Color-Coding Appointments Automatically in Outlook 2007
Microsoft Outlook, Tips & Tricks Add comments
If you have a lot of appointments, consider taking advantage of Outlook’s capability to color code-or categorize-important appointments. This means that you apply a particular category to the appointment, and Outlook changes the appointment’s background color to the color associated with the category. I showed you how to customize Outlook’s categories in “Creating Custom Color Categories”.
To set the category for an existing appointment, right-click the appointment, click Categorize (you can also click the Categorize toolbar button or choose Edit, Categorize), and then click the category.
Rather than color-coding appointments by hand, you can configure Outlook to automatiÂcally apply a color to an appointment based on one or more keywords in the appointment subject or notes field (or both). For example, you can set up Outlook to automatically apply a green background to appointments that include the word Budget in the subject or notes. This is called a rule, and you can create rules based on keywords, appointment times, meetÂing attendees, and other conditions.
Follow these steps to set up a rule that applies automatic color-coding:
- Choose Edit, Automatic Formatting. Outlook opens the Automatic Formatting dialog box.
- Click Add. Outlook creates a new, empty rule.
- Type a Name for the new rule.
- Use the Color list to click the color you want to apply to appointments that satisfy the new rule’s conditions.
- Click Condition. Outlook opens the Filter dialog box (see Figure 1).
- In the Search for the word(s) text box, type one or more keywords that you want Outlook to match. Note that if you enter two or more words, the appointment must match all the words to satisfy the condition.
- Use the In list to click where you want Outlook to search for the keywords: Subject Field Only, Subject and Notes Fields, or Frequently-Used Text Fields.
- If you want to color-code appointments and meetings created by another person, click Organized By and then select a contact.
- If you want to color-code appointments and meetings that have a particular attendee, click Attendees and then select a contact.
- If you want to color-code appointments by time, use the Time lists to select an operaÂtor (Starts, Ends, Created, or Modified) and a time (such as Tomorrow or Next Week).
- Click OK to return to the Automatic Formatting dialog box.
- Click OK to put the new rule into effect.
Figure 1 Use the Filter dialog box to set up the condition or conditions under which Outlook applies your automatic formatting rule.
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September 10th, 2008 at 9:00 pm
Can you tell me how to eliminate the automatic background color that is applied when creating banners?
September 19th, 2008 at 7:49 am
Make the time “free”, i had this problem too but worked it out eventually.
February 20th, 2009 at 10:52 pm
I understand about adding colors/catagory. How do you distinguish between the two? 2003 use to have this feature seperate. How do I seperate them so I just pull up catagory not just color feature?
February 26th, 2009 at 7:17 pm
After setting the automatic formatting is it possible to run these new rules on existing calendar items ?
February 27th, 2009 at 5:18 am
Can you tell me how to change my default reminder from 15 minutes?
March 18th, 2009 at 12:42 am
How do you automatically set up color codes in calendar to turn red when I decline and green when I accept? without having to do it manually?
April 22nd, 2009 at 11:50 pm
I have a user who wants to be able to add and modify color categories in XNK files (appointment calendars). She cannot do it. Those options are gray. She is an Owner of the XNK file she wants to modify.
Can anyone tell me how to do this?
May 2nd, 2009 at 3:04 am
didn’t work
May 18th, 2009 at 11:48 pm
Works very smoothly. What were the previous default categories (from Office 2003 and previous)?
May 24th, 2009 at 8:15 pm
How do you use the “More Choices” & “Advanced” tabs?
Thank You
The instructions here will color code the appts, but I would also like to Categorize them and can’t get that work nor can I find instructions.
June 16th, 2009 at 12:23 am
Rather than color-coding individual appointments, I need to color code a whole days appointments initially in one color and then as those appointments are completed, change their colors as appropriate.
How do I color code a whole days appointments initially?
Thank you.
June 26th, 2009 at 11:17 pm
wonderful! Thanks for posting this!
August 1st, 2009 at 1:45 am
The automatic formatting, or “rule” to automatically apply background color is discontinued/stopped each time I shut down Outlook Calendar and reopen the next time or next day. Help. It is a pain to set the rules every morning.
August 1st, 2009 at 1:51 am
Does this color code my personal calendar ONLY? Or when you color code a meeting does it send that color to everyone invited to that meeting?
August 4th, 2009 at 6:11 pm
Infuriating! Can’t find any detailed information anywhere about the Advanced tab in Calendar entry formatting [Automatic Formatting, Condition, Filter, Advanced]
Do the conditions ALL have to be satisfied? I would have assumed so, but apparently not…
August 26th, 2009 at 9:03 pm
I could put more faith in the information provided if only the word coffee in the “Buy Me a Cofee” button was spelled correctly!
October 23rd, 2009 at 12:20 am
how do you get the category to show up on an invitees calendar? in other words, if i categorize a meeting and invite others, how do i get it to show-up on their end?
November 11th, 2009 at 5:05 am
I have the same problem with the autimatic colour, if you apply the ‘busy’ or ‘out of office’ (rather than ‘free’) label for appointments. Is ther really no way to change the awful purple smeer? I could use ‘free’, but then the point of telling colleagues that you are in fact not free (but busy or out of office) also diappears. Thanks!