Introduction

If you are using a Blackberry which is synchronised with Outlook, Notes or other desktop software, there will probably be slight differences between the way categories work on your Blackberry and the way they work on your desktop software. This article provides an overview of the key things to be aware of.

Full Details

When does a category exist?

On a Blackberry, a category exists when it is shown in the Categories list. It is not possible for an item to belong to a category which is not shown in the category list.

Size Limits

There is no known limit to the number of categories which can exist at one time.

There is no known limit to the length of a category name.

We recommend that you work within the corresponding limits on your desktop software, if any.

Scope of Categories

Like Outlook and Notes, the Blackberry has one set of categories which can apply to every kind of data - emails, tasks, calendar items and so on. In this article categories are considered only in relation to Task items. When considering whether a category might be useful it is worth considering whether it might be needed for categorising items other than Task items.

Creating a Category

A category can come into being on a Blackberry in three different ways:

• Factory default setting
• Created automatically on the Blackberry
• Created manually on the Blackberry

The factory default setting provides two categories - Business and Personal. These categories are usually not useful for categorising Task items. We recommend that they be deleted unless there is some other reason not to.

A category is created automatically whenever an item is received by the Blackberry that has been categorised by the sender before sending, and the relevant category does not already exist on the Blackberry. This occurs mainly with emails which have been categorised by the sender for their own reasons. It can also occur with items of various kinds received by other means, for example Bluetooth transfers.

A category can be created manually using the categories list. The categories list can be accessed in two ways:

• Open a folder which contains things which can be categorised (e.g. Tasks) and choose "Filter" from the menu
• Open an item which can be categorised (e.g. a Task item) and click in the "Categories" field

Whenever the categories list is visible, a category can be created by pressing the menu button and choosing the relevant option.

Deleting a Category

Whenever the categories list is visible, a category can be deleted by pressing the menu button and choosing the relevant option.

If a category is deleted while it is in use, all items belonging to that category are removed from the deleted category, while the items themselves continue to exist. Deleting a category in Outlook or Notes does not delete the corresponding category in the Blackberry.

Renaming a Category

It is not possible to rename a category using the Blackberry. If a category needs to be amended or renamed it is necessary to delete the old category and create a new one. We recommend that you proceed like this:

• Create the new category
• Assign all relevant items to the new category
• Remove all relevant items from the old category
• Delete the old category

It can be more convenient to carry out bulk operations such as this using your desktop software (e.g. Outlook), synchronise the results to your Blackberry, then delete any unwanted categories manually on the Blackberry.

Related Articles

• Re-categorising multiple items using Outlook (not yet available) 
• How to manage Blackberry wireless synchronisation (not yet available) 
• How to manage categories on Outlook (not yet available) 
• How to manage categories on Notes (not yet available) 

Applies To

Blackberry: Tested - Curve 8310, Pearl 8110 - probably applies to others