Problem: Categorizing emails categorizes ALL emails with same subject, even deleted

[Doug Hanhart]

When I categorize an email with a (very) common subject such as "Alert-Database", Outlook categorizes all items with that subject, even those in the deleted folder, thus taking many seconds. Does anyone else see this behavior? Any idea how to get around it?

Thanks!

 

[Ben M. Schorr [MVP]]

Exactly what steps are you taking to categorize it?

 

[Doug Hanhart]

I've got a Categories column with a Quick Click assigned. When I get an email I want to track I click in the Categories area to assign the Quick Click.

I also just tried it by right clicking on the email in the list and choosing the category from the popup. Same result.

I'm viewing by Conversation. There are about 500 emails in the deleted items folder with the title "Status OK". I've confirmed that when I set a category in the Inbox it sets that category for all emails in Deleted Items.

I've confirmed that "Show messages from other folders" isn't checked.

Thanks!

 

[Ben M. Schorr [MVP]]

Is it possible that you're selecting the conversation header rather than an individual message when you set the category?

 

[Doug Hanhart]

If there are multiple emails in a conversation in the Inbox and I select one, it categorizes only that one and not the whole set of 500. But if there is only one email with that Subject in the inbox (and not a real "conversation") and the rest of the emails with the same Subject are in Deleted Items, I guess it sees that as me categorizing the entire conversation and categorizes the emails in both directories. Any way to have it only categorize the conversation in the current folder? Seems like that would be the default behavior but ...

Thanks

 

[Diane Poremsky]

Turn off the option to view conversations across folders before categorizing the items. It's on the view ribbon, conversation button (screenshot:http://slipstick.me/jing/conversations_001.png)

 

[Doug Hanhart]

Thanks, Diane. It has been off.

 

[Diane Poremsky]

If there are multiple emails in a conversation in the Inbox and I select one, it categorizes only that one and not the whole set of 500. But if there is only one email with that Subject in the inbox (and not a real "conversation") and the rest of the emails with the same Subject are in Deleted Items, I guess it sees that as me categorizing the entire conversation and categorizes the emails in both directories. Any way to have it only categorize the conversation in the current folder? Seems like that would be the default behavior but ...

I just repro'd it and will bring it to their attention. The clue is the same subject/not a real conversation part.

What type of email account? Are you using Exchange 2003/2007? The new conversation groups are broken in Exchange 2003/2007 (and unlikely to be fixed) but should work correctly (ie, not include other messages with the same subject) with every other account type.