in Outlook.
By the way - I also use notes. It's the best way I've found to keep track password, books I want to read, etc.Anonymous
February 17, 2006
Howdy Hank,
As the appointed representative for all folks who are color-blind - I hope that in O12 we can have a "color-blind" friendly palette. This may not make the Office design team happy, but it sure would make the feature more valuable to about 12% of the male population.
When I look at the palette above certain colors (for "Career" and "Smith Project") are virtually imposible to differentiate. Maybe they are the same?
Would love to hear from you (Rainer and Osama have my current e-mail address.)
Cheers!
DonAnonymous
February 17, 2006
I second Andrew's request. I think I blogged about that previously already: It seems the to-do bar and the upcoming sidebar in Vista serve the same purpose. I think actually that the ideal solution would be to have individual gadgets for the windows sidebar that correspond to the stuff in outlook's to do bar.Anonymous
February 18, 2006
Hi Hank,
Thanks for a great post, I am not using Beta 1, but I am assuming that I cannot sort in one place all contacts, calendar items, notes, and tasks, based on a category. For example category Project A.
Thus it is weird I have all these different options of putting categories on stuff but I cannot view them all together.Anonymous
February 19, 2006
I agree with the idea of locking the bar to the desktop - I'm trying to use 3rd party software to achieve this and it would be much better as part of the systemAnonymous
February 19, 2006
I'd like to second Andrew, David, Johann and Peter. Please make the To-Do list available on the Windows Vista sidebar, so that it's always visible. This would be the top one feature of the upcoming Outlook 2007.Anonymous
February 19, 2006
One more for the To-Do bar right on the Desktop! There could be a keyboard key assigned system wide, so when you press it, you get the To-Do Bar on top of any other windows you're working on! Keep up with the amazing work you're doing redesigning Office, specially Outlook. At last, a true PRODUCTIVITY application, for personal life and/or work.Anonymous
February 20, 2006
Thanks for all of your comments about the To-Do Bar and the Vista Desktop. We're working on it! :)
-MelissaAnonymous
February 20, 2006
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February 20, 2006
I heavily use catagories for tasks, but rarely for mail messages -- folders seem to take the place of that in the way I work (I have 100's of folders).
How do you guys see folders and catagories interacting?Anonymous
February 21, 2006
A little off topic, but I couldn't resist:
"I usually keep an Outlook Note (am I the only one who uses these?)"
Yes, because they are really sad. If Notes was more like an outliner like TreePad people would use them. Making Notes useful and the ability to create sub-tasks are really key features that I'm amazed aren't in Outlook 2007.Anonymous
February 23, 2006
wow, i just found this blog after doing a sercrh for 'view tasks in email folder' on google and the new to-do bar is gonna do exactly that!!! can't wait to use it.
Max.Anonymous
February 24, 2006
Firstly, I agree with the gent on categories needing more structure and the comment about notes needing an outliner. I still use Ecco from 94 only because of it's outline and folder structure giving me complete flexibility and control at the same time. I understand that in the mid-nineties MS was looking to buy it from Netmanage to integrate or build outlook partly from it. Didn't happen. Ecco died. I'm sad.Anonymous
February 26, 2006
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March 19, 2006
I'm using Color Categories with my GTD process quite nicely. I only assign colors to my GTD contexts and use clear categories for my regular categories.
What I really wish I could do, is create some rules that automatically assign categories to messages and tasks based upon the categories I've manually assigned to contacts that are related.
For instance, when I get an email from someone in my address book to which I've assigned the "Colleague" category, I'd like my incoming mail rule to see that category on the Sender and automatically apply it to the message coming in. That would drastically reduce the number of emails I have to process at each sitting, because I can ignore certain categories of email when I'm at work, and others when I'm at home.
Also, it's nice that you've increased the number of colors, but why do you still have such a small number of colors? Why can't we assign any color we want from a standard color picker? I'd like to be able to have lots of shades of the same color, so I can group related categories by similar colors.
For example, let's say an item has been assigned these three categories:
* @Any Computer
* Work - Acme Corporation
* Expense Reports
It's not as important to me that I memorize the color assignments as much as being able to glance at my calendar or task list and see that a particular item has been assigned to these three different categories; one of which is my GTD context (probably in a distinctive color) and the other two are both work related, so they might be different shades of a similar color.
The real power of colors is not precision, but the information you can get at a glance.Anonymous
March 24, 2006
>> Outlook Note (am I the only one who uses these?)
No you are not the only one, have you guys ever considered linking these to a Sharepoint list (Announcements, or bLog?)
