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Hi Tom,

Thanks for the confidence in my programming skills, but unfortunately I do not have plans to develop apps for the windows mobile environment.  Let's see if this thread generates responses from any other users that may have solutions.

-Jon

Hello all, I love the new beta for Outlook 2010 and use the categories "religiously".  I try to follow GTD as much as possible and Category Editor helps tremendously.  The reason I am posting is the replacement of my Windows mobile phone (6.5).  Currently, Outlook syncs wonderfully (emails, contacts, tasks, notes, etc.).  After trying the new Windows Phone, I found out that Microsoft no longer supports native syncing with Outlook.  Instead of Activesync, this is now handled by Zune.  For syncing Outlook, you must have an Exchange server, yet still tasks are not included with the sync.

Any ideas on mobile phone apps or equivalent to leverage my heavy usage of Outlook tasks with categories?  I have looked at a few MS Window apps and online tools like Toodledo, but nothing I have found really leverages Outlook well.  I am almost at the belief that I will need to stay with my old Windows phone (Tilt 2).  The only downside is Microsoft canceled the way Bing allows the older phones to communicate voice instructions, so now I have lost one of the best apps that helped keep my phone somewhat modern.

I thought posting here might bring some good input from fellow Outlook power users.  Any help would be greatly appreciated.  Jon, would you want to leverage your super programming skills to make a .NET phone app?

UPDATE:  Appears Mango (7.5) will include support for tasks. 
http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/winphone/forum/wp7-wppeople/windows-phone-75-mango-and-outlook-tasks/b5c3e59b-b502-4109-bb70-837cde6f6a70

Thank you,
Tom

Hello Tom,

I have just now implemented your feature request.  Please select "Search for Updates" from inside Categorize Plus to download and install the latest version.

Let me know if you experience any problems or if you have any additional requests.

Best regards,

Jon Zimmerman
VeranoSoft

Hello Tom,

Yes, I understand your request and it is a good idea.  I will look into adding this feature.  In the meantime, after typing the characters of the item you are looking for, then simple press the page down key and the selected item will appear at the top of the list. 

Let me know if this helps.

I have a big favor that seems to be relatively trivial on the programming side.  When I select a hotkey, I typically hit the first letter I am looking for, then the list jumps to the first matching entry.  However, the item is usually at the bottom of the display list, which then requires me to scroll down further to see my selections starting with that same first letter.  MS Windows always had similar features, except in Windows 7 they added a nice extra twist.  When selecting the first letter in a file system, you still go to that file, exc. the first match in the list moves to the top of the display list allowing you to select or work with the file in question without having to scroll down.  Love this feature and it would be a great help in CP to have the Category Editor hotkey not only go to the first matchine character(s), but to also move the list match to the top of the display list.

And yes, I could always hit the next letter key to do something similar, I'm just not thinking on that plane.

Many thanks for a great product,
Tom

Actually all color icon changes are instantaneous and do not require saving of the Menu Builder.  You can test this by opening the Menu Builder, then changing any color icon, and then, without closing or saving the Menu Builder, simply open any of the Categorize Plus drop down menus and you will see that the associated color icon has changed.  

All color icon changes, whether they are made in the Menu Builder, Category Editor or anywhere else inside Outlook, are instantaneous and will be simultaneously updated everywhere color icons are displayed, including in the Menu Builder, Category Editor and everywhere else inside Outlook.

By the way, if all you are doing is changing a color icon, then you do not need to open the Menu Builder.  Category icon color changes can be made directly from the Category Editor simply by clicking on the color icons displayed in the Category Editor.  

Therefore, when a new client becomes a customer, all you need to do is to select that Contact in Outlook and then change the associated color icon in the Category Editor.  Again, doing this will update the icon associated with this category everywhere that this category is displayed, even in the Categorize Plus drop down menus.

As an additional note, once you select a Contact in Outlook, then the categories assigned to that Contact should appear at the top of the list in the Category Editor.  This allows you to immediately see which categories are assigned to the selected items.  If the 'checked' categories do not appear at the top of the list, then you will first need to re-sort the list by the 'checked' categories.  This is done by clicking on the 'check-box' column header at the top of the category list in the Category Editor.

