Color code TimeTrade appointments in your Outlook calendar

NOTE: for Outlook 2010 users, click here

If you are a Microsoft Outlook user and you've connected your TimeTrade account to your Outlook calendar, there is an easy way to color code TimeTrade appointments, as shown in the example below:

When TimeTrade appointments are added to your Outlook calendar, they include text that identifies them as originating from TimeTrade. The text appears in the appointment description field. Depending on the type of appointment, the text consists of one of the following strings:

• "TimeTrade (TM) Face-to-Face Appointment"
• "TimeTrade (TM) Phone Appointment"

Outlook's Automatic Formatting feature allows you to define a rule that applies a color label to an appointment when a specified text string appears in one of the appointment fields. In the case of TimeTrade appointments, you can define one rule to label all TimeTrade appointments the same color or you can define two rules, one for applying a color to face-to-face appointments and one for applying a different color to phone appointments.

Here are the basic steps for color coding TimeTrade appointments using the Automatic Formatting feature:

Note: The following steps reflect the Microsoft Outlook 2003 interface and may vary depending on your version of Outlook.

   1. From Microsoft Outlook, select Edit > Automatic Formatting, as shown below:

   2. In the Automatic Formatting dialog box, click Add.
   3. Under Properties of selected rule:

         • provide a name for your new rule, such as "Face to Face Appointment"
         • select the color that you want to apply when an appointment satisfies the rule condition.

   4. Click Condition.
   5. In the Filter dialog box and on the Appointments and Meetings tab, enter a text string for Outlook to search for when applying the rule in the Search for the word(s) field. Depending on the rule you want to create, we recommend one of the following text strings:

          "TimeTrade"
          "TimeTrade Face-to-Face Appointment"
          "TimeTrade Phone Appointment"

      Just underneath the text string field, choose "subject and notes fields" from the In drop-down list, as shown below:

   6. Click OK to save the rule, which takes effect immediately. For example: