sorting contacts

[Frank]

Can someone help me decide if Cat.Plus is going to be helpful enough to purchase?  My main need is to create categories for my contacts so that I can view and select and differentiate my contacts.  Because my Outlook is what drives my Blackberry contacts, I have both business and personal contacts in the same database.  I was hoping Cat. Plus could help me, especially when I'm exporting for mail merge.  Thanks. 

[JonZimmerman]

Hello Frank,

Actually you do not need to purchase CP to accomplish what you are seeking.  The free version of CP will work just fine.  The free version includes a dockable category editor that can be used to quickly assign categories to Outlook items.  After downloading the trial version, you can activate the free version using the free activation code listed below.

Free activation code:  0000-0000-0000-0000-0000

Outlook Mail Merge using Categories
To learn how to use Outlook categories with Outlook Mail Merge, then I recommend visiting the link to the MSDN Blog that I have listed below.  Also, when reading this blog, please pay special attention to the tip under step 1 that explains how to use categories to select contacts in Outlook.  Basically, after you have assigned categories to your contacts using CP, you can then group your contacts by category in your Outlook view.  Once grouped, then all you need to do is to select the category header to automatically select all of the contacts below that category.  If you want, you can also purchase the Lite version of CP that allows you to quickly filter by category, which is a little easier, but that is not required in order to use categories with mail merge.  Please ask if you have further questions or if you would like further explanation.  

MSDN Blog for Mail Merge:
http://blogs.msdn.com/outlook/archive/2008/09/23/mail-merge-how-to-send-a-personalized-e-mail-to-many-people-at-once.aspx

Outlook Distribution Lists using Categories
As an aside, you can also use categories to create distribution lists from your contacts.  You can compose a new message or meeting request to all members of the category-run distribution list simply by following the procedure outlined below.  

Copied from:
http://email.about.com/od/outlooktips/qt/et_category_dis.htm

• Go to Contacts in Outlook.
• Select View | Current View | By Category from the menu.
• Click the desired list category's heading.
• Select Actions | Create | New Message to Contact or Actions | Create | New Meeting Request to Contact from the menu.
• Click OK if Outlook notifies you that your action will apply to all items in the group.
• Click in the To... field.
• Outlook has put all address in the To: field. For distribution list messages, it is usually better to have all addressees in the Bcc: field to avoid revealing addresses. If appropriate, you can leave the addresses in the To: field, of course, or move them to the Cc: field.
• For contacts with multiple email addresses, Outlook has inserted each. It is best to delete the unneeded addresses.
• Press Ctrl-A.
• Press Ctrl-X.
• Make sure the Bcc... field is visible.
• Click in the Bcc... field.
• Press Ctrl-V.
• Type your email address in the To... field.
• Continue composing the message or meeting request.