Search on Category in Outlook 2013

[david samuel]

When you want to search your mails by Category and you click on "Category" in the ribbon, you get a list of only about 15 categories. I use a lot more since this is the way I organise my mails in stead of separate folders. At the bottom of this list you have only two other options: Either "Any category" or "No category". There is no option to list all the categories, so that, if the category on which you want to do the search is not part of the "short list" of 15, the only way around (as far as I know) is to click on any category on the list and then to change the name manually in the list box to the category you want.


Strangely enough, when you categorise a message, you also get the "short list" but at he bottom you have an option "All categories" which then produces the full category list, Why this is not also an option when you do a category search, is beyond me - unless I'm missing some obvious solution.


Is there perhaps another way to deal with this oversight?

 

[david samuel]

After posting this thread I explored the search function further and found the solution to my problem: Click on the +More button in the Search Ribbon and you will see the full list of search criteria. Click on Categories and this will add a second search box below the main search box. This contains a drop down list of all your categories. Since most of my searches are category searches, I permanently leave the Category (sub) search box in place.