Outlook 2007 / 2010 Calendar: hide meetings in specific category

As promised above, here's my current answer to this question. Instructions are specific to Outlook 2007, but slight variations should also work for 2010 and 2013.

1. In the "View" ribbon, click "View Settings"
2. Click the "Filter..." option
3. Choose the "Advanced" tab
4. Add a rule on the Field "Frequently-used fields" > "Categories"
5. Enter the Condition "doesn't contain"
6. Enter the exact category name under Value
7. Hit "Ok" to close the dialogs
8. In the "View" ribbon, open "Change View" and choose "Save Current View As a New View..."

Voila, now you have saved a view that filters meetings from certain categories. If you want to switch between the trimmed down view and the full calendar view you can use the "Change View" button in the "View" ribbon.

I originally did the advanced filtering suggested here, but found they still show and clutter up the 'Todo bar' at the side of the e-mails as that has no filter option.

I then came across this answer with the very simple "doh, why didn't I think of that!" solution of create another calander. Now I have my re-occuring meetings and reminders seperated out, allowing me to not miss the important ones.

I have edited the above answer with the necessary changes to make it work.

1. In the "View" ribbon, click "View Settings"
2. Click the "Filter..." option
3. Click the "More Choices" button
4. Check off every category except the one you wish to exclude.
5. Switch to the SQL tab.
6. Check off the “Edit these criteria directly. All other tabs will be unavailable.” box.
7. Add another category HOLIDAY with the same criteria to the list.

8. Add one more piece of SQL syntax to the end:

   OR ("urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office#Keywords" like '%%')
   

   This will allow uncategorized calendar items to display.

9. In the "View" ribbon, open "Change View" and choose "Save Current View As a New View..." Now you have saved a view that filters out meetings from certain categories. If you want to switch between the trimmed down view and the full calendar view you can use the "Change View" button in the "View" ribbon.

SQL Syntax Example:

"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office#Keywords" = 'A - Important and Immediate' OR "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office#Keywords" = 'B - Important and Not Immediate' OR "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office#Keywords" = 'C - Not Important and Due Soon' OR "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office#Keywords" = 'D - Uncategorized' OR "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office#Keywords" = 'I - Informational' OR "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office#Keywords" = 'P - Pending Requests' OR "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office#Keywords" = 'Personal' OR "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office#Keywords" = 'Z - Business' OR "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office#Keywords" = 'Z - Important' OR "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office#Keywords" = 'HOLIDAY' OR "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office#Keywords" like '%%'

I used your initial approach (thanks so much!), but I wanted to hide the small, recurring appointments that I set for myself from appearing on my calendar.

First thing I did was that I edited my small, recurring appointments for myself as LOW importance.

Then additional changes at your Number 3..

3. Click the "Advanced" tab
4. Click "Field" pulldown menu under "Define more criteria".
5. Click "All appointment fields" and select "importance"
6. Set "condition" to "not equal to" and then select "value" to "low"