Please bring back the categories feature in Outlook for Mac.
It difficult to filter out the information while on the Calendar, Notes, Task or Contacts.
At least give the option to filter by Category on list view and collapse group like in Windows Outlook.

234 comments
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Anonymous commented
Removing the category filter seriously compromises the usefulness of the outlook calendar - we used to have a massive work group calendar that could easily be filtered to show calendars for individuals projects . Now it's a mess...
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Anonymous commented
Agreed. Im confused why categories were removed from the calendar. It's vital for working with client deadlines/events. Please add back in.
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Anonymous commented
bring back now!!!! I can't use outlook without it!
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Jhernie commented
Really would like to see this feature reinstated. Why no response from Microsoft?
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Cheryl Lynn commented
Please bring this feature back!!!! Who the heck thought it was a good idea to remove this???
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David Smith commented
Whatever PM approved removing this needs to be fired.
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Anonymous commented
Please bring back this feature - it is much needed in a complex project portfolio environment.
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Anonymous commented
Hiding categories in calendars was huge for me. Please bring it back!
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Susanne Bohl commented
I just upgraded to the latest Outlook for Mac and find the lack of showing/hiding categories a BIG problem.
When will this feature be back? It is a *critical* feature for anyone needing to do some serious contact management.
Meanwhile, please advise how to run Advanced search with "OR" criteria.
E.g. Category is Blue Or Green? I have not been able to figure out how to do this, yet.
This can be a workaround until the Categories are back in the show/hide navigation pane.Thank you.
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Anonymous commented
+1
is there a workaround? -
Zelda commented
I'm grateful to find this thread and learn that at least I'm not going crazy. It is difficult to understand the rationale to remove such a key feature. I am going to figure out how to downgrade and prevent upgrades in the meantime, since I am creating a workflow that is highly-dependent on the ability to filter any Outlook item by category.
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Anonymous commented
I agree, this was a huge time saver. Please bring back the categories in the navigation pane or allow filtering of tasks and contacts based on category.
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david spanton commented
i hate the new updates! i can no longer find a way to send an email to any of my categories....no idea about these "smart folders" but it seems too smart for me. ALSO no longer can you edit the contact via just touching the email address. you now have to go out of emails and under contacts and open them up that way.... this is just adding more steps and time. I feel you don't want people to buy this program anymore?
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sandy ngai commented
REALLY need the function to toggle categories in the calendar view. Previous version had it & it was perfect. Now my calendar is packed with ppl's OOO invites & cannot see the important daily tasks.
Current version: outlook 365
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Jackie Frey commented
This is a essential feature to work. Be reasonable, please bring it back!
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Sandra Anderson commented
Yes, this is a very useful feature. Without it, the categories are not as useful since they only provide you the color variations. I often want to hide certain categories especially if I am sharing my calendar externally since I do not want all tasks, personal events, etc. shown on my screen. Bring this feature BACK NOW!
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Daniel O'Donnell commented
Cannot do GTD without categories. Setting up categories according to GTD in Windows Outlook is useful.
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Mischa QUINTON commented
I've recently switched from a PC to a MAC, and I'm finding the Office for MAC very limited in comparison. Why is the functionality not identical?
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Brooke commented
As someone who has her entire team's calendar on her work calendar, I need this feature back, badly. Please bring it back!
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Anonymous commented
I just upgraded and missing this feature badly