Fortunately, Outlook also lets you assign any number of categories to your contacts. You can then sort your address book by category — and, presto, here's your new elegant, versatile and stable distribution list.
Use Contact Categories as Distribution Lists in Outlook
To create a distribution or mailing list with categories in Outlook:
- Go to Contacts in Outlook.
- Highlight all contacts you want to add to your new distribution list.
- To add people not yet in your Outlook contacts, create them first using Ctrl-N.
- Click the Categorize toolbar button.
- You can also select Actions | Categorize from the menu.
- Select All Categories... from the drop-down menu.
- Click New....
- Type the distribution list's desired name (e.g. "Friends and Family (List)").
- Choose None from the Color: drop-down menu.
- Click OK.
- Click OK again after you have verified the new category is checked.
To add new members later, assign to them the appropriate category individually.
Send a Message To Your Category Distribution List
To compose a new message or meeting request to all members of the category-run distribution list:
- Go to Contacts in Outlook.
- Select View | Current View | By Category from the menu.
- Click the desired list category's heading.
- Select Actions | Create | New Message to Contact or Actions | Create | New Meeting Request to Contact from the menu.
- Click OK if Outlook notifies you that your action will apply to all items in the group.
- Click in the To... field.
- Outlook has put all address in the To: field. For a list messages, it is usually better to have all addressees in the the Bcc: field to avoid revealing addresses. If appropriate, you can leave the addresses in the To: field, of course, or move them to the Cc: field.
- For contacts with multiple email addresses, Outlook has inserted each. It is best to delete the unneeded addresses.
- Press Ctrl-A.
- Press Ctrl-X.
- Make sure the Bcc... field is visible.
- Click in the Bcc... field.
- Press Ctrl-V.
- Type your email address in the To... field.
- Continue composing the message or meeting request.
