Grouping Items in Outlook 2007

Grouping in Outlook 2007 creates bunches of similar items that you can open or close. You can look at only the bunches that interest you and ignore all the other bunches. For example, at tax time, you group your checks; you make a pile of the checks for medical expenses, another pile of checks for charitable deductions, and so on. Then you can add up the amounts that you spent in each category and enter those figures in your tax return.

Grouping views with a few mouse clicks

The quickest way to group items is to right-click the heading of the column you want to group by, and then choose Group by This Field. The Group By box automatically appears, and the name of the field you chose automatically appears in the Group By box. Isn't that slick?

Grouping views with drag-and-drop

The next-simplest way to group items is to open the Group By box and drag a column heading into it.

To group items by dragging and dropping a column heading, follow these steps:

1. Open the Advanced toolbar by choosing View --> Toolbars --> Advanced.

The Advanced toolbar displays the Group By Box button, normally the third button from the right. The Group By Box button contains an icon that looks like a box with some lines in it.

2. Click the Group By Box button on the Advanced toolbar.

The table drops down slightly, and a box appears above the table, proclaiming Drag a Column Header Here to Group by That Column.

3. Drag to the Group By box the header of the column that contains the data you want to group by.

You can drag several fields up to the Group By box to create groups based on more than one column.

Using the Group By dialog box

You can also use the Group By dialog box to group your listing.

To group your list, follow these steps:

1. Choose View --> Current View --> Customize Current View.

The Customize View dialog box appears. If you see the words Customize Current View in the Navigation Pane, you can also click those words to open the View Summary dialog box.

2. Click the Group By button.

The Group By dialog box appears.

3. Choose the first field that you want to group the view by.

The list has more fields than appear in the table. If you choose to group by a field that's not showing in your table, you can check the Show Field in View check box.

You may also want to choose whether you want your groups to be sorted in Ascending or Descending order.

4. Choose any other fields by which you want to group the view.

If you group by too many columns, you make your list harder, rather than easier, to use.

5. Click OK.

You can group your list by as many fields as you want to use for the purpose.

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