Sorting Contacts within Categories

[Tom Stoddard]

I've just upgraded to Outlook 2003 and have been annoyed by the different
behavior which ocurrs when I try to sort my contacts while they are grouped
in categories. In the previous versions, I could have one category expanded
and the other collapsed and then click on one of the column headers to sort
the contact which are visible by that field. All contacts would be resorted
correctly but the categories would all remain collapsed or expanded as they
were before the sort.

In 2003, when I click on a column heading to sort, all contacts are
immediately displayed and are no longer grouped by category. Then, if I
switch back to grouping by category, the sort order is changed back to the
default sort order for that view.

I find this very annoying. Is there a way to get Outlook 2003 to behave the
way the older versions did?

 

[Russ Valentine [MVP-Outlook]]

Judy Gleeson has provided the following workaround to overcome the new way
Outlook 2003 sorts the "By Category" view:

Use the Detailed or Simple List view, show the columns you want to see
(field chooser), click the column (eg Last Name) you want to sort by, THEN
use the group by box to group by Category. That should have alphabetical as
well as the grouping.

 

[Tom Stoddard]

Thanks, but that doesn't make any sense to me. I can't find a "simple list"
view anywhere and no matter what I try, as soon as I click on one of the
field (column) headings, the categories go away. I think I understand the
process you're recommending but that requires me to go into a menu, select
an option 2 levels down, click on a button, select a field, click on ok
twice, and then group the contacts again and reset the expansion of the
groups. This is certainly no replacement for the functionality that I'm used
to of a simple single click on one button.

Maybe I should explain myself better. Here's an example:

I have a category for Vendors and a category for Personal. For my vendor
contacts I find the Company field useful but I sometimes forget a company
name and need to find the vendor by the sales person's name. When that
happens, I simply click on the full name column heading and search by name.
Then when I want to find another contact by company I just click on the
company heading. When I'm looking for a personal contact I rarely have a
company name listed so sorting by company doesn't help. Since I probably
sorted by company in a different category, when I expand my personal
contacts they are usually sorted by company which isn't very useful but it
doesn't matter because I just click on the full name button at the top of
the column and the sorting changes without the groups expanding or
collapsing. I find myself switching sort order on the fly very often. Now
whenever I do that, I end up looking at a list of over 1000 contacts which
is a pain to scroll through.

I don't understand why Microsoft would program this behavior into Outlook. I
probably used the shortcut of clicking on a column heading 50 times a day
before. It was on of the most useful features I can think of in Outlook. I
have over 1000 contacts which I group into 7 categories. Had I known about
this behavior I would have given serious consideration to not upgrading at
all.

Judy Gleeson has provided the following workaround to overcome the new way
Outlook 2003 sorts the "By Category" view:

Use the Detailed or Simple List view, show the columns you want to see
(field chooser), click the column (eg Last Name) you want to sort by, THEN
use the group by box to group by Category. That should have alphabetical as
well as the grouping.

--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]

I've just upgraded to Outlook 2003 and have been annoyed by the different
behavior which ocurrs when I try to sort my contacts while they are
grouped
in categories. In the previous versions, I could have one category
expanded
and the other collapsed and then click on one of the column headers to
sort
the contact which are visible by that field. All contacts would be
resorted
correctly but the categories would all remain collapsed or expanded as
they
were before the sort.

In 2003, when I click on a column heading to sort, all contacts are
immediately displayed and are no longer grouped by category. Then, if I
switch back to grouping by category, the sort order is changed back to the
default sort order for that view.

I find this very annoying. Is there a way to get Outlook 2003 to behave
the
way the older versions did?

 

[Russ Valentine [MVP-Outlook]]

I understood your question.
You don't understand the answer.
Just try what I posted.
You can use any list view of your Contacts Folder to do it. Try phone list
for example.
--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]

Thanks, but that doesn't make any sense to me. I can't find a "simple
list"
view anywhere and no matter what I try, as soon as I click on one of the
field (column) headings, the categories go away. I think I understand the
process you're recommending but that requires me to go into a menu, select
an option 2 levels down, click on a button, select a field, click on ok
twice, and then group the contacts again and reset the expansion of the
groups. This is certainly no replacement for the functionality that I'm
used
to of a simple single click on one button.

