Categorize Plus Suggestions and Bugs...

[Anonymous]

I have 2 suggestions and 2 bugs that you might or might not be aware of.

Suggestion:

1) I’m displaying the categories on the outlook 2007 todo bar. I use preceding numbers 0001, 0002, etc. to sort them correctly the way they are in the category tree (menu builder). Would it be possible to have an option to sort them in the same order as they are in menu builder? Although alphabetically is nice, people that build trees in menu builder will probably find the categories they want faster using that type of sorting. Thanks.

2) When creating categories quickly it would be nice not to have to fill in 2 fields (caption and criteria). Or put in a default for the criteria when not filled in?

Bugs?:

1) When renaming the criteria column all items that were flagged with it must be reflagged with the new name. Now it is good that categories remain on items when the categories are deleted, but when a category is renamed, it should propagate to the items already flagged with it instead. Actually isn’t that what caption is supposed to be for? It might simply be that when categories are on the outlook 2007 todo bar, the criteria is displayed instead of the caption.

2) When putting a comma in categories, they get cut in 2. You can replicate it by going in menu builder and typing “movies, music and videoclips” for example and then looking at the categories when they are docked in the todo bar of outlook 2007.
Please note that I have not used your software extensively yet nor did I read the forums.

I hope this helps.

[Jon]

Suggestions:

1) Yes, occasionally a user would like the list of categories in the Category Editor to match the sort index in the Menu Builder.  The best solution will be to replicate the Menu Builder hierarchy in the Category Editor.  I am considering providing this as an option.  If I choose to implement this feature, then the user will be able to choose to display categories in the Category Editor either as a flat alphabetical list, or using the Menu Hierarchy.  If the user chooses the Menu Builder hierarchy view, then the Category Editor will be populated with the same exact categories and hierarchy as the currently installed menu.  I cannot commit to adding this feature, as I have not yet rated the value vs. the effort, but I believe that this would be the best solution to the feature you are requesting.

2) A blank criteria has a special meaning in Categorize Plus.  A blank criteria represents a Group Category, or a Group Filter or a Group Search depending on the Menu Type selected.  Group Categories, Filters and Searches behave much differently than a standard menu hierarchy.  Please refer to the Menu Hierarchy help topic, the Group Menu Hierarchy help topic and the Standard Menu Hierarchy help topic for additional information.  Group Menu Hierarchies are one of the more powerful features in Categorize Plus, and therefore, my preference is to not pre-fill the criteria field with the caption field text.  However, whenever the criteria field is blank, then the second item in the criteria field drop down list is the text entered in the caption field.  Therefore, immediately after entering the caption, simply use the criteria field drop down to select the caption text.  That saves you from having to enter the caption text a second time.

Menu Hierarchy help topic: http://www.veranosoft.com/reference/scr/html/Menu Hierarchy.htm
Group Menu Hierarchy help topic: http://www.veranosoft.com/reference/scr/html/Menu Item Group.htm
Standard Menu Hierarchy help topic: http://www.veranosoft.com/reference/scr/html/Menu Item Hierarchy.htm

Bugs?

1) The criteria field contains the actual Outlook category to be assigned to Outlook items.  And you are correct, the criteria (i.e. Outlook Category) is what is displayed in the Category Editor.  Changing a category for a Category Menu item will not propagate to all items categorize with that menu item, simply because, in most cases, the user will be selecting a new criteria to be associated with the menu item and does not want to replace all items categorized using that menu item.   

Instead, to replace categories previously assigned to Outlook items, I recommend using the Category Editor.  Simply select all of the items that you want to replace a category, then double click that category as displayed in the Category Editor.  This will allow you to edit the actual category name.  You can then press the Category Editor action button to select a new category from the Outlook Category Picker, or you can select a Menu Builder category from the drop down list, or you can manually type a new category name.  Then, when you select the ‘Save’ button in the Category Editor, Categorize Plus will replace the original category for each Outlook item in the selection with the new category you have selected.  Please refer to the Editing Category Editor Categories help topic for additional information.

Editing Category Editor Categories help topic: http://www.veranosoft.com/reference/scr/html/Editing Category Editor Categories.htm

2) A comma is an illegal character and cannot be used in Outlook categories.  Simply open the Outlook Categories dialog and try to create an Outlook Category with a comma, and you will see that Outlook does not allow this as a valid character.  Instead, in CP, the comma serves a special purpose, since it is used to designate multiple categories.  This is actually a feature in Categorize Plus.  Please refer to the Category Tag Criteria help topic for additional information regarding the use of multi-criteria Category Tags.  Please note:  Multi-criteria Category Tags behave differently then Group Category Tags.