Please do not hesitate to ask if you have additional questions.

I code new clients/contacts with a category color, and then change them to no color when they become a customer.  In Menu Builder, row changes do not pick up on the No Color option, so you do not get the Save button activated.  This issue also occurs when changing the category tag to other colors. 

The workaround is to temporarily change the text of a category, tab off and tab back to remove the change, then the Save button is activated and the entry can be saved.

Hello,

Thanks for your feedback.  I have provided the release notes below.  Release notes are included with each new automatic update, but I have not yet posted them to the website.  I plan to do so in the next few days.

***** Categorize Plus for Outlook Version 2.1.42 (February 12, 2012) *****
This version includes the following changes.

• Added a new Category Action named 'Follow Up Days' that allows users to specify the exact number of days to follow up.
• Added a new option in the Menu Builder under 'Tools' named 'Edit Menu Builder Caption..." that allows users to change the 'Menu Builder' caption that is displayed at the bottom of each Categorize Plus drop down menu.  This allows users to also change the character associated with the keyboard accelerator for this menu item.

Version 2.1.38 (February 8, 2012)

• Updated the Menu Builder to show the group icons in the Item Editor view.
• Improved the categorization method so that it is faster when categorizing large selections.

Version 2.1.36 (January 30, 2012)

• Improved the performance of Categorize Plus when using Outlook in the non-cached Exchange mode.
• Modified the Category Editor to automatically update whenever the Outlook visual color theme changes.
• Fixed an error that would sometimes occur when reading item categories.

Version 2.1.34 (January 25, 2012)

• Modified the application of search strings to not change the currently selected 'Scope' of the search in the Search Tab.  Previously Categorize Plus would force the 'Scope' to change to 'Current Folder' regardless of the current setting.
• Implemented seamless compatibility with MS Business Contact Manager 2010.  Applied searches now work in all BCM views.
• Added the 'Apply Actions' button to the Categorize drop down menu.  This helps to reduce the number of keystrokes when the user selects the option to auto re-expand the Categorize Menu after each selection.  The user can now make multiple category selections, then finish with 'Apply Actions' to then apply any actions.  If there are no actions assigned to the current categories, then the menu will simply close and not re-expand.
• Fixed an error that would sometimes occur after categorizing a selection in the Outlook item list.
• Fixed a silent error that would sometimes occur when Outlook was shutdown.
• Fixed a silent error that would occur if the user customized the ribbon to add the 'Edit Categories' group to the 'Home' tab.
• Fixed a silent error that would sometimes occur when opening the Category Editor.
• Fixed a silent error that occurred when attempting to mark a meeting item for follow-up using Category Actions.

Version 2.1.29 (January 18, 2012)

• Fixed a problem where the 'Undo' and 'Redo' buttons were not updated when categorizing recurring appointment items.
• Fixed a problem where the 'Recent Searches' menu was not updated in the Calendar view.
• Enabled the option to auto re-expand the Categorize Menu for all tabs where the Categorize Menu is displayed.

Version 2.1.28 (January 17, 2012)

• Enabled the option to automatically re-expand the Categorize Menu when selecting menu items from the Categorize Menu in the separate Categorize Plus ribbon tab.  This feature is used to minimize keystrokes when categorizing items.  This option is configured at the bottom of the 'Other Settings' tab in the options dialog.
• Disabled the option to re-expand the Categorize Menu when using the 'Ctrl' key option to remove categories.

Version 2.1.26 (January 16, 2012)

• Fixed a silent error that was introduced in version 2.1.24.  This was a silent error and would occur if the user selected a large number of Outlook items that had no categories assigned.

   
Version 2.1.24 (January 15, 2012)

• Expanded the number of buttons displayed in the 'Categorize Plus' tab when inside Outlook items.
• Set the 'Categorize Plus' tab inside Outlook items to display by default.
• Modified the drop down Categorize menus to remove categories when pressing 'Ctrl'.  This new feature applies to all Categorize drop down menus including the Recent Categorizations menus.  This feature has the added benefit of providing another means of essentially undoing recent categorizations.
• Modified the Search menu to replace the current search criteria, rather than appending, when pressing 'Shift'.
• Updated the tool tip text that is displayed when hovering over menu items in the drop down menus.  The tool tips now state the behavior that will occur when pressing either the 'Shift' or the 'Ctrl' keys.
  