Maybe I should explain myself better. Here's an example:

I have a category for Vendors and a category for Personal. For my vendor
contacts I find the Company field useful but I sometimes forget a company
name and need to find the vendor by the sales person's name. When that
happens, I simply click on the full name column heading and search by
name.
Then when I want to find another contact by company I just click on the
company heading. When I'm looking for a personal contact I rarely have a
company name listed so sorting by company doesn't help. Since I probably
sorted by company in a different category, when I expand my personal
contacts they are usually sorted by company which isn't very useful but it
doesn't matter because I just click on the full name button at the top of
the column and the sorting changes without the groups expanding or
collapsing. I find myself switching sort order on the fly very often. Now
whenever I do that, I end up looking at a list of over 1000 contacts which
is a pain to scroll through.

I don't understand why Microsoft would program this behavior into Outlook.
I
probably used the shortcut of clicking on a column heading 50 times a day
before. It was on of the most useful features I can think of in Outlook. I
have over 1000 contacts which I group into 7 categories. Had I known about
this behavior I would have given serious consideration to not upgrading at
all.

Judy Gleeson has provided the following workaround to overcome the new
way
Outlook 2003 sorts the "By Category" view:

Use the Detailed or Simple List view, show the columns you want to see
(field chooser), click the column (eg Last Name) you want to sort by,
THEN
use the group by box to group by Category. That should have alphabetical as
well as the grouping.

--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]

I've just upgraded to Outlook 2003 and have been annoyed by the different
behavior which ocurrs when I try to sort my contacts while they are
grouped
in categories. In the previous versions, I could have one category
expanded
and the other collapsed and then click on one of the column headers to
sort
the contact which are visible by that field. All contacts would be
resorted
correctly but the categories would all remain collapsed or expanded as
they
were before the sort.

In 2003, when I click on a column heading to sort, all contacts are
immediately displayed and are no longer grouped by category. Then, if I
switch back to grouping by category, the sort order is changed back to the
default sort order for that view.

I find this very annoying. Is there a way to get Outlook 2003 to behave
the
way the older versions did?

 

[Judy Gleeson MVP Outlook]

Tom

Turn on your Advanced Toolbars and use the Field Chooser, Group By Box and
Current View Window and you'll find Outlook's suddenly much more powerful.
The 3 of them are side by side!

Judy Gleeson [MVP Outlook]
Acorn Training and Consulting
www.acorntraining.com.au

Everyone - turn on your Advanced Toolbars and learn how to use the Field
Chooser and Group by Box!!

I understood your question.
You don't understand the answer.
Just try what I posted.
You can use any list view of your Contacts Folder to do it. Try phone list
for example.
--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]

Thanks, but that doesn't make any sense to me. I can't find a "simple
list"
view anywhere and no matter what I try, as soon as I click on one of the
field (column) headings, the categories go away. I think I understand the
process you're recommending but that requires me to go into a menu,
select
an option 2 levels down, click on a button, select a field, click on ok
twice, and then group the contacts again and reset the expansion of the
groups. This is certainly no replacement for the functionality that I'm
used
to of a simple single click on one button.

Maybe I should explain myself better. Here's an example:

I have a category for Vendors and a category for Personal. For my vendor
contacts I find the Company field useful but I sometimes forget a company
name and need to find the vendor by the sales person's name. When that
happens, I simply click on the full name column heading and search by
name.
Then when I want to find another contact by company I just click on the
company heading. When I'm looking for a personal contact I rarely have a
company name listed so sorting by company doesn't help. Since I probably
sorted by company in a different category, when I expand my personal
contacts they are usually sorted by company which isn't very useful but
it
doesn't matter because I just click on the full name button at the top of
the column and the sorting changes without the groups expanding or
collapsing. I find myself switching sort order on the fly very often. Now
whenever I do that, I end up looking at a list of over 1000 contacts
which
is a pain to scroll through.

I don't understand why Microsoft would program this behavior into
Outlook. I
probably used the shortcut of clicking on a column heading 50 times a day
before. It was on of the most useful features I can think of in Outlook.
I
have over 1000 contacts which I group into 7 categories. Had I known
about
this behavior I would have given serious consideration to not upgrading
at
all.

Judy Gleeson has provided the following workaround to overcome the new
way
Outlook 2003 sorts the "By Category" view:

Use the Detailed or Simple List view, show the columns you want to see
(field chooser), click the column (eg Last Name) you want to sort by,
THEN
use the group by box to group by Category. That should have
alphabetical as
well as the grouping.

--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]
I've just upgraded to Outlook 2003 and have been annoyed by the different
behavior which ocurrs when I try to sort my contacts while they are
grouped
in categories. In the previous versions, I could have one category
expanded
and the other collapsed and then click on one of the column headers to
sort
the contact which are visible by that field. All contacts would be
resorted
correctly but the categories would all remain collapsed or expanded as
they
were before the sort.

In 2003, when I click on a column heading to sort, all contacts are
immediately displayed and are no longer grouped by category. Then, if
I
switch back to grouping by category, the sort order is changed back to the
default sort order for that view.