EdAnonymous
March 29, 2006
I agree with all six comments from Hank's yellow note. I can't wait to see this feature implemented!!!Anonymous
May 23, 2006
It's probably too late for the Office 2007, but it'd be really nice to see a feature that would learn to pre-select a quick click category or move-to folder based on keywords in the email and the sender. I know I have a number of folders, such as for personal correspondence, where new items almost always go into the same folder if they're from one person, for example. Having outlook "learn" this would be an amazing feature, and even better if it could synchronize this data with Exchange.Anonymous
May 24, 2006
I think ClearContext will do just this.Anonymous
May 28, 2006
Hi Hank,
I'll show you the way the Outlook is used by me (and many of my co-workers too) and you shall see the negative impact Outlook 2007 is inroducing to our well-organized way of working with categories.
My primary view in my e-mail folder is Category view grouped by categories. So in my Inbox I see first uncategorized messages (all that are coming as new messages) and then are groups of already categorized e-mails.
I use in-cell editing so I can give category to any e-mail directly editing the text of category without opening the e-mail (I see it in Preview).
The key for Category name for specific e-mail may be:
- Project name (usually Company name and Project name ie. Microsoft Cobra, PTK IBSMS etc.)
- General category (ie. Conferences, Marketing, WWW, Sales, Shopping, Mailings etc.)
- Company name (ie. Doubletake, VMware etc.)
Additionally I differentiate internal communication from external/customer communication by adding special character to the category name, ie:
- Communication with the customer in project - category: Microsoft Cobra
- Communication with my co-workers in the same project - category: _Microsoft Cobra
Such way of filling the categories enables me to quickly go for specific project/theme (and I have hundreds of them) regardles of who sent ma an e-mail. Additionally despite having many messages in my inbox I still see not-yet-categorized messages on top of my inbox (basically messages need taking care of).
Previously I used folders for categorization of messages but it proved to be non-efficient way. Flagged messages moved to folders was not easily accessible (I was not able to get them all in single view by changing the view), additionally not moving them to folders fast enough was causing complete mess in my Inbox.
So categories (without limits) proved to be very successful and I could use flags with different colors for easy marking them for future action.
Outlook 2007 (which I'm trying to use for some time) completely destroyed my well-organized "categories world" and I still can't find substitute for this. I also can't understand what led you to changing the categories so much (I really see no reason for such simplification).
Summary of the problem:
1. O2007 does not allow of in-cell editing of Categories so there is no way for quick categorization if you use 100s of categories.
2. Adding of new categories is very difficult - you have to go through separate window. Really makes use of categories harder than before.
3. In my opinion there are always several possible layers of categorization. Combining all the methods available into one does not really solve the problem. It limits the number of ways Outlook could be used to only one scenario suitable for some people (group may be really huge but still from my point of view this is limitation of possibilities - not the extension).
I'm really interested in your opinion.Doyou think it will be possible to have in-cell editing of categiores in final Outlook 2007?Anonymous
June 05, 2006
One thing that is really missing in my view, is the possibility to search categorized items other than mail. I don't understand that you can add categories to tasks and appointments, yet you cannot search them or create a dedicated Search Folder for it. I really would like to see that functionality in OLK2007!Anonymous
June 13, 2006
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June 17, 2006
I just ran across the Outlook 2007 beta 2 change regarding categories. I must be missing something but the new schema is definately going in the wrong direction for me. I fully agree with Michal that this is way too much simplification. I just brought my Outlook 2003 contacts over (I have probably 75 important categories) and while I can see them, I can't find the process to add or modify my previous structure in the new world. Color may be nice for some applications, but the loss of Outlook 2003 category functionality would keep me from migrating. Maybe I just haven't spent sufficient time with the product, to see how I can get from where I am to where I want to be in Outlook 2007.
Hank, how would you implement the concepts in Sally McGhee's book from Microsoft Press "Take Back Your Life" regarding the use of Outlook 2003 categories? (pages 100-109)
I just spend a lot of time installing Outlook Connector so categories would work with MSN mail and Outlook 2003. Where is connector headed with Outlook 2007?
John RummelAnonymous
June 27, 2006
While the Categories feature has been enhanced in Outlook 2003, the feature works mostly the same way it did in 2003. The data schema for categories is still exactly the same -- it's a comma-delineated text field on items. You can still have many categories in your Master Category List (by choosing All Categories... and editing the list) and you can still assign many categories to a given item. I'm not aware of any category functionality loss that has significantly contributed to the people being unable to migrate to Outlook 2007. If you have specific complaints about something you used to be able to do that you can't anymore, let me know.
