Without programming an add-in or vb app, have tried to create a blank, base PST that has all you're your formatting rules? Basically, I would: - Copy you main PST to Base.pst - Delete all content in Base.pst - Copy Base.pst to Vault_1.pst - Add Vault_1.pst to your Outlook folders - Copy messages with categories from Inbox to Vault_1.pst If this works, you could probably copy entire folders from your one of your 8 active PSTs to the Vault_1.pst and have the formatting work on all old messages. Phil -----Original Message----- From: mso-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:mso-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of James S. Huggins (mso) Sent: Monday, April 09, 2012 11:39 AM To: mso@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: [mso] Re: Outlook customization One more and final time If no one has any ideas I'll not ask again, and apologize for the intrusion All my incoming mail goes to my inbox. I receive 500-1000 emails per day, depending on whether I'm in one of my "add subscriptions" or "reduce subscriptions" moods. I have many PSTs, all located within my "Outlook" directory within "My Documents" currently storing about 30,00,000 kb of mail. Outlook politely processes all my 20 email accounts (of which only 2 receive; the other 18 send only) every 1 minute. Of those 20, only 2 receive because the other 18 are configured only to send and the email domain name used by the 18 is set to forward all email to one of the two receivers. (e.g., all mail to ANYTHING@xxxxxxxxx is forwarded to JHuggins@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx The forwarding is done by my domain registrar, NameCheap.com, primarily because my webhost (Bluehost.com) has disabled such functionality from their service.) I want my messages colored in my inbox to help me indentify what they are for. I use a 2 stage process for that. Stage 1: The "Rules" (or Rules and Alerts) assign messages a category based on a variety of triggers upon arrival. Stage 2: The "Automatic Formatting" assigns a message a color based on the category assigned. For example, one possible category is Addressee-Priority10. One possible trigger for that category is that the email is addressed to me at JHuggins@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Such category messages are RED in my inbox. I also have the rule set to assign category of Addressee-Priority10 to other addresses I receive designated critical for me. As another example, Messages from this list are assigned a category of Subject-Priority7 based on the existence of "[mso]" in the subject. Such category messages are BLUE in my inbox. As I handle my incoming mail, I MANUALLY move messages I want to KEEP FROM my inbox to one of my 8 other ACTIVE PSTs containing about 50 other folders and sub-folders. So when I MANUALLY move messages the CATEGORY for each message has already been assigned on arrival. (In other words, the first stage has already been done.) The question I am attempting to ask is that I just want to have my "Automatic Formatting" rules apply to all my folders in all my PSTs. James S. Huggins ... ************************************************************* You are receiving this mail because you subscribed to mso@xxxxxxxxxxxxx or MicrosoftOffice@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx To send mail to the group, simply address it to mso@xxxxxxxxxxxxx To Unsubscribe from this group, visit the group's homepage and use the dropdown menu at the top. This will allow you to unsubscribe your email address or change your email settings to digest or vacation (no mail). //www.freelists.org/webpage/mso To be able to share files with the group, you must join our Yahoo sister group. This group will not allow for posting of emails, but will allow you to join and share problem files, templates, etc.: http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/MicrosoftOffice . This group is for FILE SHARING ONLY. If you are using Outlook and you see a lot of unnecessary code in your email messages, read these instructions that explain why and how to fix it: http://personal-computer-tutor.com/abc3/v28/greg28.htm ************************************************************* ************************************************************* You are receiving this mail because you subscribed to mso@xxxxxxxxxxxxx or MicrosoftOffice@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx To send mail to the group, simply address it to mso@xxxxxxxxxxxxx To Unsubscribe from this group, visit the group's homepage and use the dropdown menu at the top. This will allow you to unsubscribe your email address or change your email settings to digest or vacation (no mail). //www.freelists.org/webpage/mso To be able to share files with the group, you must join our Yahoo sister group. This group will not allow for posting of emails, but will allow you to join and share problem files, templates, etc.: http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/MicrosoftOffice . This group is for FILE SHARING ONLY. If you are using Outlook and you see a lot of unnecessary code in your email messages, read these instructions that explain why and how to fix it: http://personal-computer-tutor.com/abc3/v28/greg28.htm *************************************************************