sorry John - was away for a bit:

 Make a new field using the field chooser.    New | make a yes/no type of
field called Newsletter.

 Use it to do your grouping (Group By Box) .  All of these functions are on
Advanced toolbar.
 --

 Judy Gleeson [MVP Outlook]
 Acorn Training and Consulting
 www.acorntraining.com.au

 Everyone - turn on your Advanced Toolbars and learn how to use the Field
Chooser and Group by Box!!

 8000 contacts isn't all that many, IMO. I think I have 3000 on my desktop
in a PST file. I've heard of public folders with 20,000+, but usually on a
machine with dual processors and lots of RAM. You might want to look at perf
stats on the server to see if there's a problem there.

 Is there a custom Outlook form involved? Any event sink on the folder?

 You could also perform a simple test to see if the same problem occurs in
a contacts folder in a .pst file. That might suggest whether it's a server
or client issue.

 --
 Sue Mosher, Outlook MVP
    Author of Configuring Microsoft Outlook 2003
      http://www.turtleflock.com/olconfig/index.htm
    and Microsoft Outlook Programming - Jumpstart for
      Administrators, Power Users, and Developers
      http://www.outlookcode.com/jumpstart.aspx

 "John Blackwell" <JohnBlackwell@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in
message news:A271A894-B205-4542-9920-30BE4101735A@microsoft.com...
 > Unfortunately the problem occurs across several different
 > 'double-categorisation' configs.  Equally, there is nothing we have
 > consciously added-in to cause this problem.
 >
 > Always dangerous to come up with an uninformed opinion but it "feels" as
 > though we've reached a contact capacity issue with Outlook.
 >
 >
 >
 >> Does the problem occur only when the Newsletter category is added? Is
there any possibility that you have some add-in installed that's also
operating on these items? I have to ask because the behavior you describe
doesn't match any Outlook problems I've ever heard of.
 >>
 >> "John Blackwell" <JohnBlackwell@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in
message news:328E7AF8-3F17-4C94-822E-D95862BD578F@microsoft.com...
 >> > Hello Sue,
 >> >
 >> > The separator setting is set to comma.  I did indeed check the
Advanced
 >> > settings and that is also set to English (United Kingdom).
 >> >
 >> > We have not made any changes to these settings and have been using
Outlook
 >> > 2003 to store our ~ 8,000 contacts for the last 3 years. The problems
arose
 >> > when we recently added the extra Newsletter category and tried to use
2
 >> > categories for some contacts.  It's been from this point forward that
we've
 >> > experienced the issues we've described.
 >> >
 >> >
 >> >> But what, specifically, is the separator setting? Did you click the
Advanced button to look?
 >> >>
 >> >> "John Blackwell" <JohnBlackwell@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in
message news:16C561CD-E13F-4F8D-BEBB-4B9DB1FF8836@microsoft.com...
 >> >> > Sorry Sue, I forgot to mention I'd done this action and (a) there
had not
 >> >> > been any changes, and (b) the settings were set to United Kingdom.
 >> >> >
 >> >> >
 >> >> >> Did you ever check Regional Settings in Control Panel to see what
the list separator is?
 >> >> >>
 >> >> >> When you say it displays only one category rather than both,
where are you seeing that behavior?
 >> >> >>
 >> >> >>
 >> >> >> "John Blackwell" <JohnBlackwell@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote
in message news:7C114945-7086-483B-BD3B-7EB2CE126A1C@microsoft.com...
 >> >> >> > Hi Sue,
 >> >> >> >
 >> >> >> > I've run Delete & Repair and still get the same issue.
 >> >> >> >
 >> >> >> > When I select two categories, Outlook now decides to assign a
semi-colon
 >> >> >> > separator rather than a comma as it previously used. It also
swaps the order
 >> >> >> > of new categorisation, placing 'Newsletter' before any other
category.
 >> >> >> > Finally, it decides to only display one category rather than
both.  It's all
 >> >> >> > very puzzling.
 >> >> >> >
 >> >> >> > The net result is that I have to export the entire contact db
on a regular
 >> >> >> > basis, clean it, and reimport it.  Not a satisfactory process.
 >> >> >> >
 >> >> >> >
 >> >> >> >
 >> >> >> >
 >> >> >> >> I'd try running Help | Delete and Repair. Nothing about your
configuration or usage suggests a possible cause of the problem.
 >> >> >> >>
 >> >> >> >> What exactly happens when you select two categories in the
Categories dialog?
 >> >> >> >>
 >> >> >> >>
 >> >> >> >> "John Blackwell" <JohnBlackwell@discussions.microsoft.com>
wrote in message news:4A50798A-3BEC-4A53-97B6-E1F66C7F679F@microsoft.com...
 >> >> >> >> > Number of categories per item? For circa 50% of our
contacts, it's two. For
 >> >> >> >> > the remainder it's one.
 >> >> >> >> >
 >> >> >> >> > Number of characters? The longest category is 12 characters
(Public Sector)
 >> >> >> >> > or 11 (Competition). When using two categories, its 23
characters (Public
 >> >> >> >> > Sector, Newsletter).
 >> >> >> >> >
 >> >> >> >> > What steps are you following to set categories on items?
Categories are
 >> >> >> >> > defined in the Master Category list, and then assigned using
Categories
 >> >> >> >> > dialog box in the bottom right corner of the Contacts pop-up
box.
 >> >> >> >> >
 >> >> >> >> >
 >> >> >> >> >
 >> >> >> >> >> Details? Number of categories per item? Number of
characters? What steps are you following to set categories on items?
 >> >> >> >>
 >> >> >> >> >>
 >> >> >> >> >> "John Blackwell" <JohnBlackwell@discussions.microsoft.com>
wrote in message news:8408D55B-D971-4AAA-AB85-1ABBF75FE17A@microsoft.com...
 >> >> >> >> >> > Hi Sue,
 >> >> >> >> >> >
 >> >> >> >> >> > Thanks for the quick response. There's been no
(conscious) changes to
 >> >> >> >> >> > regional settings.
 >> >> >> >> >> >
 >> >> >> >> >> > Our problems occur when we use a second category (we use
this to designate
 >> >> >> >> >> > our newsletter is required). It now seems as though
Outlook's reached a limit
 >> >> >> >> >> > and insists on using a semi-colon separator.  It also
ignores the original
 >> >> >> >> >> > categorisation.
 >> >> >> >> >> >
 >> >> >> >> >> >
 >> >> >> >> >> >> Did users recently change their regional settings in
Control Panel? That's where the text delimiter is defined.
 >> >> >> >> >> >>
 >> >> >> >> >> >> You should still be able to set multiple categories on
an item, though.
 >> >> >> >> >> >>
 >> >> >> >> >> >> "John Blackwell"
<JohnBlackwell@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:4E6E8480-4790-46CB-85FC-EC9E42A8455A@microsoft.com...
 >> >> >> >> >> >> > We run MS Outlook 2003 on an Small Business Server
2003 network. We use
 >> >> >> >> >> >> > Outlook to store circa 8,000 contacts, defined under
14 categories. The
 >> >> >> >> >> >> > problem we're encountering is, when entering new
contacts, the categorisation
 >> >> >> >> >> >> > is being handled differently by Outlook - i.e. we used
to have categories
 >> >> >> >> >> >> > separated by a comma, now it's a changed to a
semi-colon. New contacts will
 >> >> >> >> >> >> > not recognise two categories, i.e. categorisation such
as 'Prospect' and
 >> >> >> >> >> >> > 'Newsletter' will only be recognised as 'Newsletter'.