Various first use questions...

[Anonymous]

Ho Jon –

Ok, I downloaded and installed.  That you!  Here a few quick questions:

1. License:
I see I am operating under a temp trial license (30 days), which is great.  Thanks.  But, I can’t tell what product I’m using during this trial – is it ‘Professional’?   If it’s not, I assume there will be no big deal to upgrade to the Professional version once the trial is over.  Right?

2. Menu builder:
I am setting up the category tree, and I find myself matching my inbox folder tree (parents and children).  This seems right to me, but tell me if you advise otherwise.  I am wondering if I should capture an image of my Menu Builder tree and send it to you for any advice.  You tell me.  I really don’t want to redo this once I have it set up.  Early advice may be good.   

3. Menu builder:
The first thing I tried to do was to categories your emails (such as those below).  I did this by setting up the following tree in Menu Builder.  But when I categorized your email below, the Outlook Category list showed these tree items separately not as one category: HW, SW, Tools.  So, are ‘commas’ the problem?  Should I not use commas in the Category caption.

1. Work
  1.4 Propoint,
    1.4.7 Admin
      1.4.7.1 HW, SW, Tools.   
   
4. Synch with PDA:
I recently bought a smartphone (HTC Touch Pro, with windows mobile of course).  I haven’t synched it yet with Outlook, but before I do I really would like your input.  Are there any issues whatsoever with losing ‘Categories’ during the Outlook synch to/from a windows based smartphone?  My last PDA was Palm device, and it had two problems with the sync: (a) it truncated Category names, and so when you sync’d back to the laptop the categories were not recognized and so added back to Outlook.  This doubled categories; (b) the number of Categories was  limited which I found stupid and impossible to work with.   

5. OS, Outlook Configuration:
Finally, my goal is to ultimately have the best setup that you recommend.  I am see some of the search features, for example, require a specific configuration.  Look, my config is currently: XP-SP3 and Office 2003.  I am not eager to upgrade to Vista, but perhaps an upgrade to Office 07 may be in order.  You tell me what you recommend.

Thank you! 

[JonZimmerman]

I have replied below.  Also, may I have your permission to post this correspondence on the VeranoSoft Community Forum?  That way others will also benefit from the information.  If you grant permission, then I will post this anonymously so that your name and contact information will not be identified.

1. License
Yes, you are correct, the trial version for Categorize Plus enables all of the features available in the Professional version of Categorize Plus.  In addition, you can activate only the features available in the other versions of Categorize Plus without having to first uninstall the trial program.  By entering the activation code for the version you have purchased (or for the free version), this will then activate only the features available in that version.

2. Menu Builder
Yes, initially I also mimicked my folder structure into the Menu Builder hierarchy.  Actually, there is a wizard in Categorize Plus that will do this for you automatically.  The Auto Categorize by Folder Wizard will automatically categorize all of your Outlook items using your folder and sub-folder names and will add these Categories into the Menu Builder hierarchy using the same familiar folder hierarchy.  Also, this wizard includes the option to copy all of your Outlook items to a single Outlook folder.  Locating all of the items into a single folder allows the folder to be easily filtered or searched using the newly created categories. 

The Auto Categorize Wizard is initiated by selecting the “Run Wizard” command from the Auto Categorize Options page inside the Categorize Plus Options Dialog.  Please refer to the Categorize Plus Options help topic below for further information.

Run Wizard Command: 
http://www.veranosoft.com/reference/scr/html/Auto%20Categorize%20Options.htm   

3. Multi-Criteria Category Tags
Yes, commas are an illegal character and cannot be used in Outlook categories.  You can verify this by trying to create a category in Outlook using a comma.  Instead, in CP, the comma serves a special purpose, since it is used to designate multiple categories assigned to a single menu item. 

This is actually a feature in Categorize Plus known as Multi-Criteria Category Tags.  Whenever you enter categories separated by commas in the Menu Builder criteria field, then when categorizing, each Outlook item is categorized with all of the categories in the multi-criteria Category Tag.  When filtering and searching, then each category in a multi-criteria Category Tag is first joined by a logical AND conjunction and then enclosed in parentheses before Categorize Plus combines the criteria with other filters or searches.  Please refer to the Category Tag Criteria help topic below for additional information regarding the use of multi-criteria Category Tags.

