[jcarlen]

Is it possible to Organize Contacts by Category? I would like to organize my contacts by categories such as family, friends, business, medical, etc. Is there some way to do this?

Thanks for your help
Jeff

[flyingember]

Not from the phone directly. to do it on the phone you need a third party app. there are dozens.

I don't directly sync to the desktop but I know both Outlook and Apple's contact program both can do categories that wirelessly sync fine through activesync/mobile me respectfully. in outlook you just make a new folder of a contacts type

[mrkurch]

I use a sync to Outlook and it works flawlessly - however my categories stay in Outlook and do not tranfer to the iPhone (like they did when I used the Palm TX). I relied heavily on the contact groups on the Palm but with the option of going right to the alphabet letter, it really minimizes the impact that I thought would be the result of no 'categories'.

[flyingember]

Not categories, a new contacts folder

[jcarlen]

Many thanks for the suggestions. I think I will try a 3rd party app since I don't use outlook (or maybe I should).
Jeff

[Earless Puppy]

The iPhone will allow you to keep your contacts in group folders, you have to do this within address book on a Mac or Outlook on a windows based PC

[chobbs1]

I have my contacts broken down in catagories. But had to be done on my mac then sync'ed to the phone.

[Earless Puppy]

I have my contacts broken down in catagories. But had to be done on my mac then sync'ed to the phone.

Owning a PC and a Mac, yes I prefer the Mac.. You can do the same using Outlook, just not windows contacts and outlook express to my knowledge

[owlraft]

Yes it is possible without any new Apps. To sync with Outlook on a PC, just go to Folder List in Outlook and right click on Contacts. Create New Folders with desired group names. Drag and drop contacts from master list into group folders (you might want to hold ctrl key when dragging to copy rather than move contacts from master list).

Next plug in iPhone and sync in iTunes. Go to Info tab at top of iTunes to see group folders created in Outlook and manipulate preferences accordingly.

[Easy Group Community]

You can use Easy Group, it is a free app to create groups of contacts. So you will be able to classify your contacts in categories : family, friends, business, medical, etc. This will directly appear in Contacts app.
You can download it here : http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/easy-group/id461469079?l=en
You can have a youtube demo, click on my youtube profile link in the upper right corner of my post.
Easy Group Community

[Kaitokomauri]

As previously said, you can also use third-party apps in order to organize iPhone contacts into groups (categories).

Copytrans Contacts is a good example of a free of charge such app. The program runs under Windows and will allow to create and edit contact groups directly within the iPhone Contacts app.

Here, I create a contact group on my iPhone called "Friends from Facebook"




after which I add selected iPhone contacts to the group by dragging the entries towards the group





Alternatively - if you would like to use mainstream apps:

On the Mac you can create custom contact groups for the iPhone via Address Book. Under Windows you have to be managing your contacts with Outlook in order to create and manage iPhone contact groups (via syncing your iPhone with iTunes).

[Mohammadreza Kiannegad]

Not categories, a new contacts folder