I have just set up a new PC with Windows 10 and Office 2013. I have found I am now unable to assign categories to Calendar items - hugely frustrating as I used this feature extensively with my old Outlook.

I have searched various forums and found the answer seems to be that my accounts are all IMAP - I am unable to change this as our email servers only allow IMAP. Does anyone have a fix? And does anyone know why Microsoft seem to have gone backwards?

Hi,

I understand that you want categories to be available in Outlook for IMAP accounts, as this is one of the most common request we hear from you. However, the IMAP protocol itself does not support categories properly. As a result, we werent able to engineer a feature that ensures that categories to work properly for IMAP protocol.

However, there are some workarounds we can use to deal with the issue:

1. Assign keyboard shortcuts to at least one category. Once you add a category to an appointment by keyboard shortcuts, you can open the category MRU by right clicking on the category bar in the open appointment.

2. Assign a category via opening the appointment in a new window, clicking File > Properties > Categories.

3. Use VBA to Display Category Options

4. Use a third-party tool to assign and manage categories.

For detailed information, please have a look at the following article:

http://www.slipstick.com/outlook/outlook-categories-flags-and-imap-accounts/

Please Note: Since the web site is not hosted by Microsoft, the link may change without notice. Microsoft does not guarantee the accuracy of this information.

Hope this helps.

Regards,

Steve Fan
TechNet Community Support

Many thanks Steve, the keyboard shortcut method worked a treat. A bit more long-winded but I now have the functionality lost in the 'upgrade' (!) to Outlook 2013.