# Categories

The Categories feature provides a way to maintain “virtual calendars” within a single database.

From the Categories menu on the main screen, categories can be created and filtered. Each appointment or task can be assigned to a category. The program can then filter tasks and appointments using a user-selected list of categories. Appointments and tasks that are in a category that is being shown behave normally and appear in the calendar, printouts, task manager, etc... Appointments and tasks that are in a category that is hidden, will remain in your database, but will not appear anywhere on any screen as long as their category is not being shown. This provides a way to manage multiple "virtual" calendars in one database.

The Choose Categories to Display menu option will allow you to select which categories are visible.

New categories must be added using the Add New Category menu option before they appear as a choice in the appointment editor or task editor.

The Remove Unused Categories menu option will search all appointments to see which categories are no longer being used and will remove them.

If you use the category feature to partition your calendar into categories, please don’t forget which categories you’ve hidden. Hidden appointments truly do not show up anywhere and looking for them can be frustrating. Adding appointments to a hidden category and seeing them “disappear” can also be a bit mystifying if you’ve forgotten your display settings.