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Organize Outlook Contacts with categories. Categories give users a way to group Outlook items. For example, you might want to group together all tasks for a particular project. You can assign categories to any type of Outlook item, including Contacts. Categorizing Contacts allows you to sort and organize contacts without creating separate folders. For example, if you maintain both personal and business contacts, separating those contacts in "Personal" and "Business" categories enables you to easily organize those contacts so that you can work with only one category, if needed.

To set categories, right-click the contact and choose Categories. You can then select one or more categories for the contact and create new categories, if needed. You can also open a contact and click the contact form's Categories button to assign categories. To sort a view by category, choose View | Current View | By Category.

Categorizing Contacts using the "Personal" or "Business" designations is just one way to sort contacts. You could also assign project categories to Contacts to help you identify who's working on a particular project, or use categories to identify contacts in a particular company division or location.
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Synchronize Microsoft Outlook with a PDA. If synchronizing your handheld computer to Outlook seems like an insurmountable task, there's a site on the Web that may help. Slipstick Systems, a web site dedicated to researching and solving problems with Microsoft Outlook, offers links to a number of synchronizing tools. See http://www.slipstick.com/addins/olpda.htm for more information.

Track e-mails received from, or sent to, a contact in your
Outlook Contacts list
It's easy: in Microsoft Outlook, go to Tools|Options. On the Preferences tab, click Journal Options (next to Contacts). In the Journal Options dialog box, select the e-mail message check box and then select the contact names whose e-mail you want to track. When finished, click OK. When you go to the contact's name in Outlook, click on the Activities tab and choose e-mail from the pull down menu, and you will see all the relevant e-mails.

Separate work from personal: create a second calendar in Microsoft Outlook
While viewing Outlook calendar, Go to File | New | Folder. Choose Appointment Items from the list. The new folder will be a subfolder of the main calendar. Move items from one calendar to another by dragging and dropping each item with your mouse. Any reminders set in the new calendar folder won't be received, because Outlook reminders only work from primary folders, not subfolders.
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Avoiding a common Outlook e-mistake
Due to privacy concerns, it is especially important for lawyers to avoid one of the most common e-mail mistakes: sending an e-mail to the wrong recipient. In Microsoft Outlook, when you type a recipient's name in the To box of a message, the AutoComplete feature lists the names of possible recipients, including contacts that you deleted or didn't intentionally save. To circumvent this feature, begin by typing the name in the To box of a message. When the AutoComplete list appears, press the DOWN ARROW key to select the address of the deleted contact and press the DELETE key to remove the entry from Outlook's cache.

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