Category Tag Criteria help topic: http://www.veranosoft.com/reference/scr/html/Category Tag.htm

Let me know if my explanations answer your questions.

Best regards,

Jon Zimmerman
VeranoSoft

[Anonymous]

Hi Jon,

Yes it answers all my questions, I’ll use your recommendations and I’ll read the criteria help pages.
I had not realized commas were illegal characters in category names and no pressure on the sorting suggestion, you’re call.

BTW that was one fast reply,

thank you.

[Anonymous]

Hi Jon,

I have been using keyboard shortcuts instead of the category editor as you suggested, it is much faster indeed.
I do run into one annoyance….
I have items grouped by categories in my inbox, most of the time they are collapsed. As you can probably guess, as soon as I assign a category to an item, I lose focus of it.  I then have to find it again to assign other categories to it, that takes a long time.  The same happens if a category has an action assigned to it.  I did not have that issue with the category editor since it assigned multiple categories at once instead of one at a time. Any suggestions on how to work around this?

Also, given how fast keyboard shortcuts are, could there be an addition to the drop down menus to create a new category/filter/search from there? (In whichever menu section you happen to be.) I mean it would be faster than going into the menu builder every time.  The same is true for moving a category to a different section in the tree like you suggest to do with completed projects in your FAQ.

Thanks again,
Max

PS: Feel free to post this in the forums, I’ll use them next time.

[Jon]

Glad to hear that you are finding the keyboard shortcuts useful.  I have provided comments below regarding the specific questions that you raised.

1. Losing Focus after Categorizing When Grouped by Category
Generally, as you know, if you do not group by category, then the item will not lose focus after categorizing.  However, since it is advantageous to group by category, the workaround is to add all of the categories as combo boxes to the Categorize Plus toolbar before categorizing the selected items.  The Categorize Plus toolbar can be configured to either add categories as combo boxes to the toolbar, or it can be configured to immediately categorize items without first adding the combo boxes to the toolbar.  These two options are configured by selecting the “Add Categories to the Toolbar” option that is located under the “Tools” sub-menu under the “Categorize” drop down menu. 

If you enable this option, then category combo boxes will be added to the toolbar instead of being applied to the selected Outlook items.  This feature is useful if you are repeatedly using the same categories over and over again or, in your case, to not lose focus of items after categorizing.  Once you have added categories as combo boxes to the toolbar, then you can select the “Categorize” command, which is the first command under the Categorize drop down menu, and this will categorize the selected Outlook items with the categories that are displayed in the toolbar.  You can also configure Categorize plus to remove the displayed Category Combo Boxes immediately after categorizing.  These features are explained under the following help topics.

Categorize Menu help topic: 
http://www.veranosoft.com/reference/scr/html/Categorize%20Menu.htm

Toolbar Combo Boxes Options: 
http://www.veranosoft.com/reference/scr/html/Toolbar%20Combo%20Box%20Options.htm

2. Faster Creation of Menu Items
You may have already noticed, but if you select any of the Menu Builder buttons that are located at the bottom of each of your sub-menus in each of the drop down menus, then the Menu Builder will immediately open to display the exact same location in the menu hierarchy.  From there you can make your edits to the menu hierarchy and then select the “Jump to Menu” command from the Menu Builder toolbar and Categorize Plus will instantly save your changes and re-display the drop down menu to the exact same point in the menu hierarchy.  This option was designed to speed the creation and edits of the menu hierarchy by allowing the user to quickly jump between the drop down menus and the Menu Builder.  Please refer to the following help topic for additional information.

Menu Builder Jump to Menu command: 
http://www.veranosoft.com/reference/scr/html/Menu%20Designer%20Jump%20to%20Menu.htm

3. Editing the Menu Hierarchy
Unfortunately, the only way to edit the menu hierarchy is to use the Menu Builder.  However, there are several useful tools in the Menu Builder that allow the user to more efficiently edit the menu hierarchy.  These tools include the ability to Cut, Copy and Paste menu items to and from the Menu Builder Clipboard and the ability to drag and drop menu items anywhere in the menu hierarchy with the option to either copy or move the items and the option to either include or not include the item’s children.  Please refer to the following help topics for additional information.

Editing the Menu Hierarchy:
http://www.veranosoft.com/reference/scr/html/Editing%20the%20Menu%20Hierarchy.htm

Menu Builder Clipboard:
http://www.veranosoft.com/reference/scr/html/Menu%20Designer%20Clipboard.htm

Let me know if I have adequately answered your questions. 

[Anonymous]

What can I say… I’m having a hard time believing your software actually does everything I need it to do so I ask questions instead of carefully reading the help section.   

I tried out your suggestions, once again they work very efficiently and with keyboard shortcuts too!  Very nice!