Chapter 14. Using the Journal

IN THIS CHAPTER

  • About the Journal

  • Displaying Journal items

  • Creating Journal items automatically

  • Creating Journal items manually

  • Finding items in the Journal

  • Deciding what the Journal saves

Many people need to keep track of their time. You know that you spent eight hours at work today, but how much of that time was spent on which tasks? You may need this information for something specific such as client billing—or you may just want to know how you spend your time in order to work more efficiently. Outlook's Journal is designed for just this purpose.

Understanding the Journal

Fundamentally, the Journal is a log of how you spend your time. An individual Journal entry contains, at a minimum, the following information:

  • A start date and time

  • A duration

  • An identification of the task: phone call, email, document, conversation, and so on

  • Information linking the entry to a project, contact, or client company

Journal entries can be created two ways: automatically and manually. Outlook can automatically create Journal entries for certain activities that you carry out in Outlook, such as working on email messages and meeting requests. Outlook can also automatically create entries for activities that you perform in other Microsoft Office programs (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Access, and Project).

Journal entries can also be created manually. This is useful for tracking tasks that Outlook cannot track automatically, such as working in non-Office programs or talking on the phone.

Using ...

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