Categories in Outlook allow you to manage items in various ways. We recommend creating three main types of categories:

  • Project (can include people)
  • Topic
  • Location or activity

While categories aren't required, they can make your life easier if you use them diligently. They help you identify what you can do now and group similar tasks for efficiency.

To create categories:

  1. In any view, on the Home tab, in the Tags group, select Categorise, and then select All Categories.

Best practices for categories:

  • Direct reports and manager: Create a category for each direct report and your manager for items to review in your next meeting (e.g., a category named "1:1 Manager").
  • Major locations or activities: Create categories for different locations or activities to perform bulk actions. For example:
    • @Commute: Tasks you can do on your way home from work.
    • @Email: Tasks involving email messages, meetings, or any other aspect of Outlook.
    • @Home: Tasks you can do only at home.
    • @Meeting: Items needed to prepare for a meeting.
    • @Offline: Tasks that take you away from the computer, such as making a copy of a document.
    • @Online: Tasks you can accomplish only online or through a web browser.
    • @Phone: Calls you need to make or receive.
    • @Read: Tasks that involve just reading, not responding. Useful for long messages or attachments you need to read but can't get to right away.
    • @Waiting: Messages or tasks for which you are awaiting a response, with no explicit next action for you.

Note: Using the "@" symbol makes categories stand out in your list and helps keep them at the top, reminding you of where you should be when performing the task (e.g., @Phone means "at the phone").

  • Important topics or projects: Create categories for important topics or projects to easily find messages on a given topic, especially if there is no keyword in the body or subject of the message.
  • Urgent items: Create a category for important items that must be done today and can't roll over to another day.

You can apply multiple categories to a single item, unlike filing, where items can live in only one folder at a time. For example, an important message you want to discuss with your manager before responding might be categorised with both the @Email category and the 1:1 Manager category.


Setting your Quick Click category:

  1. In any view, on the Home tab, in the Tags group, select Categorise, and then select Set Quick Click.

Categories help messages and tasks stand out in your To-Do Bar, make searching more efficient, and help you prepare for meetings.

Note: Be careful about categorising your outgoing messages, as recipients might be able to see your categories.