Hank Leukart
Outlook Program ManagerAnonymous
August 08, 2006
I agree with the previous comment about creating rules to auto categorize incoming mail corresponding to the sender's category in my contacts. I am a consultant and have my contacts categorized by the companies where they work. I would like to setup a rule where any e-mail coming from someone I have in the XYZ Company category to also have the XYZ Company category. I can currently create a rule to automatically categorize icoming mail based on the sender, but I have to manually and each sender to the rule. Every time I create a new contact, I have to adjust the rule. A real pain.Anonymous
August 13, 2006
One issue I have with the approach taken with category definition is that it is user/application specific. This is all well and good until you start using Public Folders. When you have a public folder calendar, and want to use categories on this, you end up with synchronisation issues (i.e. the categories - names, colours, and shortcuts - are defined per user/client).Anonymous
September 26, 2006
I would prefer to have the ability to set my folders to specific colors. I already set certain inbound mail to colors to readily identify key senders. I have a large number of pst files and other folders that it would greatly improve my search and sort capability if I could set them to a specific color.
Is this in the future works?Anonymous
September 26, 2006
Brad,
This is definitely something we have thought about, and hopefully we will get to sometime in the future.
Thanks for writing.
-MelissaAnonymous
September 27, 2006
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September 27, 2006
In O12, having categories that are "not in the master category list" can happen if you have used interim Beta builds - you shouldn't see this if you have never used a Beta build. Regardless, the situation can be rectified. When you are in the categories dialog (Categorize->All Categories...), select the "not in master category list" category, click "new" and add a color (your choice), and then click ok. The category will be added to the master category list.
-MelissaAnonymous
October 16, 2006
The following is the second in a series of two posts from Jon Kaufthal, a program manager from the ProjectAnonymous
December 26, 2006
Hi, I'm Karla from Mexico, I'd like to know if there's any way to get able flags from a first message. I mean, can I select the flag color I want to use to the message I'm creating before send it?. I can select color only when I reaply a marked message, but I wanna send the first message with a flag wich I selected. Any idea?. Maybe there's a macro to do tis. I wish you can help me. Thank very much for reading this comment. And, I'm so sorry about my English, I know it's not good enought, I hope you can undesrtand it :) Greetings!, Karla Renteria (karla_grq@hotmail.com)Anonymous
December 28, 2006
Carla, Unfortunately, there is no way to set the color category when sending. You can however, set the flag on send. I hope this helps. -MelissaAnonymous
January 24, 2007
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January 24, 2007
Rykie, Actually, we use the same field in Outlook 2007 (categories) as we do in Outlook 2003, so it should work. The people who are using Outlook 2003 need to add the category column to their view (and in earlier versions.) The colors, however, are Outlook 2007 only. -MelissaAnonymous
March 09, 2007
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March 19, 2007
How do I get all the catagories from my Outlook 2003 into 2007. I keep my data local & had no problem importing the pst file for all the old emails, appointents etc,. But the catagory list just shows the basic included items. ThanksAnonymous
March 25, 2007
You are absolutely right. I use categories to identify mails just like you do. that said, all history. I used to be able to send mails categorized and got replies back categorized. Not anymore, that has been dropped as people felt the categories I assigned where not theirs. which now means that I have to assign categories not only on mails I receive, no, also on replies I send and again on any mail I receive. to make matters worse, I cannot even type my categories into the category field but I have to select them time and again. You just destroyed my way of working completely. In general, I love 2007 Office but this is a major issue for me, please turn it back on..... JayAnonymous
April 09, 2007
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April 11, 2007
I had the misfortune of "upgrading" from Outlook 2003 to 2007 today. I am in awe of the stupidity involved in the changes to flags and categories. If you would have just added the color feature to the categories, you would have had an improvement. If you would have also added customizable labels to the existing multi-color flags, you would have scored a home-run. What did you do instead? You completely ruined both the category and the flag features of Outlook 2003! For years, I’ve been using the category feature to classify every email that I send or receive. Each email also gets a priority flag (red, blue, yellow, etc.) The “upgrade” today changed thousands of my carefully categorized and flagged emails so that they all had the same red flag and changed all my categories to “Color Red”, “Color Blue”, etc. How could this possibly be interpreted as an improvement?!? Now, instead of a priority flag with an easily distinguishable color, I have a choice of… well, let’s see…. red, lighter red, lighter red, lighter red, red or red. Were you completely stoned when made this decision? And it just gets better. I can’t assign a category to an outgoing email? Why the heck not? For the love of Mike, at the VERY least release a patch that puts colors back on to the flags instead of six shades of red.Anonymous
April 20, 2007
I realize this is an old thread, however, I have upgraded form OL 2003 to 2007 and am stumped. I had about a dozen text categories (personal, vendor, advertising, etc.) that i used to organize my contacts. In list view I see the categories, but in normal contact view there is no field for category and thus no way to enter in a category for a new contact. Yea, I can make it "red" or "blue" category but that is useless to me. I simply want a category field to be displayed in each contact record as it was in 2003. What was wrong with that feature that it had to be expunged?Anonymous
