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Several versions of Microsoft Outlook ago, you lot could use color to identify appointments past speedily applying a category. Outlook no longer supports this feature, although, with a niggling roughhousing, y'all can withal get to them. Because they're non supported and considering you lot practise have to jump through hoops to retrieve them, I don't recommend their use any longer. I expect them to disappear with every upgrade, and if they don't completely disappear, they might terminate working as expected, and you might not fifty-fifty realize information technology.

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Yous can, withal, still use conditional formatting to color code appointments. The proficient news is, once the formatting rule is in place, you won't take to practice anything. Outlook will apply the color automatically. In this article, I'll show you how to use this feature in Microsoft 365's desktop version of Outlook. You tin use conditional formats with other Outlook items, such as email messages. The process is the same, but you demand to be in the appropriate window.

I'grand using Microsoft 365 desktop on a Windows ten 64-bit organization, simply you tin can use earlier versions. In that location's no demonstration file; you won't need ane. This feature isn't supported in Outlook Online.

Make a programme for your Outlook Calendar color codes

Before yous offset creating rules to color-code your appointments, spend a few minutes deciding which colors you want to use and to what types of appointments. I can't requite an exact rule of thumb because anybody works differently. For example, you might color code appointments by subject matter or project titles. Or you might colour code by whether information technology's mandatory or optional. There are all kinds of reasons you might want a particular appointment to stand out.

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The type of date that y'all cull to color-code should have a consistent property or content for the dominion to find. For that reason, you practise need to remember information technology all out simply a bit before diving correct in. We'll color-lawmaking appointments by a trigger phrase in the subject text, "Restructure Committee." If someone sends a message to the group but uses a dissimilar discipline, the condition won't be met. That's why this needs a chip of upward-front end planning.

Before we can do annihilation though, nosotros need an appointment.

How to add an appointment in Outlook Calendar

Earlier we add the conditional formatting dominion, permit'south create an appointment for the restructure committee, every bit follows:

  1. Double-click Sept. 7, 2021, a Tuesday in your calendar (I'one thousand using the Month view; I just observe it easier when creating appointments because you get a bigger flick of everything that'due south going on.) Doing then creates an Outcome item. Alternatively, you tin click New Appointment and create it from scratch, only for now, use the double-click.
  2. In the resulting dialog, enter the name Restructure Commission. When applying to your own work, the proper noun should be descriptive and meaningful and so information technology's like shooting fish in a barrel to detect and maintain.
  3. Uncheck the All Day option so the start and stop times are bachelor.
  4. Ready the time for ix:00 AM through 12:00 PM, as shown in Effigy A.
  5. Click Relieve & Close to render to the Agenda window.

Figure A

Technically, you don't accept to take an appointment that meets the condition before creating the conditional formatting rule, but the characteristic does work with existing appointments.

How to apply the conditional format in Outlook Calendar

With or without an date, applying a conditional format is easy, and Outlook applies the code automatically. You need a condition, which in this case is the subject text, "Restructure Committee." In addition, you need to select a color; we'll employ carmine.

Let's get started:

  1. Open up the Agenda window and click the View tab. Then, choose View Settings in the Current View group. In the resulting dialog, click Conditional Formatting.
  2. Click Add to create a new rule, and enter a proper name for it, such as Color Restructure Appt.
  3. Choose the color cherry (Figure B).
  4. Click Status in the bottom-left of the dialog. This is where things tin go a bit circuitous.
  5. Click the Appointments and Meetings tab (if necessary, it's the default).
  6. Enter Restructure Committee in the Search for the Words control (Effigy C). Don't uncheck the In Subject Field Only (default) setting because you want to look for this phrase in the bulletin's subject area. This dialog deserves some exploration subsequently because of its many options. You'll desire to acquire about all of them.
  7. Click OK iii times to render to the Calendar window.

Figure B

Figure C

Browse to the appointment for Sept. 7. You lot'll observe the existing appointment color-coded in carmine as shown in Figure D.

Effigy D

The status set in pace 6 could be different. For instance, you might choose to expect for only the word restructure. Or you might click the Avant-garde tab and add more than words other than restructure, just omitting committee—when specifying multiple words, commission might go a lot of hits that don't apply to the restructure commission. This instance is simple and doesn't offer any possible snags, but things can become more than complex when needed.

How to make a meeting recurring in Outlook Calendar

The formatting rule will piece of work on existing and all new engagement items that fit the condition. Use the instructions to a higher place to create a new engagement if you desire to see that at work. If you lot opt to make the meeting recurring, the rule will even colour-code those, subsequently the fact. Open up the appointment and click Recurrence in the Options group (on the Event tab). Outlook will select the Weekly and Tuesday options for you, as shown in Figure E. When you return to the agenda, you will see an engagement for every Tuesday, in ruby-red.

Effigy Due east