Category Tag Criteria help topic:
http://www.veranosoft.com/reference/scr/html/Category Tag.htm

4. Synch with PDA
I have experienced no problems when synchronizing Outlook categories with my PDA using Windows Mobile Center in Vista, nor have I experienced problems when using Windows Active Sync in Windows XP.  I have not had any experience with Smart Phones that use different sync software.  Let me know if you experience any problems.

5. OS, Outlook Configuration
It is not necessary to upgrade to Vista, nor is it necessary to upgrade to Outlook 2007 to make use of Categorize Plus.  However, if you do upgrade to Outlook 2007, then you will get the benefit of using the full integration of Color Categories.  You will also be able to use Outlook Instant Search.  Therefore, I would recommend upgrading to Outlook 2007, but the upgrade to Vista is less important.

Let me know if you have additional questions or comments.

[Anonymous]

Thanks Jon –

1. I removed the commas and replaced with dashes: “SW-HW-Tools”.  And, still, this results in three separate categories not one.  Look, bottomline please: What are your design rules for proper category naming?  No special chars whatsoever?
 
2. Your default categories seem to start with an ampersand (&).  Curious what that may mean. 

3. I will upgrade to Office 07 because I would like colors.  Thanks.

[Anonymous]

Another question:

4. Regarding the folder tree, hm, so tell me: Are you recommending I wipe that out totally and flatten to one root folder only, no sub-folders?  Please clarify.  I would expect that the categorizing and searching would work just dandy within whatever folder structure tree may be in place, but perhaps that is not the case.  I am real hesitant to wipe out my folder structure until I am convinced this is necessary. 

[JonZimmerman]

Thanks for your questions.  It helps me to understand how you are using Categorize Plus and how to further improve the documentation.

1. Menu Item Caption vs. Criteria Fields
First, regarding your question concerning the Category naming conventions, the category name “SW-HW-Tools” is a valid Outlook Category, and therefore this name should work just fine.  However, I believe that you may be confused between the menu item “caption” and the menu item “criteria” fields that are used in the Categorize Plus Menu Builder.  To summarize, the text entered in the menu item “caption” field is the same text that is displayed in the Categorize Plus drop down menus and this field can contain any characters that you wish, including commas.  On the other hand, the text entered into the menu item “criteria” field contains the actual categories that are assigned to Outlook items. 

Therefore, my previous comments regarding the use of Multi-Criteria Category Tags refers to the text entered into the menu item “criteria” field and not to the “caption” field.  Please refer to the help topics below for additional information.  Also, I strongly recommend that you watch the Getting Started Tutorial, which explains the difference between the various Menu Builder fields.

Entering Menu Captions:
http://www.veranosoft.com/reference/scr/html/Entering%20Menu%20Captions.htm

Entering Category Tag Criteria:
http://www.veranosoft.com/reference/scr/html/Category%20Tag.htm

Getting Started Tutorial:
http://www.veranosoft.com/Getting-Started-with-Outlook-Categories.html


2. Use ‘&’ characters in Menu Captions to designate Keyboard Accelerators
Next, regarding your question concerning the ‘&” in front of characters in the menu item “caption” (not “criteria”) field, the answer is simple.  Each Categorize Plus drop down menu employs the use of Underlined Keyboard Accelerators the same as those used in the standard Outlook menus.  Therefore, by adding an ‘&’ in front of a character in the caption field of a menu item, then that character becomes a keyboard accelerator.  Then, all you need to do is press the “alt” key and then press the underlined letter to select the menu item. 

For example, to open the Categorize drop down menu you would press “alt” and then “z”, since the “z” character is underlined in the caption of this menu button.  And you only have to press the “alt” key once to then navigate through the entire menu hierarchy using the accelerators.  Underlined Keyboard Accelerators are a valuable feature in Categorize Plus, and therefore I recommend that you refer to the help topic below and to the Getting Started Tutorial for more information regarding the use of this powerful feature.

