Apply color automatically to calendar items in Outlook 2003

I trash my Outlook Calendars with lots of entries and frequently I miss out on some important event because I get no visual clue about the appointments in the heap of calendar events. I missed my brother's anniversary :( this time.

Now I color code appointment with my boss with red, all birthdays with blue and so on. I started doing it manually but then I realized why not do it automatically using rules based on few keywords.

To achieve this go to Edit menu and from there select "Automatic Formatting". Click 'Add'. In 'Name' text box, type a name for formatting rule. From 'Label' drop down, select color for this Category. Click 'Condition'. In 'Search for the word field, type the word used as criteria. Click 'OK'.

You may automatically assign a label to a calendar event and in order to assign label to all existing events, please follow the steps given below.

• In Calendar go to Edit>Automatic Formatting. The automatic formatting dialog box will appear as given below.

• Click on 'Add'. Then in the "Name" text box enter the desired name for the formatting rule.
• From the "Label" drop down list select the color for this Label. Please note you can change the color of existing label format.
• Click on the "Condition" button and "Filter" dialog box will appear.
• In the "Search for the word" field enter the word you want to use as your criteria.
• Now click "OK" and all appointments will be color coded as per the criteria you have set.

Hope you will find it useful and will not miss birthday or important appointment.

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