May 14, 2007
I am aware this is an old thread but perhaps as relevant today as it was in 2006. My major gripe is regarding the issue raised in "Outlook 2007 simplified categories too much". My category system is harmonised for computer folders, emails, home inventory, actually everything in my life. The categories branch down several levels. My emails are organised by physical folders, and within the folders I use categories for the topic under discussion. At this level I have more than 100 active categories. In Outlook 2003, the Catgeory masterlist maintained my top level categories and avoided a micro-clutter. Instead of in-cell editing that enabled me to maintain ad-hoc categories, I am now forced to maintain a register of 100 odd master list before I can select one. Outlook achieved its greatness on back of its flexibility which swept aside many of its competitors into Chapter 11. You are now making the same mistake the failed companies did -- assume that you know precisely what customers want. Please go back to your heritage -- give the customers choice, let them decide how best to micro-structure the program around their needs.Anonymous
May 14, 2007
I am aware this is an old thread but perhaps as relevant today as it was in 2006. My major gripe is regarding the issue raised in "Outlook 2007 simplified categories too much". My category system is harmonised for computer folders, emails, home inventory, actually everything in my life. The category level branches down several levels. My emails are organised by folders, and within the folders I use categories for tthe topic under discussion. At this level I have more than 100 active categories. In Outlook 2003, the Catgeory masterlist maintained my top level categories and avoided a micro-clutter. Instead of in-cell editing that enabled me to maintain ad-hoc categories, I am now forced to maintain a register of 100 odd master list. Outlook achieved its greatness on back of its flexibility which swept aside many of its competitors into Chapter 11. You are now making the same mistake the failed companies did -- assume that you know precisely what customers want. Please go back to your heritage -- give the customers choices, let them decide how best to micro-structure the program around their needs.Anonymous
May 22, 2007
Is there any way to migrate custom categories to other users? I need to continue using this feature as we have been doing in the past (we use a custom tool that edits our registry). I need my coworkers to use the same Master Category List I use. What can I do?Anonymous
September 26, 2007
I need to figure out how to change categories for a single occurance of a recurring appointment. Can someone help?Anonymous
September 27, 2007
Any way to turn this off? I just upgraded to outlook 2007 and it is spending hours 'updating fmulticolor flag' - and I don't even use outlook tasks.Anonymous
September 30, 2007
HEEELP! I am loosing my mind trying to use color categories via automatic formatting in in the Outlook 2007 Calendar. They are constantly dissapearing! When we set the color categories in "rules for this view" in automatic formatting we go back after closing the program and they are gone! So we have to go back into automatic formatting and enter them again! What is the simple thing I am missing here?Anonymous
November 26, 2007
Is ther any way to make more than 3 appointments show on the calandar...Oultook 2003 showed more than this but I have not found where to change Outlook 2007.Anonymous
December 19, 2007
I am trying to use automatic formatting in Outlook 2007 Calendar as I was doing in Outlook 2003 Calendar I have a rule that sets a specific color for an appointment if a specific condition is met (based on subject and category fields of that appointment. It seems that the color assigned to a category (even if "no color" is selected) have priority over the color that is set by the automatic formatting rule. (for example, if my business category is blue and my rule wants to set the color to red if there is an "ok" in the subject and category is "business", then the color of the appointment will be blue, not red - as in Outlook 2003) Is there a solution for this or this is the expected behavior of Outlook 2007 Calendar's automatic formatting? PS: automatic formatting w/o having a category set works as expectedAnonymous
January 08, 2008
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January 10, 2008
After converting to Outlook 2007, we discovered that we cannot change the label (now category) for a single occurrence of recurring appointments. We can only change categories for the entire series. Is there a way around this? This is huge to the functionality of Outlook for our company!Anonymous
February 04, 2008
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March 21, 2008
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March 21, 2008
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March 27, 2008
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March 30, 2008
Hank, I too LOVE the ability to create free-text categories. I want to type a category in when I am creating a new task and NOT associate it with a color. In my system of tasks and categories I use to number them which was a way to prioritize. Now I can't do that. Please bring back the ability to create free-text categories! Thanks for your time, chuck evansAnonymous
April 23, 2008
Not sure if this is resolved in Outlook 2007, but I am looking around now for a solution with Office Outlook 2003 to invoke multiple flags. I'm being told it's not possible, yet this is difficult for me to accept because it just seems obvious that sometimes during a work week there might be several specific emails in an inbox that need a flag. I find myself constantly involved with several projects at the same time. Each one gets their own set of emails, as well as the hundreds from the rest of the company.Anonymous
April 23, 2008
Oh, never mind! "For Follow Up" seems to do what I want. Now I feel silly....