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.

238 comments
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Anonymous commented
I have to run the outlook for Mac for my emails and use a PC to colour up categories for calendar events. I work within a studio department but the rest of the company is office based to integration between both operating systems is essential. The only useful feature on Outlook for Mac is that you can search multiple calendars at one time where you can't on a PC. So keep that feature but bring back the category language so all computers can sync again!
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Henry Dixcon commented
Who ever thought this was a good idea should be fired. Bring this back ASAP. What are you waiting for?!?!
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Anonymous commented
Please please please bring this back!!! This is stupid, why would you take it out!? How do I revert back to the previous version of Outlook? Help...
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Anonymous commented
I wonder what's the drive behind removing this feature... Doesn't make sense at all. Please bring it back.
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Derek commented
Just made the upgrade and not being able to filter my meetings by category was one of the first things I noticed. I literally use this every day. Needs to be added back ASAP.
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Emma North commented
Looking for another option for my calendar as my company forced this update and the Outlook calendar is far less functional for me without this feature.
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Anonymous commented
Just because you didn't use this you think no one does. Lots of us do. Put it back.
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John Teichert commented
What a disastrous move. This absolutely killed my workflow. Please bring this feature back ASAP!!!
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Anonymous commented
So so so frustrating...I, along with all my colleagues at the University use this extensively to deal with the multitude of meetings at different levels. Unacceptable to remove this feature. It MUST be prioritized to bring it back and IMMEDIATELY..
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Anonymous commented
Why take this away? It is invaluable. I'm thinking of switching from iCalendar to Outlook, but this would be a dealbreaker. I don't see any advantages to making the switch, but this is a major deficit.
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Ted commented
Plase give me the option of putting the categories back in the Navigation Pane. this version is retrograde.
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Monsoon Meow commented
I use Outlook categories extensively for organising thousands of contacts, and also for calendar entries.
I held off as long as I could from updating from Outlook 2011, but the purchase of a new Mac forced the change.
I was expectant that, in the 8 years since Outlook for Mac was released, even just a few of the missing Outlook for Windows functions would have been finally added. But no: the latest release of Outlook for Mac now has fewer functions! I can't stop shaking my head as I work my way around the application, discovering more missing features. The 2019 release is a downgrade!
The removal of being able to filter items by Category is perhaps the most reckless and misguided of the omissions. In the Category preferences, the check box for “Show new categories in navigation pane” is still there. This is sloppy not only because it is no longer called the ‘navigation pane’ (now named ‘Sidebar’ in the View menu), but also because checking this box doesn’t actually do anything! In the Category preferences, we also use to find the column to tick each category if we wanted it to ‘Show in Navigation Pane (Sidebar?)’, but that is now sadly missing. All that remains is the ability to needlessly adjust the column widths, like a painful reminder of the functionality that was once there.
The OLM 2019 is such a significant fail that I am driven to investigate downgrading to 2016. It begs the question of why persevere with Outlook for Mac.
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Adam commented
Filter by categories in calendar is extremely useful, please bring it back. Now it's just color-coding, that's a pretty big backwards step in functionality.
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Michael Eisenbach commented
It is very important to enable filtering according to categories. Also, adding a possibility of editing the order of tasks in a task list and using bold letters at wish, would be great.
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Annunziata Vincenzo commented
Add categories and can't search for!!!
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Raphael Grau commented
Extremely perplexing that in the age of data-overload, a key management tool for reducing the overload such as filtering by categories has been removed. It is a fundamental strategy to manage layers of data and matching different layers to gain perspective and more importantly enable key decision making. It is greatly appreciated to have this featured re-enabled "yesterday!"
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Anonymous commented
That was a useless list for me, and took up a lot screen space. If it's going to be reintroduced, allow for some way to turn that feature off.
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Anonymous commented
Bring back ability to selectively show / hide categories in Calendar!
It's essential for busy people who try to manage the chaos with categories!!
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susan commented
I agree bring them back
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Anonymous commented
This HAS TO COME BACK!! why remove such and essential feature. We have to use this calendar for our institution and yet I can't easily filter anything to find what I am looking for. For example I keep track of travel for invoicing now I have to look at everything and go through the masses of lists.