Manage Your Life with Outlook®: for Dummies®

Chapter 14. Using the Journal to Keep an Eye on Your Activities

Last, and very often least for most Outlook users, comes the Journal module. This module rates so low on the Outlook totem pole that it doesn't even get a navigation button on the Navigation Pane unless you go to the trouble of placing the Journal button there yourself. (Curiously enough, the Journal module does have its own keyboard shortcut — Ctrl+8.)

One reason that the Outlook Journal may be so underrated is that, at first glance, it doesn't seem as active and full-featured as the other modules, at least not in the same way that the Mail processes your e-mail messages, the Calendar keeps your appointments, and Tasks maintains your to-do list. Compared with these worker-bee modules, the Journal module appears downright anemic and rather passive.

Another part of the problem, I think, is that referring to this module as a journal is somewhat misleading. Typically, you associate a journal with a diary — a place where you write down your daily activities, thoughts, and feelings. And the Outlook Journal, as a rule, acts more like a mechanical log that automatically records an array of different daily activities that you want documented.

This log can not only automatically document when you sent and received e-mail messages to and from a particular contact but also your meeting and task requests and responses, thus helping you keep track of important correspondence you receive and events that have transpired. In addition, ...