Entering Menu Captions:
http://www.veranosoft.com/reference/scr/html/Entering%20Menu%20Captions.htm

Getting Started Tutorial:
http://www.veranosoft.com/Getting-Started-with-Outlook-Categories.html


3. Single Outlook Folders
Finally, regarding the use of a folder tree, one key advantage of using categories is that you are no longer limited to placing Outlook items into specific folders.  Often times Outlook items span multiple subjects and do not fit into a single folder.  For these items, it makes sense to use categories instead of folders, since you can categorize items with an almost unlimited number of categories.  In addition, by using the Categorize Plus menu hierarchy, you can filter and search for previously categorized items using the same menu hierarchy that you used to categorize these items.  In this respect, it makes perfect sense to place all of your Outlook items into a single folder, or at least to use a few number of key Outlook folders.  This is how I currently manage my Outlook items and I find it much more efficient than using a folder hierarchy.

Please continue to ask questions if you need additional information.

[Anonymous]

Thanks Jon – Boy, you break all the molds for customer-service these days; You are quick and complete and professional.  Very much appreciated.

Look, I do need to spend a little upfront time looking at the getting started tutorials, you are right.  (Heck, I make my living building and managing system projects and know the value of up-front learning before attempting to use a system).  I’m just up to my eyeballs in work and a bit overanxious now to finally get this Outlook issue addressed quickly.  Anyway, I’ll grab a glass of wine tonight and look over the links.  I’ll have more questions next few days I’m sure and will send you a note.  Thanks.  

But here’s a question already:

1. Flat Category Editor?  
Please, please tell me your Category Editor can display the hierarchy tree as per the Menu Builder!  Look, my #1 draw to your product is to once and for all apply categories based on an intuitive category hierarchy.  (Long ago, I was a devoted Ecco user.  Remember that product?).  Your Menu Builder is obviously a hierarchy interface, and what a great thing to see it.  But I just can’t seem to see that intuitive hierarchy in the Editor, and I can’t fathom why that would be.  I’ve just started building my categories; I will have a long list of category parents and children, and so I am concerned it will be inefficient for me to have to hunt through a flat Editor list . . . after having defined that very same list through an otherwise intuitive hierarchy tree format.  If the tree interface is useful in Builder, why is it deemed not useful in Editor?  Anyway, I’m probably missing something, and again need to take a breath and review the tutorial.  Please clarify.  Perhaps you may say this is resolved through using ‘filters’ (i.e., removing the portions of this flat list from view that are not applicable).  All I want is an intuitive hierarchy list to pick from, with the same expand/minimize buttons as in Menu Builder.  

Sorry to be trouble, and on a weekend no less.  Thanks,

[JonZimmerman]

Yes, I am familiar with Ecco, and I was also an avid Ecco user before I was forced to migrate to Outlook.  I miss Ecco very much.

In addition, you are not the first user to request for the Menu Builder hierarchy to appear in the Category Editor flat list of categories.  However, this is not the case, and there is a very important reason why this is so.  Please allow me to explain.  The intended purpose of the Category Editor’s flat list of categories is to quickly edit categories that were previously assigned to Outlook items, and it is not intended to be used for categorization.  Instead, categorization should be performed using the drop down menus.  By using the drop down menus, you gain all of the advantages of the category hierarchy, and therefore, you do not need to display the hierarchy in the Category Editor. 

The best way to use the Category Editor is to sort the flat list of categories by the check box at the top of the list.  This is done by clicking on the checkbox icon in the column header.  Then, whenever you select a new Outlook item, you will immediately see which categories are assigned to those items, and you can then very quickly edit these categories.  Furthermore, if you wish to add new categories from your hierarchy, all you need to do is to select these categories from the Categorize drop down menu and the categories will be immediately added as checked to the flat list of categories.  It is that easy.

It all comes down to speed.  To categorize an item with multiple categories, the fastest way is to use the keyboard accelerators in the drop down menus and not the flat list of categories in the Category Editor. Typically I structure all of my menus using accelerators and then I never use the mouse.  My hands become so fast that I can usually categorize an email with a dozen categories in under 2 seconds.  After awhile you don’t even think about it and your hands just know what to press.  Kind of like playing an instrument.  If you were to try to accomplish this using the Category Editor, then you would first need to expand the hierarchy, then select the categories, then select save.  Hence, the drop down menus are much faster.

I recommend that you give it a try to see if you agree with my explanation.  Let me know what you think.