I find this very annoying. Is there a way to get Outlook 2003 to
behave
the
way the older versions did?

 

[Tom Stoddard]

Russ,

You're right, I didn't understand your answer until I turned on the advanced
toolbar. Now I think I understand your answer but it still doesn't help me.
The problem is that I want to have one category expanded at a time and be
able to resort without the categories all expanding. The solution you and
Judy are offering (if I understand it) requires me to show all contacts
every time I want to sort on a different field and then regroup by category.
When I regroup, all of the groups are expanded so I then have to scroll to
find the group I'm looking for or collapse each group one at a time until I
get back to where I want to be. Am I still missing something?

Thanks again!

I understood your question.
You don't understand the answer.
Just try what I posted.
You can use any list view of your Contacts Folder to do it. Try phone list
for example.
--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]

Thanks, but that doesn't make any sense to me. I can't find a "simple
list"
view anywhere and no matter what I try, as soon as I click on one of the
field (column) headings, the categories go away. I think I understand the
process you're recommending but that requires me to go into a menu, select
an option 2 levels down, click on a button, select a field, click on ok
twice, and then group the contacts again and reset the expansion of the
groups. This is certainly no replacement for the functionality that I'm
used
to of a simple single click on one button.

Maybe I should explain myself better. Here's an example:

I have a category for Vendors and a category for Personal. For my vendor
contacts I find the Company field useful but I sometimes forget a company
name and need to find the vendor by the sales person's name. When that
happens, I simply click on the full name column heading and search by
name.
Then when I want to find another contact by company I just click on the
company heading. When I'm looking for a personal contact I rarely have a
company name listed so sorting by company doesn't help. Since I probably
sorted by company in a different category, when I expand my personal
contacts they are usually sorted by company which isn't very useful but it
doesn't matter because I just click on the full name button at the top of
the column and the sorting changes without the groups expanding or
collapsing. I find myself switching sort order on the fly very often. Now
whenever I do that, I end up looking at a list of over 1000 contacts which
is a pain to scroll through.

I don't understand why Microsoft would program this behavior into Outlook.
I
probably used the shortcut of clicking on a column heading 50 times a day
before. It was on of the most useful features I can think of in Outlook. I
have over 1000 contacts which I group into 7 categories. Had I known about
this behavior I would have given serious consideration to not upgrading at
all.

Judy Gleeson has provided the following workaround to overcome the new
way
Outlook 2003 sorts the "By Category" view:

Use the Detailed or Simple List view, show the columns you want to see
(field chooser), click the column (eg Last Name) you want to sort by,
THEN
use the group by box to group by Category. That should have

alphabetical
as

well as the grouping.

--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]
I've just upgraded to Outlook 2003 and have been annoyed by the different
behavior which ocurrs when I try to sort my contacts while they are
grouped
in categories. In the previous versions, I could have one category
expanded
and the other collapsed and then click on one of the column headers to
sort
the contact which are visible by that field. All contacts would be
resorted
correctly but the categories would all remain collapsed or expanded as
they
were before the sort.

In 2003, when I click on a column heading to sort, all contacts are
immediately displayed and are no longer grouped by category. Then, if I
switch back to grouping by category, the sort order is changed back

to
the

default sort order for that view.

I find this very annoying. Is there a way to get Outlook 2003 to behave
the
way the older versions did?

 

[Tom Stoddard]

I've been experimenting with this for a while now trying to find all of the
hidden functionality and I've realized that the thing that is bothering me
most is the fact that the expanding and collapsing of the groups seems to
change whenever you change anything. Even when I use the group by box and
click on the field in that box to change the sort order of the groups, my
groups all expand if they weren't already expanded. Why would anyone want
them to do that? I would be happy if there was a way to tell Outlook not to
mess with my groups when I change something. The previous version behaved
that way so I know possible.

Thanks for all of you help. If I'm wrong and there is a way to accomplish
what I'm trying to do, please let me know.

I understood your question.
You don't understand the answer.
Just try what I posted.
You can use any list view of your Contacts Folder to do it. Try phone list
for example.
--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]

Thanks, but that doesn't make any sense to me. I can't find a "simple
list"
view anywhere and no matter what I try, as soon as I click on one of the
field (column) headings, the categories go away. I think I understand the
process you're recommending but that requires me to go into a menu, select
an option 2 levels down, click on a button, select a field, click on ok
twice, and then group the contacts again and reset the expansion of the
groups. This is certainly no replacement for the functionality that I'm
used
to of a simple single click on one button.

