[anon(3072139)]

Most serious professional BlackBerry users I know have contact lists in the thousands.
Most sync with an online contact list (ie Google apps, outlook.com, yahoo.com, bes, etc).
The most efficient way to find a contact when you have forgotten his/her name is to check your contacts by CATEGORY!

Why o' why are there still no categories in 10.2 and will they return in 10.3????

I am referring to the syncable categories we all used in bbos. Every other device I know recognizes categories. Why would the OS arguably designed with the professional in mind omit this simple but crucial feature.
If you agree with this point, please "like" this post or comment in this thread to demonstrate your agreement and/or share the thread with your friendly BlackBerry representative.



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[Dunt Dunt Dunt]

Have to agree it would make finding contacts much easier...

I find that at times I'll wait to get back to the office just to be able to use Outlook to send an email, because I'm not sure who all I need to send and email to without looking at all those I have in one category.

Have no idea what Windows phone offers right now, but if they ever get a full version of Outlook the program working on a phone.....

[pttptppt]

Most serious professional BlackBerry users I know have contact lists in the thousands.
Most sync with an online contact list (ie Google apps, outlook.com, yahoo.com, bes, etc).
The most efficient way to find a contact when you have forgotten his/her name is to check your contacts by CATEGORY!

Why o' why are there still no categories in 10.2 and will they return in 10.3????

I am referring to the syncable categories we all used in bbos. Every other device I know recognizes categories. Why would the OS arguably designed with the professional in mind omit this simple but crucial feature.
If you agree with this point, please "like" this post and/or share it with your friendly BlackBerry representative.



Posted via CB10

Although I agree with your point, I can't take you seriously when you're begging for likes

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[anon(3072139)]

Although I agree with your point, I can't take you seriously when you're begging for likes

Posted via CB10

: ). I am only trying to get the attention of the "powers that be". I am hoping that people who don't have the time to type a post will demonstrate their agreement with the push of on button rather than lots of them.

I have no other interest in likes, nobody pays me for them and I am not in a popularity contest; I would simply like to see this feature put back. I hope you find my modification less offensive.

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[pttptppt]

: ). I am only trying to get the attention of the "powers that be". I am hoping that people who don't have the time to type a post will demonstrate their agreement with the push of on button rather than lots of them.

I have no other interest in likes, nobody pays me for them and I am not in a popularity contest; I would simply like to see this feature put back. I hope you find my modification less offensive.

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There's a BlackBerry website where you can send suggestions and they'll read them. I can't remember the website though. Maybe someone else can provide a link or you can search on google

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[russworman]

You can create "Groups" in your contacts app and this solves the problem you speak of. This puts all contacts for the group in a separate listing in addition to the normal location. I know you can text, email, and etc everyone in the group all at the same time making it easier to send email and etc to different groups of supervisors much quicker.




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[blueyestm]

You can make groups in the contacts section if that can help you out any

[joeldf]

But groups in BlackBerry is not the same as Outlook categories - they are not interchangeable.

I agree with the OP, but the problem goes farther. And I've harped on this for a year on both BlackBerry Beta Zone, and in the various surveys that they seemed to have stopped doing.

The bigger problem is when you have categories assigned for your contacts on an Exchange Server setup and syncing to the phone using Exchange ActiveSync. If you edit any contact on the phone - even just setting a custom ringtone or just hitting "edit" then saving it, the category is totally cleared out back on the server and on the PC messing up all kinds of organization that may be set up back on the office side.

It's a problem that I have to get around by re-adding the categories back on my work PC for any phone-edited contact. Kind of a hassle that shouldn't be necessary.

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[russworman]

But groups in BlackBerry is not the same as Outlook categories - they are not interchangeable.

I agree with the OP, but the problem goes farther. And I've harped on this for a year on both BlackBerry Beta Zone, and in the various surveys that they seemed to have stopped doing.

The bigger problem is when you have categories assigned for your contacts on an Exchange Server setup and syncing to the phone using Exchange ActiveSync. If you edit any contact on the phone - even just setting a custom ringtone or just hitting "edit" then saving it, the category is totally cleared out back on the server and on the PC messing up all kinds of organization that may be set up back on the office side.

It's a problem that I have to get around by re-adding the categories back on my work PC for any phone-edited contact. Kind of a hassle that shouldn't be necessary.

Posted via CB10

Doesn't make sense that changing a ring tone or phone setting should clear a outlook setting. My understanding is that Groups only shows up on the device and basically just groups the contacts in one place to make finding and messaging /calling easier

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[joeldf]

Doesn't make sense that changing a ring tone or phone setting should clear a outlook setting. My understanding is that Groups only shows up on the device and basically just groups the contacts in one place to make finding and messaging /calling easier

Posted via CB10

Exactly. It doesn't make sense. But that's what happens. I haven't tried 10.3 yet (will load that up later).

BTW, I don't use groups or need groups personally. I just want compatibility with Outlook categories. The old BBOS was.

Strangely enough, calendar entries synced to Exchange will display their category if one is set. You can't modify or select one from the phone, but it will at least show it. That came about in 10.2.1.

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[anon(3072139)]

You can create "Groups" in your contacts app and this solves the problem you speak of. This puts all contacts for the group in a separate listing in addition to the normal location. I know you can text, email, and etc everyone in the group all at the same time making it easier to send email and etc to different groups of supervisors much quicker.




Posted via CB10

Thanks for the suggestion... but....

I am aware of that feature that they added as an afterthought.

I have just under 4000 contacts and am not prepared, however, to regroup them when I already have them grouped the way I want them in outlook already which my BlackBerry is syncing to.



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[anon(3072139)]

I am really disappointed with the reaction to this post. I thought many more people would share my frustration.

~I guess too many professionals have already jumped ship to other platforms for it to matter.~

Sad. It was worth a try.


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[JerBru]

Extremely important as a business user.


Posted by Jerbru

[joeldf]

Just tested 10.3 and the effects of phone edited contacts synced back to the PC over EAS.

Categories STILL gets erased/cleared on the contact on the PC.

Really? Over a year and a half on this OS, and they still haven't solved this problem?

This only tells me that they haven't really touched the contacts app at all. There was a supposed re-write of the app for 10.2.1, but I highly doubt that was ever the case.

Well, here's hoping for something in 10.3.1...

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[stevescottceo]

Yes, I agree categories are critical. Because they are gone it also means that we can't work any card or contact manager. It's not just Exchange/Outlook. The best tools are totally locked out.

Now the contacts are are moving further out of sync. When we have large events with many business cards they are scanned and now can not be synced with Blackberry.

[anon(3072139)]

Update: I just got onto the 10.3 beta program and there is no fix in 10.3.

There are some other neat features but this is not the place for it...

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[russworman]

Update: I just got onto the 10.3 beta program and there is no fix in 10.3.

There are some other neat features but this is not the place for it...

Posted via CB10

You do realize that the Beta Program is NDA and you can neither confirm nor deny anything about the software you are running. I would not talk about anything related to the program.

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[anon(3072139)]

Very good point. I suppose my disappointment got the best of me.

Point taken.

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[russworman]

Very good point. I suppose my disappointment got the best of me.

Point taken.

Posted via CB10

It's all good, just don't want you to get into trouble. I agree that this is an issue for those who have thousands of contacts... fortunately I only have about 75

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