[Anonymous]

Thanks Jon.  Trust me, fewest key strokes for me the better.  I am hopeful from your explanation below that the accelerator will help. What I need to do is (a) review all the tutorials for goodness sakes, before I bug you more; then (b) get to use it to really kick the tires.  Love for this to work.

Two more questions, however:

Sorry friend, here’s another question already. 

1. Accelerator:
You can categorize a dozen in 2 seconds.  That sounds great.  I haven’t barely started building my Menu, though as I suspect it will closely mirror my Folder structure I can expect perhaps 40 or 50 category items.  Can these really be ‘accelerated’ through a quick-key of some sort?  Is there a practical limitation to the number of categories? 

2. Outlook Rules Wizard:
In the interest of blessed automation and fewest key strokes as possible, one rather obvious need I have is to set an Outlook Rule to automatically categorize some emails when they arrive (one obvious example: client ‘A’ will always be categorized to the client ‘A’ category. I have lots of clients and lots of projects, etc.).  Concern: I believe I just confirmed that your plug-in does not seem to be recognized by the Outlook Rules wizard.  That right?  In other words, when I set up a rule to automatically categorize some email based on the ‘from address’, the Categorize Plus categories are MIA.  Only the stupid, flat, outlook category list is available for setting up such a rule.  Damn.  Please tell me I’m wrong.

I know you are seeing a theme with me:  I do all my thinking and organizing in hierarchies . . . and I used to think everybody did.  No more.  Never understood why Microsoft felt that a hierarchical interface was intuitive to File Explorer and Outlook Files, but not to categories.    I have nearly 10 thousand emails, tasks, calendar items just since Jan 1 this year.  When I stop and realize the critical business priorities, client needs, staff needs, and other critical communications that are embedded in this mega-mass and also the significant manual effort it takes me every day to organize by folders and use the flat-categories and ‘follow up’ flags, blah, blah  . . . it is mind-boggling. 

Really grateful for your help.  Family is calling me for dinner.  Back to this tomorrow.

Thanks!!!

[JonZimmerman]

Very good questions.

1. Keyboard Accelerators
In my current Menu Builder menu file, I currently have 682 menu items structured 5-levels deep.  In addition, my menu file has been as high as 1300+ menu items with no degradation of performance.  It only takes slightly longer to load the menus when Outlook first starts, that is all.  There really is no limit.  I frequently categorize items with a dozen or so categories and I have never experienced a problem.  And the same accelerator keystrokes can be used to filter and search for these items, making the accelerators and the hierarchy even more useful.


2. Outlook Rules Wizard
Unfortunately, the Menu Builder hierarchy does not appear in the Outlook Rules Wizard.  However, you can easily synchronize your Menu Builder Category Tags with the Outlook Categories List.  To do this, first open the Menu Builder, then select the “Tools” command, then select the “Copy to Outlook Categories” command.  This will copy all of your Menu Builder Category Tags to the Outlook Categories list.  You can then select these categories from inside the Rules Wizard.  Of course the Rules Wizard will still only display a flat list of categories, but at least you only have to create the rule once per contact, and then you can use the rule over and over again.

Another option is to create Email Address menu items for each of your contacts.  Email Address menu items are different than Category Tag menu items in that the text stored in the criteria field of Email Address menu items is used to find Outlook items that contain a specific email address.  This is done by searching the "To", "From", "CC" or "BCC" address fields in Outlook items for names or addresses that match the text stored in the menu item's criteria field.  In addition, since Email Address menu items are not used to categorize Outlook items, they only appear in the Filter and Search drop down menus and do not appear in the Categorize menu. 

The main purpose of Email Address menu items is to allow users to filter and search Outlook emails based on the email address contained in Outlook items, without having to first categorize each item with a Category Tag that is associated with each Contact.  This actually saves a step, since most Outlook items already contain the contact's name, you don't need to first categorize the items with the contacts name to find the item in Outlook.  For more information regarding the use of the different types of menu items in Categorize Plus, the please refer to the follow help topics.

