How to Use Categories to Colour-Code Emails

Create named, colour-coded categories and apply them to emails for visual organisation in Outlook.

List Existing Categories

“Show me my email categories”

tool: manage-category
params:
  action: "list"

Create a New Category

“Create a red ‘Urgent’ category”

tool: manage-category
params:
  action: "create"
  displayName: "Urgent"
  color: "preset0"

Available Colours

Preset	Colour
preset0	Red
preset1	Orange
preset2	Brown
preset3	Yellow
preset4	Green
preset5	Teal
preset6	Olive
preset7	Blue
preset8	Purple
preset9	Cranberry
preset10	Steel
preset11	Dark Steel
preset12	Grey
preset13	Dark Grey
preset14	Black
preset15–preset24	Dark variants of the above

Apply a Category to an Email

“Mark that email as Urgent”

tool: apply-category
params:
  messageId: "AAMkAGR..."
  categories: ["Urgent"]

Apply Multiple Categories

tool: apply-category
params:
  messageId: "AAMkAGR..."
  categories: ["Urgent", "Project Alpha"]
  action: "add"

Action	Behaviour
set	Replace all categories with these (default)
add	Add these categories, keep existing ones
remove	Remove only these categories

Apply Categories in Bulk

“Tag all these emails as Project Alpha”

tool: apply-category
params:
  messageIds: ["AAMkAGR1...", "AAMkAGR2...", "AAMkAGR3..."]
  categories: ["Project Alpha"]
  action: "add"

Remove a Category from an Email

tool: apply-category
params:
  messageId: "AAMkAGR..."
  categories: ["Urgent"]
  action: "remove"

Delete a Category

tool: manage-category
params:
  action: "delete"
  id: "category-id..."

Tips

• Categories sync across Outlook desktop, web, and mobile
• Use action: "add" to preserve existing categories when adding new ones
• Create a consistent set of categories (e.g. by project, priority, or team) for long-term organisation

Related

• Manage Focused Inbox — another organisation method
• Batch Operations — bulk category operations
• Tools Reference — manage-category