Maybe I should explain myself better. Here's an example:

I have a category for Vendors and a category for Personal. For my vendor
contacts I find the Company field useful but I sometimes forget a company
name and need to find the vendor by the sales person's name. When that
happens, I simply click on the full name column heading and search by
name.
Then when I want to find another contact by company I just click on the
company heading. When I'm looking for a personal contact I rarely have a
company name listed so sorting by company doesn't help. Since I probably
sorted by company in a different category, when I expand my personal
contacts they are usually sorted by company which isn't very useful but it
doesn't matter because I just click on the full name button at the top of
the column and the sorting changes without the groups expanding or
collapsing. I find myself switching sort order on the fly very often. Now
whenever I do that, I end up looking at a list of over 1000 contacts which
is a pain to scroll through.

I don't understand why Microsoft would program this behavior into Outlook.
I
probably used the shortcut of clicking on a column heading 50 times a day
before. It was on of the most useful features I can think of in Outlook. I
have over 1000 contacts which I group into 7 categories. Had I known about
this behavior I would have given serious consideration to not upgrading at
all.

Judy Gleeson has provided the following workaround to overcome the new
way
Outlook 2003 sorts the "By Category" view:

Use the Detailed or Simple List view, show the columns you want to see
(field chooser), click the column (eg Last Name) you want to sort by,
THEN
use the group by box to group by Category. That should have

alphabetical
as

well as the grouping.

--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]
I've just upgraded to Outlook 2003 and have been annoyed by the different
behavior which ocurrs when I try to sort my contacts while they are
grouped
in categories. In the previous versions, I could have one category
expanded
and the other collapsed and then click on one of the column headers to
sort
the contact which are visible by that field. All contacts would be
resorted
correctly but the categories would all remain collapsed or expanded as
they
were before the sort.

In 2003, when I click on a column heading to sort, all contacts are
immediately displayed and are no longer grouped by category. Then, if I
switch back to grouping by category, the sort order is changed back

to
the

default sort order for that view.

I find this very annoying. Is there a way to get Outlook 2003 to behave
the
way the older versions did?

 

[Russ Valentine [MVP-Outlook]]

You're wrong . It can be accomplished.
You can change the defaults for a particular view by going into the
Customize Current View dialog, clicking the Group By button, and setting
your preference in the "Expand/Collapse defaults" box in the lower right
corner.

--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]

I've been experimenting with this for a while now trying to find all of
the
hidden functionality and I've realized that the thing that is bothering me
most is the fact that the expanding and collapsing of the groups seems to
change whenever you change anything. Even when I use the group by box and
click on the field in that box to change the sort order of the groups, my
groups all expand if they weren't already expanded. Why would anyone want
them to do that? I would be happy if there was a way to tell Outlook not
to
mess with my groups when I change something. The previous version behaved
that way so I know possible.

Thanks for all of you help. If I'm wrong and there is a way to accomplish
what I'm trying to do, please let me know.

I understood your question.
You don't understand the answer.
Just try what I posted.
You can use any list view of your Contacts Folder to do it. Try phone
list
for example.
--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]

Thanks, but that doesn't make any sense to me. I can't find a "simple
list"
view anywhere and no matter what I try, as soon as I click on one of
the
field (column) headings, the categories go away. I think I understand the
process you're recommending but that requires me to go into a menu, select
an option 2 levels down, click on a button, select a field, click on ok
twice, and then group the contacts again and reset the expansion of the
groups. This is certainly no replacement for the functionality that I'm
used
to of a simple single click on one button.

Maybe I should explain myself better. Here's an example:

I have a category for Vendors and a category for Personal. For my
vendor
contacts I find the Company field useful but I sometimes forget a company
name and need to find the vendor by the sales person's name. When that
happens, I simply click on the full name column heading and search by
name.
Then when I want to find another contact by company I just click on the
company heading. When I'm looking for a personal contact I rarely have
a
company name listed so sorting by company doesn't help. Since I
probably
sorted by company in a different category, when I expand my personal
contacts they are usually sorted by company which isn't very useful but it
doesn't matter because I just click on the full name button at the top of
the column and the sorting changes without the groups expanding or
collapsing. I find myself switching sort order on the fly very often. Now
whenever I do that, I end up looking at a list of over 1000 contacts which
is a pain to scroll through.

I don't understand why Microsoft would program this behavior into Outlook.
I
probably used the shortcut of clicking on a column heading 50 times a day
before. It was on of the most useful features I can think of in
Outlook. I
have over 1000 contacts which I group into 7 categories. Had I known about
this behavior I would have given serious consideration to not upgrading at
all.

