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How to use Categories to create a navigable ’folder’ structure

Mat Newman  June 26 2012 06:02:46
One of my favourite features of Lotus Notes is the Notebook (Journal) database.  The Notebook database in Lotus Notes is an excellent way to quickly jot down ideas, or capture information from another place - like an email message or web site - that you want to reference later.

Although the Notebook has the ability to use folders to organise information, I prefer using Categories.  Categorising a document is more flexible than putting it in a folder (I customise my own mail database so it has this feature) since it's really EASY to have a document appearing under multiple Categories.

One of the 'hidden' features that Categories in Lotus Notes has is the ability to create a 'structure' similar to sub-folders, where a user can group related documents under a tree hierarchy to further refine their grouping of records.

How do you do it? Simple.  Just include a \ (backslash) in the category name in a record (like a Notebook entry) to create the 'sub-folders'.  eg:

Category: Household\Recipe

Figure 1: A category with a sub-category on a form
A category with a sub-category on a form


Will create a main heading called "Household", which will show a twistie next to the Household heading, and then a further heading below that called 'Recipe', show below:

Figure 2: A category with a sub-category in a view
A category with a sub-category in a view

Of course, this feature will work in any standard Lotus Notes database form that contains a 'Category' option, why not try it out in your Lotus Notes Contacts, Calendar and To Do's as they all contain a 'Categories' field and their related views will show you records grouped under the structure you create.

Unfortunately, if you want this feature in your Mail, you will need to ask someone to customise your Mail Database to include the option, as it was removed as a standard feature of the Lotus Notes Mail Database a number of versions ago...

Using a Category to create a navigable folder structure ... easy!

Enjoy :-)
Comments

1John Stockbridge  06/26/2012 9:32:13  
How to use Categories to create a navigable ’folder’ structure

Mat, I've been using Notes since 1997 and did not know that. Brilliant!

I agree that Notebook is a life saver.

John

2Mat Newman

06/26/2012 12:07:38  How to use Categories to create a navigable ’folder’ structure

@1, John: That's why I write the posts mate, even if many people already know about the feature, doesn't mean everyone does. I've been using Notes now for nearly 20 years, and I'm still learning!

Mat Newman IBM Champion

3Tamir  06/26/2012 12:57:33  
How to use Categories to create a navigable ’folder’ structure

Cool ! Tnx.

Regards

Tamir Ben Shoshan

{ Link }

Lotus plugins & Notes CAPI & SharePoint

4Alin  06/26/2012 18:56:04  
How to use Categories to create a navigable ’folder’ structure

Why IBM gave up on categories views in mail template?

Categories are like tags. Now their own study shows tagging is more productive for refinding mails.

{ Link }

Do you have anything in a database view that looks like a cloud tag?

5David Hablewitz  06/27/2012 4:29:32  
How to use Categories to create a navigable ’folder’ structure

It's little jewels like this that show how clever this software has been over the years. Many features like this I have been using as second nature for a very long time. It's easy to forget that if we don't remind people of them, they will be forgotten. Thanks for the reminder!

6Jaroslav Furdos  02/12/2016 20:39:00  
How to use Categories to create a navigable ’folder’ structure

Thanks.

Regards

Jaroslav Furdos

7Tricia  05/11/2024 0:46:39  
How to use Categories to create a navigable ’folder’ structure

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Mat Newman

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