Email Address Filter

Email Address Filter combo boxes are used to filter Outlook items by searching for names or email addresses in the "From", "To", "CC" and "BCC" fields of Outlook items. Email Address Filter combo boxes are one of four types of Filter Combo Boxes available in Categorize Plus and are added to the Categorize Plus Toolbar by selecting Email Address Menu Items from the Categorize Plus Filter Menu. The example at the end of this help topic illustrates how to add an Email Address Filter combo box to the toolbar. For more information on how to create Email Address Menu Items and add them to the Filter Menu, then please refer to the Building Menus help topic.

Email Address Sub-Menu Options

Every Email Address Menu Item in the Filter Menu contains four sub-menu options that are used to add Email Address Filter combo boxes to the toolbar. Each of these sub-menu options are automatically added to the Filter Menu for each Email Address Menu Item created using the Menu Builder. Selecting any of these sub-menu options from the Filter Menu will add the selected option as an Email Address Filter combo box to the toolbar. In addition. the parent Email Address Menu Item may also be selected from the Filter Menu. If the parent Email Address Menu Item is selected, then it will be added as a group Email Address Filter combo box to the toolbar, where the children of the group filter include all four sub-menu options. For more information on using group filters, then please refer to the Group Filters and Searches help topic. For more information on using a Group Menu Hierarchy, then please refer to the Group Menu Hierarchy help topic.

Email Address Menu items include the following four sub-menu options. These sub-menu options are also illustrated in the example at the end of this help topic.

From Email Address
To Email Address
CC Email Address
BCC Email Address

Applying an Email Address Filter

Immediately after selecting an Email Address sub-menu item from the Filter Menu, Categorize Plus reads the text contained in the criteria field of the selected menu item. Categorize Plus then creates an Outlook SQL filter string that is designed to filter for Outlook items that contain this text in either the "From", "To", "CC" and "BCC" address fields. This filter string is then added to the currently applied Outlook filter and an Email Address Filter combo box is added to the toolbar.

For example, assume that the sub-menu item From John Smith is selected from the Filter Menu as shown in the illustration below. Immediately after making this selection, Categorize Plus reads the text contained in the criteria field of the selected menu item. For this example, lets assume that this criteria field contains "JSmith@writeme.com". Therefore, Categorize Plus then creates an Outlook SQL filter string that will filter for all Outlook items that contain "JSmith@writeme.com" in the "From" address field. This filter string will then be added to the currently applied Outlook filter. The end result is that only Outlook items that contain "JSmith@writeme.com" in the "From" address field are displayed in the current Outlook view.

Next, as mentioned previously, if the parent Email Address Menu Item is selected from the Filter Menu, then it will be added as a Group Filter combo box to the toolbar, where the children of the Group Filter include all four sub-menu items. Therefore, to continue with the above example, if the Email Address Menu Item Any John Smith is selected from the Filter Menu, then Categorize Plus will add an associated Group Filter to the toolbar that will include all four child filters consisting of From John Smith, To John Smith, CC John Smith and BCC John Smith. Outlook then creates an Outlook SQL filter string that will filter for all Outlook items that contain "JSmith@writeme.com" in any of the "From", "To", "CC" and "BCC" address fields. This filter string will then be added to the currently applied Outlook filter. The end result is that only Outlook items that contain "JSmith@writeme.com" in any of the address fields are displayed in the current Outlook view.

Additional information that applies to this Help Topic

Learn more regarding the use of filters in Outlook
If you are connected to the internet and wish to learn more regarding how filters are used in Outlook, then click here to open a Microsoft Outlook help topic that explains how to filter items and files in Outlook views.
Learn how to identify Filter Combo Boxes
Filter Combo Boxes that are displayed in the Categorize Plus Toolbar are identified by the Remove Filter Combo Boxes command button. Combo boxes just to the right of this command button are Filter Combo Boxes. Please refer to the Filter Combo Boxes help topic for more detailed information on identifying Filter Combo Boxes.
Learn more regarding Menu Item Criteria Fields
Email Address Filter combo boxes use the text that is stored in the criteria field of Email Address Menu Items to filter Outlook items. To learn more regarding Email Address Menu Items and how they are used in Categorize Plus, then please refer to the Menu Items help topic. To learn how to assign a name or email address to the criteria field of Email Address Menu Items, then please refer to the Email Address Criteria help topic.
Learn how Standard and Group Menu Hierarchies behave when adding Filter Combo Boxes to the toolbar
Whenever a child Menu Item is selected from within a Standard Menu Hierarchy, then both the child Menu Item and the parent Menu Item are simultaneously added as combo boxes to the Categorize Plus Toolbar. Conversely, when a child Menu Item is selected from within a Group Menu Hierarchy, then the parent group Menu Item is not added to the toolbar. To learn more regarding the behavior of Standard and Group Menu Hierarchies, then please refer to the Standard Menu Hierarchy and Group Menu Hierarchy help topics.
Learn how Multi-Criteria Menu Items and Group Menu Hierarchies behave with Email Address Filter Combo Boxes
If the criteria field associated with an Email Address Menu Item contains either a space or a comma, then the menu item is treated as a multi-criteria Email Address Menu Item. To learn how multi-criteria Email Address Menu Items behave, then please refer to the Email Address Criteria help topic. In addition, Filter Combo Boxes can be added to the toolbar as part of a Group Menu Hierarchy. Please refer to the Group Filters and Searches help topic for to learn how group Filter Combo Boxes behave when filtering Outlook items.

Additional Help Topics Regarding Filter Combo Boxes

Modify Filter and Search Combo Boxes explains the options for modifying a Filter Combo Box after it has been added to the toolbar.
Precedence of Logical Operators explains the precedence of the logical operators that are used for Filter Combo Boxes and how to change the position of a combo box that is displayed in the toolbar.
Duplicate Filter and Search Combo Boxes explains how to allow duplicate Filter Combo Boxes.
Remove Filter Combo Boxes explains how to remove a Filter Combo Box after it has been added to the toolbar.

Example of Adding a From Email Address Filter to the Categorize Plus Toolbar: