How to view messages (all items) by categories in Outlook?
You may have marked some email messages with categories in Microsoft Outlook before. However, sometimes it is tough to pick out messages with specified categories, if numerous items list in the messages list. Actually there are several tricks to view messages by categories with ease in Microsoft Outlook.
Arrange and view all email messages by categories
Search and view all email messages with categories in Outlook 2010 and 2013
Search and view all email messages with categories in Outlook 2007
Arrange and view all messages by categories
As you know, the messages are arranged by date by default. However, you can change the arranging criteria and arrange all items in the message list by categories.
1. Open the folder in which you will view messages by categories.
2. Arrange messages by categories:
- In Outlook 2007, click "View" > "Arrange By" > "Categories".
- In Outlook 2010 and 2013, click the "Categories" button in the "Arrangement" group on the "View" tab.
Then all messages with categories are moved to the bottom of the message list and grouped by categories.
Note: If your email account type is SMTP (for example, Gmail), you cannot arrange all emails by categories. This is because an SMTP email account does not allow you to create new color categories for an email.
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Search / view messages with categories in Outlook 2010 and 2013
This method will help you search and filter messages with specified categories in Microsoft Outlook 2010 and 2013, enabling you to view only messages with specified categories.
View all messages with any categories in Outlook 2010 and 2013
To filter and view all email messages with any categories, please do it as follows:
1. Open the folder in which you will view messages by categories.
2. Put the cursor in the "Search box" to activate the "Search Tools".
3. Click "Categorized" > "Any Category" in the "Refine" group on the "Search" tab.
Then all messages with any categories are filtered and listed in the message list.
View all messages with one category in Outlook 2010 and 2013
The following steps will guide you to filter and view all email messages with one specified category:
1. Open the folder in which you will view messages by categories.
2. Put the cursor in the "Search box" to activate the "Search Tools".
3. Click "Categorized" > the specific category (for example, the "Yellow Category") in the "Refine" group on the "Search" tab.
Then all messages with your specified category are filtered and listed in the message list at once.
View all messages with two or more categories in Outlook 2010 and 2013
This section will show you how to filter and view email messages with two or more specified categories:
1. Open the folder in which you will view messages by categories.
2. Put the cursor in the "Search box" to activate the "Search Tools".
3. Click "Categorized" > the first specific category (for example, the "Yellow Category") in the "Refine" group on the "Search" tab.
4. Repeat Step 3: click "Categorized" > another category (for example, the "Green Category").
Then all messages marked with both the "Green Category" and "Yellow Category" are filtered and listed in the message list. If a message is marked with more than just these two categories (e.g., "Green", "Yellow", and "Blue"), it will also be included in the message list.
Search and view all email messages with categories in Outlook 2007
If you are using Microsoft Outlook 2007, you can filter and view email messages with specified categories by following these steps.
1. Open the folder in which you will view messages by categories.
2. Click the 
at the right side of the "Search box" to expand the search tool.
3. Click "Add Criteria" > "Categories". See the following screenshot:
4. Click the "Categories" box, and specify a category in the drop-down list.
Then all email messages with the specified category are filtered and listed in the message list in a minute.
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