Menu Items:
http://www.veranosoft.com/reference/scr/html/Menu%20Types.htm

Email Address Criteria Field:
http://www.veranosoft.com/reference/scr/html/Email%20Address.htm

Changing Menu Types:
http://www.veranosoft.com/reference/scr/html/Add%20Menu%20Type.htm


3. Category Actions
Finally, concerning the topic of automation, one of the more recent features added to Categorize Plus is known as Category Actions.  Category Actions are actions that Categorize Plus automatically performs based on the categories assigned to Outlook items.  There are six possible actions that can be automatically performed when categorizing items, and the user is given complete control to determine when these actions are applied.  Actions include the ability to automatically move messages into specified folders, to automatically add or remove categories, and to automatically turn emails into tasks or appointments.  Please refer to the following help topic and tutorial for additional information.

Category Actions Tutorial:
http://www.veranosoft.com/Category-Actions.html

Category Actions Help Topic:
http://www.veranosoft.com/reference/scr/html/Category%20Actions.htm

Take care.

[Anonymous]

Wow.  That all sounds excellent.  Ok, thank you.  Look, I do have plenty to chew on and learn right now and your help has been wonderful.  I am done with my dinner, and need to review your links. 

Last two questions for the night, I promise!

1. Accelerator w/out Opening Item:
I already have a real good handle on the accelerator for categorizing.  Thank you.  To minimize mouse clicks, can’t I do this categorizing WITHOUT actually opening up the email or task item?  Better still, can I select an entire group of emails and apply one or many categories using the accelerator strokes?   Really don’t want to have to open up an email to categorize if I don’t have to.  (The automation you relayed below will help much I realize, but, still, I do wonder if categorizing via the accelerator strokes really requires opening an individual item.).

2. Changing Categories:
After you create a category in Builder, and after you apply that category to let’s say a gazillion emails . . . can you go back to the Builder to slightly change the caption name or criteria . . . and have that change applied to the gazillion emails retroactively?  I have been fiddlin’ with it, and it appears that once a category is set, when you change it, even slightly, you will need to go back to each ever-lovin item and apply it yet again (though I’m sure the Category Actions may help, it would be best if the change was applied automatically at the point you make the change in the Builder). 

With these two last questions, I promise I’m done bugging you for now.  Really grateful for your help.  Great product.  Thank you!

[Anonymous]

I just answered my question #1 below.  I see I don’t need to open up the item.  I can categorize from the inbox list directly.  Same it appears for tasks, calendars.  Great.

[JonZimmerman]

Some more good questions.  Since you already answered question #1, I will address question #2.

2. Changing Outlook Item Categories
Within the Menu Builder, you can change the menu item caption field at any time, and since the caption field only represents the caption displayed in the drop down menu, changing this text in the caption field will have no affect on items that have been previously categorized.  Furthermore, changing the text in the criteria field for a Category Tag menu item will not propagate to all items categorize with that menu item, simply because, in most cases, the user will be selecting a new criteria to be associated with the menu item and does not want to replace all items previously categorized using that menu item.   

Instead, to replace categories previously assigned to Outlook items, I recommend using the Category Editor.  To do this, simply select all of the items that you want to replace a category, then double click that category as displayed in the Category Editor.  This will allow you to edit the actual category name.  While editing the category name, you can then press the Category Editor action button to select a new category from the Outlook Category Picker, or you can select a Menu Builder category from the drop down list, or you can manually type a new category name.  Then, when you select the ‘Save’ button in the Category Editor, Categorize Plus will replace the original category for each Outlook item in the selection with the new category you have selected.  Please refer to the Editing Category Editor Categories help topic for additional information.

Editing Category Editor Categories help topic:
http://www.veranosoft.com/reference/scr/html/Editing Category Editor Categories.htm

I know that this explanation is a little complicated, so let me know if this needs further explanation.

[Anonymous]

Great Jon, thank you!  You’ve been so helpful, and over a weekend no less.

Have a great Sunday.  I’ll get things set up and let you know next week when I have additional questions, which as you can tell I probably will.

Again, thank you!

PS – I just noticed from your reply below, that your reply appears ‘already’ categorized based on how I categorized the thread in the first place.  Pretty cool.

[Anonymous]

Hi Jon –

Ok, over the weekend I set things up and as of last night I believed I had it humming along.  First, here’s what I accomplished:

1. Full build of the Menu using Builder.  I invested some energy here, because it appears to me possibly problematic to change the assignment of categories later.  So, my Menu I have now I believe I can live with for some time . . . which is good.
2. Except for your ‘Tasks’ tree, I removed your samples (though I saved an image for future reference).
3. Cleared Outlook Categories, and then copies Builder Categories … using the ‘Tool’ function as you relayed.
4. Lastly, I started to apply categories to emails and tasks.  Just a few to test, and confirm the Filter also.   

But now, this morning I have a problem and I’m stuck:

1. Bug?
As I am navigating through my email Inbox, the Category-Plus toolbar appears to be ‘stuck’ on a particular set of 2 Categories.  In other words, as I select (not open) any email among the thousands the Category toolbar shown only the same ‘2’ categories and it just doesn’t change.  This is wrong, correct?  Shouldn’t the toolbar reflect whatever categories that have been set for a particular ‘selected’ email item (or show now categories if the email has not yet been categorized)? In fact, most of these emails should still be uncategorized because I have just started categorizing. When I open any of these emails, including the one or two in which ‘should’ have already been categories, the Category-Plus toolbar now within the open-email-panel is in fact blank (i.e., no categories).  Ugh!  Also blank is the Outlook Category box (lower right) and also the Editor.  Hey, as I’m typing this, I just confirmed that what has appeared to fail this morning is ANY ability to categorize from an unopened email (i.e., an inboix item that is just selected as ‘active’ but not open).  I see that I can only categorize after opening the email entirely.  Last night I was able to categorize based only on the inbox list (i.e., without opening).  Now I see I have to open the email entirely in order to categorize. Any ideas? 
 
2. Question:
This is somewhat off topic, but I thought if anyone would know you would.  Are you aware of any way to add a ‘text’ field (as a coluimn) to the email inbox?  Sounds simple, but alas I find it impossible.  I can use the Field Chooser of course, and I can even appear to slide a ‘Text’ field to a column position within my inbox.  However, this Text field is unusable.  Fyi, this operation is allowed with tasks; I have a useful text field column to my task list for my use in adding, for example, quick notes related to the priorities for the specific day as they may pertain to a task list that otherwise may remain active spanning several days, etc.  I need to add these sorts of quick textual notes to my email inbox, but for whatever reason it appears disallowed.

Thanks!

[JonZimmerman]

Good to hear that you are setting up your menu file.  I realize that you will still have many more questions and I will try to answer your questions as soon as they come up.  I appreciate your patience in learning to use the software.

1. Bug?
Regarding your question concerning the “Bug?”, the category combo boxes that appear in the Categorize Plus toolbar are used to categorize Outlook items.  Therefore, the toolbar does not display the categories that  are currently assigned to Outlook items as you had assumed.  Instead, the categories that are currently assigned to Outlook items are displayed in the flat list of categories in the Category Editor.  However, the Categorize Plus toolbar can be configured to either add Categories as combo boxes to the toolbar, or it can be configured to immediately categorize items without first adding the combo boxes to the toolbar.

These two options are configured by selecting the “Add Categories to the Toolbar” option that is located under the “Tools” sub-menu under the “Categorize” drop down menu.  If you enable this option, then category combo boxes will be added to the toolbar instead of being applied to the selected Outlook items.  This feature is useful if you are repeatedly using the same categories over and over again to assign categories to multiple selections in Outlook.  Once you have added categories as combo boxes to the toolbar, then you can select the “Categorize” command, which is the first command under the Categorize drop down menu, and this will categorize the selected Outlook items with the categories that are displayed in the toolbar. 

Apparently you have mistakenly enabled this option and the Categories are being added as combo boxes to the toolbar.  If you prefer to categorize items immediately when the menu item is selected from the drop down menu, and you do not want the categories to be added as combo boxes to the toolbar, then de-select the “Add Categories to Toolbar” option.  This is explained under the following help topic.

Categorize Menu help topic:
http://www.veranosoft.com/reference/scr/html/Categorize%20Menu.htm

Let me know if this answers your 1st question.


2. Question
Regarding your 2nd question, in order to edit a text field directly in a column that is displayed in the Inbox, you need to enable the “Allow in-cell editing” option.  This can be done by selecting View | Arrange By | Current View | Customize Current View.  When the dialog opens, then click the Other Settings button and then check the box labeled “Allow in-cell editing”, then click OK, OK. 

Therefore, after you add the text column to the Inbox folder, then enable the “Allow in-cell editing” option and this will allow you to edit the text in this column.  Does this answer your question?