Recursive Group Hierarchy

Before learning about how recursive group hierarchies behave, it is recommended to first review the Group Categorizations and Group Filters and Searches help topics.

A fundamental principle inherent in a Group Menu Hierarchy is that group menu hierarchies are recursive. If a group Menu Item is contained as a child of another group Menu Item, then the children of the child group will be included when the parent group is used to categorize, filter or search Outlook items. All of the descendent children of the Group Menu Hierarchy will be included. The examples below illustrate this behavior.

Example 1: Any Projects

= All Outlook Items Categorized with Project A or Project B or Project C or Project D

The above toolbar was created using the example shown in Group Menu Hierarchy where Category Tags labeled Project B, Project C and Project D are grouped under a single group Category Tag labeled Active and the Category Tag labeled Project A is grouped under a group Category Tag labeled Completed. In addition, the group Category Tags labeled Active and Completed are again recursively grouped under the group Category Tag labeled Projects. The result of this filter will display all Outlook items that are categorized with project names that are descendent children of the Projects group Category Tag. In the case of this example, this will display all Outlook items categorized with Project A, Project B, Project C or Project D.

Example 2: Any Projects and No Completed

= All Outlook Items Categorized with Project B or Project C or Project D and Not Project A

As explained in the Group Filters and Searches help topic, if an individual filter is added to the Categorize Plus toolbar at the same time that it's parent group filter is added, then the individual child filter will always be given precedence over the group filter when the filter is applied. Therefore, the result of the above filter combination will display all Outlook items that are categorized with project names that are descendent children of the Projects group Category Tag, but are NOT categorized with the project names that are descendent children of the Completed group Category Tag. In the case of this example, since project A is the only completed project, this will display all Outlook items categorized with Project B or Project C or Project D, but are NOT categorized with Project A.