• When using the Category Editor to categorize items, the checked categories are now added to the recent categorizations list.
• Improved the speed of reading item categories when multiple items are selected in the Outlook items list.
• Improved integration with Taglocity, Categorize Plus will now update the Taglocity tag line inside Outlook items.
• Added three new options for creating Category Actions.

• Importance:  Low, Normal, and High
• Follow Up Flag:  2003:  Add Flag, Mark Complete and Clear Flag   2007/2010:  Today, Tomorrow, This Week, Next Week, No Date, Mark Complete and Clear Flag
• Follow Up Text:  User can input any text and it will appear in the Follow Up Flag column in Outlook
  

Version 2.1.17 (January 12, 2012)

• Fixed an error that was introduced in version 2.1.12 that prevented Categorize Plus from loading on some computers.

Version 2.1.15 (January 12, 2012)

• Fixed an error that occurred if a search was performed after updating from Outlook 2007 and Outlook was not restarted.
• Fixed an error that sometimes occurred at startup if Outlook enabled the Ribbon before CP finished loading.
• Fixed an error that sometimes occurred at startup if the path was not found for the Localizations.xml file.
• Fixed an error that sometimes occurred if the user simultaneously deleted a large number of Outlook folders.
• Fixed a problem where the Category Editor would sometimes close in Outlook 2003 when categorizing > 10 items.

Version 2.1.12 (January 10, 2012)

• Expanded the number of command buttons that are displayed in the separate 'Categorize Plus' tab.
• Improved the integration of Taglocity search for languages other than English.

Version 2.1.7 (January 7, 2012)

• Fixed an error that would occur if the user attempted to use the Category Editor to save categories in the Today view.
• Modified the Category Editor to prevent reading categories when in the "Outbox" folder.  Previously reading categories in the Outbox folder would prevent items from being sent.
• Significantly improved the response time when displaying 1000+ categories in the Category Editor.
• Reduced the time it takes Categorize Plus to load at startup.
• Created an option to display the Search Menu in the Home ribbon tab.
• Modified the option to display a separate tab inside Outlook items such that a restart is no longer required.

Version 2.1.4 (January 4, 2012)

• Fixed an error that occurred when using the 'Return' key to save categories in the Category Editor.
• Fixed the Options dialog so that the 'Apply' button is enabled when switching search engines.
• Fixed the font size in the Category Actions dialog.
• Improved the Update function to separately update Beta users with the latest Beta release.

Version 2.1.2 (January 1, 2012)

• Fixed an error that occurred when loading Outlook on some computers.

Version 2.1.1 (December 31, 2011)

• Initial Beta Release for Outlook 2010.
• Implemented search syntax localization for Windows 7.  This was required because non-English versions of Windows 7 no longer support English search syntax.

Love the new beta, and many thanks (again) for releasing for Outlook 2010.  Do you have a release notes area, so we can track the changes in the new beta by version?

Hello,

Yes, your observation is correct.  The demo on the website is for Outlook 2007.  Unfortunately, there have been changes in Outlook 2010 that prevent me from allowing the same number of docking positions as was available in Outlook 2007.  Eventually I do hope to add more docking locations, but the only locations available today, when using Outlook 2010, are at the left, right, top and bottom edges of the main outlook window.

Sorry for any confusion that this has caused.

By the way, the docking locations are defined in the first paragraph on the web page that showed the flash video for the docking positions in Outlook 2007.  However, I also see how this quote could be missed.

The Categorize Plus Category Editor can be docked on the left or the right side of the main Outlook window when using Outlook 2010, and can be docked in the Outlook Navigator or in the Item List when using either Outlook 2007 or 2003.  In addition, when using Outlook 2007, the Category Editor can also be docked in the To-Do Bar.