While it is not possible to assign categories to the Flags that Outlook provides for flagging email, you can get around this limitation by creating a “Flag” toolbar as in the example below:

In this case, the toolbar consists of the Red Flag (Important), the Blue Flag (Banner), the Yellow Flag (Personal), the Green Flag (Research) and the Orange Flag (Review). The Flag Complete icon is also included. You can tell at a glance what each flag indicates and quickly flag email by clicking the appropriate toolbar button.

Creating the Toolbar

From the Inbox menu, select View, Toolbars, Customize. Make sure the Toolbars tab is selected, then click New. Give the new toolbar a name, then click OK, then click Close.

The new toolbar will should display on your screen. It may be difficult to see. Later, you can drag it to a more suitable location.

Adding the Flag icons to the Toolbar

Now that you have the toolbar created, you can add the flag icons to the toolbar. You can add as many flags as you want. Before you start, however, you should have some idea of what you want each flag to represent (ie – Red = Important, Blue=Banner, etc.).

From the Inbox menu, select View, Toolbar, Customize, and click the Commands tab. In the Commands tab, select “Actions” under Categories and in the Commands box, select the first flag that you want to add to your toolbar.

Drag the Flog to the toolbar you have just created and drop it on the toolbar.

Right click on the Flag icon on the Flag toolbar and change the name to whatever you decided the Red Flag will indicate (in this case, “important”)

Finally, from the drop down menu, select Image and Text. This assigns the label to the flag.

Continue to follow the steps outlined to add Flags to your toolbar. When you are done, you will have a toolbar that contains the flags you commonly use and a short description for each one. When you are done, close the Customize dialog box and drag the Flag Toolbar to an appropriate location on the Inbox screen.