How to import and export categories in Outlook?

Author Kelly Last modified 2024-09-23

Outlook allows you to create many color categories in Outlook to organize your emails efficiently. You can also export these customized categories to share with colleagues or import them onto a new computer. This article provides a step-by-step guide on how to export and import your categories in Microsoft Outlook, ensuring you can maintain your organizational system across different platforms or share it with others.

Export categories from Microsoft Outlook

Import categories into Microsoft Outlook

Export categories from Microsoft Outlook

All color categories, including defaulted categories and customized categories, can be exported from Microsoft Outlook. You can do it as follows:

Step 1: Navigate to Notes.

Click on the three dots (...) at the bottom of the navigation pane on the left side of your Outlook window to view more options. From the options that appear, click on Notes.

Step 2: Create a new note.

Under the Home tab, click New Note in the New group. In the new note dialog, type some text in it. In this case, we enter the text of Categories.

Step 3: Click the button at the upper-left corner in the Note window, and then click the Save & Close in Outlook.

Step 4: Shift to the Note view by clicking the Note icon in the Navigation Pane.

Step 5: Click the note you created before, and then click the Categorize > All Categories in the Tags group on the Home tab.

Step 6: In the Color Categories dialog box, check the color categories that you will export later, and then click the OK button.

Step 7: Drag and move the note into a folder of Windows to save it. This note will be saved as a .msg file.

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Import categories into Microsoft Outlook

Before you import color categories into your Microsoft Outlook, a .msg file of note with color categories is required.

Step 1: Shift to the Note view by clicking the Note in the Navigation Pane.

Step 2: Drag the .msg file of note with color categories into Microsoft Outlook.

Step 3: Shift to the Mail view by clicking the Mail in the Navigation Pane.

Step 3: Right-click one email account name in the Navigation Pane, and select the Data File Properties in the right-clicking menu.

Step 4: In the Folder Properties dialog box, click the Upgrade to Color Categories button.

Step 5: A warning dialog box comes out, and just click the Yes button.

Then all color categories added in the .msg file of note are copied and imported into Microsoft Outlook.

Step 6: Click the OK button in the Folder Properties dialog box.

Notes:

If your email account type is SMTP which does not support the Note, for example, Gmail, this trick is not available.
You can update the color categories only if the pasted note and your email folder belong to the same data file of PST or OST.