Change Multiple Contacts with Drag and Drop

You have several Outlook contacts for the same company and their company name (or address or some other detail) is being changed. Updating that change in all contacts one at a time would be annoying to say the least. Not to fret! Although there is no find and replace for this, you can still make it happen pretty quickly.

The steps are very similar in all versions of Outlook:

1. Click on View tab, Current View group, Change View dropdown arrow
2. Choose List
3. In Arrangement group, click Arrange By drop down arrow
4. Choose Company and ensure that Show in Groups has a checkmark. If not, click arrow again and choose it
5. In the desired Company name group, open any contact and edit the name
6. Click Save and Close icon. This will automatically create and display a new group with the edited Company name
7. Highlight all the contacts in the previous Company group. (Just click on first one and SHIFT click on last)
8. Click, hold and drag them into the new Company name group. All of your contacts are updated!

Create Custom Views

Now, create your own custom view so you can return to your grouped list with a mouse click:

• Click Change View in the Current View group
• Select Save Current View as a New View
• Give it a name such as Contact List by Company
• Click OK and it is added to your Change View drop down list:

Display by Category

Don’t stop with quickly updating changes in Contact content. If you are a user of categories and want add or edit a category or color, you can apply the same process as above to change or add contacts to an existing or new category.

Replace Company in Step #4 above with Categories in the Arrange By dropdown list and rest is the same. Also, always remember to check what’s available on the right click menu as you can often save several mouse clicks. Right click on a contact and choose Categories from the shortcut list and add or edit there.

Categories are very powerful because they can be used to identify items all across Outlook, including types of calendar appointments, email messages, tasks and notes. Customize your own categories and colors and create a great organizational tool!

How are you using Categories to streamline your Outlook?