Problem with Contacts view showing multiple categories in Outlook

[MarkT]

I am running XP with Outlook 2003. I have many Categories set up in my
Master Category List and most of my Contacts are assigned at least one
Category, some Contacts have two Categories.

When I view my Contacts under the view 'By Category' I used to see a view
showing each individual Category with a list of all the Contacts underneath
each section. Any contact with two Categories assigned to it would appear
under the two different headings. This was fine.

However it now seems that some Contacts who have two Categories assigned to
them are not being listed under both of these Categories - but rather under a
new heading "Category 1,Category 2". In other words Outlook is creating
additional groups of multiple categories for Contacts that have more than 1
Category.

When I open one of these problematic Contacts and re-select the Categories,
I can re-save the contact OK and the problem goes away i.e. the Contact can
be seen under the two separate Category headings. However the problem then
re-appears the next day when I re-open Outlook.

Any ideas welcome!

 

[Russ Valentine [MVP-Outlook]]

Not enough information. Outlook does not just do this all by itself for no
reason. There must be more to this story.
Have you tried repairing your PST file?

 

[MarkT]

Hi Russ,

Perhaps I should clarify. My earlier post might have been a little misleading.

Outlook doesn't actually create new multiple categories - it's just the
view. For example I have the following three categories: "childrens toys",
"outdoor toys" and "wooden toys". In the view 'by category' I can see
"childrens toys" then the list of Contacts with this category underneath.
Under that the category "outdoor toys" is listed OK with that category's list
of contacts.

However, under that I get the category "outdoor toys,wooden toys" and then a
few contacts under that heading that have both two categories assigned to
them. For these contacts I would expect them to be listed twice - one
listing under each of the 2 headings rather than outlook creating a whole new
heading for them in this view.

For other Contacts that have two categories assigned to them they are listed
just fine under both headings. Thanks.

 

[Russ Valentine [MVP-Outlook]]

I'd still try repairing your PST, then repairing your views by running
Outlook with the /cleanviews switch.

 

[MarkT]

Thanks. I have scanned and repaired errors and also reset all views. It seems
fine now. Many thanks.