Judy Gleeson has provided the following workaround to overcome the new
way
Outlook 2003 sorts the "By Category" view:

Use the Detailed or Simple List view, show the columns you want to see
(field chooser), click the column (eg Last Name) you want to sort by,
THEN
use the group by box to group by Category. That should have alphabetical
as
well as the grouping.

--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]
I've just upgraded to Outlook 2003 and have been annoyed by the
different
behavior which ocurrs when I try to sort my contacts while they are
grouped
in categories. In the previous versions, I could have one category
expanded
and the other collapsed and then click on one of the column headers to
sort
the contact which are visible by that field. All contacts would be
resorted
correctly but the categories would all remain collapsed or expanded as
they
were before the sort.

In 2003, when I click on a column heading to sort, all contacts are
immediately displayed and are no longer grouped by category. Then,
if I
switch back to grouping by category, the sort order is changed back to
the
default sort order for that view.

I find this very annoying. Is there a way to get Outlook 2003 to behave
the
way the older versions did?

 

[Tom Stoddard]

Thanks again, Russ! That does help but I still can't change the sort order
with one click without my grouping changing. I guess I'll just have to get
used to it.

You're wrong . It can be accomplished.
You can change the defaults for a particular view by going into the
Customize Current View dialog, clicking the Group By button, and setting
your preference in the "Expand/Collapse defaults" box in the lower right
corner.

--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]

I've been experimenting with this for a while now trying to find all of
the
hidden functionality and I've realized that the thing that is bothering me
most is the fact that the expanding and collapsing of the groups seems to
change whenever you change anything. Even when I use the group by box and
click on the field in that box to change the sort order of the groups, my
groups all expand if they weren't already expanded. Why would anyone want
them to do that? I would be happy if there was a way to tell Outlook not
to
mess with my groups when I change something. The previous version behaved
that way so I know possible.

Thanks for all of you help. If I'm wrong and there is a way to accomplish
what I'm trying to do, please let me know.

I understood your question.
You don't understand the answer.
Just try what I posted.
You can use any list view of your Contacts Folder to do it. Try phone
list
for example.
--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]
Thanks, but that doesn't make any sense to me. I can't find a "simple
list"
view anywhere and no matter what I try, as soon as I click on one of
the
field (column) headings, the categories go away. I think I understand the
process you're recommending but that requires me to go into a menu, select
an option 2 levels down, click on a button, select a field, click on ok
twice, and then group the contacts again and reset the expansion of the
groups. This is certainly no replacement for the functionality that I'm
used
to of a simple single click on one button.

Maybe I should explain myself better. Here's an example:

I have a category for Vendors and a category for Personal. For my
vendor
contacts I find the Company field useful but I sometimes forget a company
name and need to find the vendor by the sales person's name. When that
happens, I simply click on the full name column heading and search by
name.
Then when I want to find another contact by company I just click on the
company heading. When I'm looking for a personal contact I rarely have
a
company name listed so sorting by company doesn't help. Since I
probably
sorted by company in a different category, when I expand my personal
contacts they are usually sorted by company which isn't very useful

but
it

doesn't matter because I just click on the full name button at the

top
of

the column and the sorting changes without the groups expanding or
collapsing. I find myself switching sort order on the fly very often. Now
whenever I do that, I end up looking at a list of over 1000 contacts which
is a pain to scroll through.

I don't understand why Microsoft would program this behavior into Outlook.
I
probably used the shortcut of clicking on a column heading 50 times a day
before. It was on of the most useful features I can think of in
Outlook. I
have over 1000 contacts which I group into 7 categories. Had I known about
this behavior I would have given serious consideration to not

upgrading
at

all.

Judy Gleeson has provided the following workaround to overcome the new
way
Outlook 2003 sorts the "By Category" view:

Use the Detailed or Simple List view, show the columns you want to see
(field chooser), click the column (eg Last Name) you want to sort by,
THEN
use the group by box to group by Category. That should have alphabetical
as
well as the grouping.

--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]
I've just upgraded to Outlook 2003 and have been annoyed by the
different
behavior which ocurrs when I try to sort my contacts while they are
grouped
in categories. In the previous versions, I could have one category
expanded
and the other collapsed and then click on one of the column

headers
to

sort
the contact which are visible by that field. All contacts would be
resorted
correctly but the categories would all remain collapsed or

expanded
as

they
were before the sort.

In 2003, when I click on a column heading to sort, all contacts are
immediately displayed and are no longer grouped by category. Then,
if I
switch back to grouping by category, the sort order is changed

back
to

the
default sort order for that view.

I find this very annoying. Is there a way to get Outlook 2003 to behave
the
way the older versions did?