Use the ExpandItem property to expand or collapse an item. Use the ID property to determine the property's identifier. Use the Name property to retrieve the property's name. Use the ExpandAll method to expand all items. Use the ExpandOnSearch property to expand items automatically while user types characters to search for a specific property.

The following samples collapses the "Appearance" item:

Private Type POINTAPI
        x As Long
        y As Long
End Type

Private Type MSG
    hwnd As Long
    message As Long
    wParam As Long
    lParam As Long
    time As Long
    pt As POINTAPI
End Type
Private Declare Function PeekMessage Lib "user32" Alias "PeekMessageA" (lpMsg As MSG, ByVal hwnd As Long, ByVal wMsgFilterMin As Long, ByVal wMsgFilterMax As Long, ByVal wRemoveMsg As Long) As Long
Private Const PM_NOREMOVE = &H0
Private Declare Function TranslateMessage Lib "user32" (lpMsg As MSG) As Long
Private Declare Function DispatchMessage Lib "user32" Alias "DispatchMessageA" (lpMsg As MSG) As Long

Private Sub Form_Load()
    With PropertiesList1
        .BeginUpdate
            .HasLines = False
            .ShowCategories = True
            .MarkCategories = True
            .Select PropertiesList1.Object
            
            ' When using the Select method, the list of properties is not immediately available, so we need to proceeds few messages
            Dim m As MSG
            While PeekMessage(m, .hwnd, 0, 0, 1)
                TranslateMessage m
                DispatchMessage m
            Wend
            
            .ExpandItem("Appearance") = False
        .EndUpdate
    End With
End Sub