I know my heading is confusing. But my question may be more so. Here's what
I want to have happen - is it possible?

I work in the medical profession and my contacts list consists mostly of
doctors. I add 5-10 doctors per day to contacts, sometimes quite a few more
than that. I have created a custom category "Medical Providers" to help sort
them. I will admit up front that I am lazy, and I want to skip selecting the
category for these patients. The company name for a doctor will always
contain the doctor's degree, i.e. Joe Smith MD or Jim Jones DC or whatever.
I would like to create a rule in which the entry of the letters MD, DC, or DO
in the company field causes the category to automatically select "Medical
Providers".

Barring this truly lazy-man's option, I would be okay if Medical Providers
were a "default" category which appears on every contact initially, as these
are the bulk of my contacts entries. Then I would only have to change a few
entries per week.

I hope this (admittedly wordy) question makes sense. Let me know if there
is a solution. Thanks!

The first would require VBA. The second a custom form. The second is easier.
:)

Open a new form and apply the category you want set as default.
(if using 2007 Go to the Office Orb menu, Editor options and enable the
Developer tab)
(if using 2003 or older, look on tools menu of the form)
Choose Publish as… enter a name for you form and click Ok.
Close the form.
Right click on the folder and choose properties
Set the new form as your default for this folder.

--
Diane Poremsky [MVP - Outlook]
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Okay, I've almost got it. You lost me at:

Which folder do I right click? Sorry I didn't mention it before (thought I
had, guess I didn't), but I'm using Office XP ...

The folder you are working with - in your case, contacts. If someone does
this with appointments, they would use the calendar folder.

--
Diane Poremsky [MVP - Outlook]
Need Help with Common Tasks? http://www.outlook-tips.net/beginner/
Outlook 2007: http://www.slipstick.com/outlook/ol2007/

Outlook Tips by email:
dailytips-subscribe-request@lists.outlooktips.net

EMO - a weekly newsletter about Outlook and Exchange:
EMO-NEWSLETTER-SUBSCRIBE-REQUEST@PEACH.EASE.LSOFT.COM

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Geez. *slaps self on forehead* I should have known that. :)

Thanks a million - SO helpful!

"Diane Poremsky [MVP]" wrote: