LeeShanok Technical Support

Outlook 98/2000 Support:

Categories vs. multiple Contacts folders

You'll find some debate over which method is better for managing different types of contacts -- have more than one Contacts folder (Personal, Business, etc.) or use one Contacts folder with categories. There are pluses and minuses for both.

Personally, I use a combination. I have a couple of separate Contacts folders that use special forms, plus I make extensive use of categories in my main Contacts folder.

Multiple Contacts Folders
Pluses	Minuses
Group different types of contacts separately in the Outlook Address Book Use different forms for different types of contacts, each form specific to its folder Easily export a set of contacts for use on another machine	Automatic journaling takes place only for the main Contacts folder If a contact fits into two types (such as both Business and Personal), you may need to create duplicate entries.
One Contacts Folder, Multiple Categories
Pluses	Minuses
Combine multiple categories into custom views for innumerable ways of looking at your Contacts Automatic journaling for all Contacts	Cannot use Categories to select items for a Word mail merge, except in Outlook 2000 Cannot directly export a particular category; must copy to a separate folder first Cannot use Categories to filter when using the Outlook Address Book

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