SHARE-ME GUIDE
Classification Rules to Make It Easier to Find the Business Cards You Need
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You may have organized your business cards by company, industry, or event, yet still find it difficult to locate the one you need. Before adding more categories, try reconsidering what clues you typically use when searching. If you decide on categories based solely on how easy they are to create when saving cards, they may not match the terms you use when searching for them.
This article introduces a process for designing business card categories based on the clues you use when searching. This approach can be applied to physical labels, company-approved management sheets, and tools with classification features. It does not describe the steps for setting up tags in a specific app, nor does it indicate that Share-Me has a tagging feature.
First, choose classification criteria based on when you search
Before you start classifying, think about recent situations in which you searched for a business card and write them down. The clues you need will differ depending on whether you want to "contact the person in charge at Company A," "find the person you spoke with at last month's study session," or "find someone you can consult about production."
| When you search | Clue to use first | Potential additional category |
|---|---|---|
| You know the person's name or company | Name and company | Check if a standard search is usually sufficient |
| You only remember where you met | Event name and date | Point of contact |
| You are looking for someone you can consult about a specific matter | The business area you confirmed with the person | Consultation area |
| You need to check who needs to take action | Next action and deadline | Do not manage this using only business card categories; use an approved task management system |
You do not need to adopt every criterion from the start. If you add a company-specific category for people who can already be found by company name, you will have to update both categories whenever the company name changes. Choose one situation that standard searches do not resolve and start with a category for that purpose to keep your workflow focused.
Categories such as "Important" and "Other" can easily mean different things to different people, so check whether you can explain who should be included and how the category will be used. It is easier to make a decision if you write "People who need a meeting response by the end of this month" rather than "Important people." However, it may be more appropriate to manage deadlines using a separate business management system rather than relying on business cards.
Use a concise naming guide to keep category names consistent
The following table provides examples to help prevent you from creating too many categories. The events and fields shown are fictional and do not represent actual customers or results. Adjust them to match the terms your company normally uses.
| Item to decide | Proposed rule | Example entry |
|---|---|---|
| Purpose of the category | Write in one sentence who you are looking for | Find people met at networking events |
| Type indicator | Do not mix points of contact and consultation areas | Point of contact / Area |
| Date format | Use the same number of digits and separators | 2026-10 |
| Event name | Decide on one official name | Point of contact_2026-10_Regional Networking Event |
| Field name | Use terms understood within the company | Field_Video Production |
| Classification criteria | Decide based on the fact that you met or the person's own explanation | Confirmed with the person as a contact for video production consultations |
| If unsure | Do not add based on guesswork; leave it pending confirmation | Mark as "Needs confirmation" for the person in charge to review |
| Management | Decide who is responsible for creating new categories and changing names | Sales team business card management person |
If "Video," "Film," and "Movie" all mean the same thing, choose one as the official category name. Record other terms as aliases in the naming guide to avoid creating new categories. You do not need to change the original company name or the person's title to standardize the names.
Points of contact and fields are different types of information. You should also decide how to handle business cards that meet multiple criteria. If the system you use does not support multiple categories, choose one primary category and keep supplementary information in an approved record field. It is important not to create rules based on features that are not supported.
Leave unsure business cards pending before adding more categories
If you add a new category every time a new business card does not fit into an existing one, you will end up with similar categories that differ only by name. When adding a category, check whether you can explain what you will be able to search for with it and why existing categories are insufficient.
Distinguish between facts provided by the person and your own impressions
A company's industry and the work you can consult that person about are not always the same. Do not assume the areas they can assist with based solely on their title; instead, classify them based on what you confirmed during conversation. Recording the information you need to confirm next is more likely to prevent incorrect introductions than adding a label based on guesswork.
Do not include personal information that is not relevant to work, such as the person's health status, in a category name. If you share information within the company, also check who can see the categories and notes. The basic principle is not to share more information than necessary for convenience.
Use "Unclassified" as a place to return and check
If you create a pending area for business cards that cannot be classified, also decide who will review them and when. For example, you can incorporate this into existing work, such as checking them before a regular team meeting. Briefly noting the reason for the classification issue will help distinguish it from simply being left unattended.
If you do not know the event where you met, check with the person who exchanged cards. If there is no reason to search for the card even if it were classified, do not force it into a category. You will find it easier to maintain necessary rules if you do not make completing the classification of every business card a requirement.
Use terms with the same meaning for paper and digital cards
If you use "Business Partners" for paper files, "Customers" for management sheets, and "Existing" for another purpose, you will not know whether you are referring to the same group. In addition to names, write down the criteria for what to include and what not to include in the category guide. Use the same definitions for physical labels and the categories in the management tool you use.
Decide on a single location for paper cards and avoid continuously making copies of the same card to search for it using different criteria. In the digital records, keep information that allows you to trace the location of the original card as needed. However, avoid duplicating business card images or contact information in external tools that have not been approved by your company.
If you want to organize the roles of paper and digital cards themselves, how to decide on a workflow that uses both paper and digital business cards may also be helpful. The order for importing a large number of unorganized business cards is covered in a step-by-step guide to digitizing a backlog of paper business cards.
Review whether categories are useful with a search test
After creating the rules, try searching using a request that might actually occur. Ask not only the person who created the categories but also the people who share them whether they can search using the same terms.
- Can you search for "the person you met at the fall networking event" using any of the terms?
- Are similar category names listed together, making it difficult to choose between them?
- If you know the person's name or company, can you search without navigating the categories?
- Are people adding or changing categories based on their own judgment?
- Is there someone assigned to check the business cards that were left pending?
If you cannot find what you are looking for, determine the cause before adding more categories. The fix will differ depending on whether it was an input error, inconsistent naming, or whether the intended search use case was not anticipated. Share any changes to the rules with the people involved to prevent similar names from accumulating again.
For reference on how to think about categories, Eight's official article also introduces examples of using clues such as industries and events to search for business cards. Do not apply the product operations shown at the time of publication to other services; instead, incorporate the idea of considering what terms you want to search with into your own workflow.
With Share-Me, you can search for business cards by name or company
With Share-Me, you can search for business cards by name, company, phone number, email address, and more. If you remember the person's information, you can search using the details you know before navigating through detailed categories. There is also a feature that scans paper business cards with AI to digitize and manage them.
The category guide in this article is a proposed workflow for daily work and does not explain Share-Me's tagging feature or searching by category name. First, check the searchable items in the Share-Me Features and How-to Guide, and try using Share-Me to save and review business cards.