Additional information that applies to this Help Topic

To learn more regarding Menu Items and how they are used in Categorize Plus, then please refer to the Menu Items help topic.  For information regarding the criteria field used with Categorize Plus Menu Items, then please refer to the Entering Menu Criteria help topic.  For information on how to create Categorize Plus Menu Items and add them to the Menu Hierarchy, then please refer to the Building Menus help topic.

Behavior of a Group Menu Hierarchy

When the Child of a Group Menu Item is Selected
When the child of a group Menu Item is selected from a Categorize Plus menu, then the child will be added as a combo box to the Categorize Plus Toolbar, but the parent group Menu Item will not.  This is different than the behavior of a Menu Item that is not designated as a group Menu Item.  For the case where one Menu Item is the child of another Menu Item, and the parent Menu Item is not a group (i.e. the parent Menu Item's criteria is not blank), then the parent Menu Item is simultaneously added to the toolbar at the same time that the child Menu Item is added.  Please refer to the Standard Menu Hierarchy help topic to learn more about a menu hierarchy that does not include group Menu Items.

When a Group Menu Item is Selected
When a group Menu Item is selected directly, then the group Menu Item will be added as a combo box to the Categorize Plus Toolbar, or if categorizing items, then each of the group's child Category Tags will be included in the categorization.  Furthermore, for all group Menu Items that are added to the toolbar and then used to categorize, filter or search Outlook items, then each immediate child of the group Menu Item, that is of the same item type as the parent group item, will be included in the operation.  For example, if a Category Tag is designated as a group Menu Item, then each child that is a Category Tag will become a member of the parent group and will be included in the selected operation.  For more information regarding the different types of Menu Items that are used in Categorize Plus, then please refer to the Menu Items help topic.

How to use a Group Menu Hierarchy 

Note:  To better understand how to use a Group Menu Hierarchy, it will help to first review how to use a Standard Menu Hierarchy

Lets assume you are managing multiple projects and want to use Categorize Plus to categorize, filter and search Outlook items associated with each of these projects.  For this scenario, it makes sense to create a separate Category Tag Menu Item for each project and to assign the caption and criteria with the name of each project.  Categorize Plus can then be used to categorize Outlook items with the associated project name and then filter and search Outlook items based on these categorizations.

Next, over time some projects will be completed while other new projects will be created.  Therefore, at any given time, the state of some projects will be active and the state of other projects will be completed.  For this scenario it also makes sense to create two additional Category Tags labeled Active and Completed and to categorize all active projects as Active and all completed projects as Completed.  This way Outlook items can be filtered and searched by active verses completed projects.  But a problem arises when using this approach.  When an active project is finished, then all of the Outlook items associated with that project will need to be re-categorized from Active to Completed.  Therefore, a better approach is to use a Group Menu Hierarchy where each project's Category Tag is grouped under a respective group Category Tag that is labeled either Active or Completed.

The advantage of  this approach is that when a project is finished, then no items need to be re-categorized.  Instead, the Category Tag for the completed project will simply need to be moved in the menu hierarchy from the Active group category to the Completed group category.  An example of this structure is illustrated below.  For the sake of illustration, four projects were assumed, which are labeled Project A, Project B, Project C and Project D.  Furthermore, it is assumed that projects B, C and D are still active while project A is completed. 

As a final comment, it is important to note that since group Menu Items are not added to the Categorize Plus Toolbar when child Menu Items are selected, group Menu Items can be added throughout the menu hierarchy without disturbing the behavior of the Standard Menu Hierarchy.  For more information on how to categorize, filter and search using a Group Menu Hierarchy, then please refer to the help topics listed below. 

Further Information Regarding a Group Menu Hierarchy

• Group Categorizations further explains the behavior of a Group Menu Hierarchy when categorizing Outlook items
• Group Filters and Searches explains the behavior of a Group Menu Hierarchy when applied to filters and searches
• Recursive Group Hierarchy explains the recursive behavior of a Group Menu Hierarchy
• Group Menu Icons shows the icons used in the Outlook 2003 and 2007 Categorize Plus menus to designate group Menu Items
  

Example of a Group Menu Hierarchy in the Menu Builder: 

Example of a Group Menu Hierarchy in the Filter Menu: 

See Also

Categorize Plus Toolbar | Menu Hierarchy | Standard Menu Hierarchy | Group Categorizations | Group Filters and Searches | Group Menu Icons | Feature Comparison