You can have Outlook 2007 create automatic journal entries for a wide range of items, including e-mail messages (both sent and received), task requests, and files you create or open in other Microsoft Office system applications. In fact, you can use automatic journaling to record activities based on any contact, Microsoft Office system document, or Outlook 2007 item you select.
For example, suppose that you routinely exchange important e-mail messages with a business associate, and you want to track all exchanges for reference. Incoming messages from this associate arrive in your Inbox. You read them, reply to them, and then archive the incoming messages to another folder. Now, however, your associate’s messages are stored in one folder and your replies are in another. (By default, replies are stored in the Outlook 2007 Sent Items folder.) Configuring the journal to automatically track all of your e-mail exchanges with your associate places a record of all messages relating to this contact (both received and sent) in one convenient location. Instead of hunting for your response to your associate’s question from two weeks ago, you can open the journal and find the entry associated with the message. Double-click the link embedded in the journal entry, and Outlook 2007 takes you to the message containing your response. Figure 23-4 shows a journal entry automatically added from an e-mail message.
Figure 23-4. The journal can automatically note when you send or receive e-mail messages to or from specific contacts.
As another example, consider a writer who uses Office Word 2007 every day to make a living. Turning on automatic document tracking for this application could provide some interesting insight into how the writer’s workday is allocated and which documents are the most demanding. The same holds true for other Microsoft Office system applications that you use frequently.
If you use document tracking in such a scenario, however, you should be aware of the distinction between how Outlook 2007 tracks a document and how Word 2007 itself records editing time. (In Word 2007, you can click the Microsoft Office Button and then choose Prepare, Properties to open the Document Properties panel. Click Document Properties, select Advanced Properties in the drop-down list, and click the Statistics tab to locate the Total Editing Time field.) Outlook 2007 tracks the time a document is open, whereas Word 2007 tracks the time spent physically editing a document (that is, pressing keys). The Outlook 2007 journal automatically records the entire span of time a document is open, even if you are away from your desk tending to other matters.
If a record of the actual time spent working on a document is important to you (whether you’re mulling a paragraph, reading a lengthy section, or editing or entering new text), the journal offers a more realistic record. However, if you fail to close the document when you move on to other things, you’ll end up adding time to the document’s journal entry that wasn’t really spent on the document. It’s best to use a combination of the Word 2007 Total Editing Time field and the Outlook 2007 journal’s tracking to get a realistic picture of how you spend your time.
Overall, the best choice is usually to use automatic tracking for your critical contacts and for specific applications that benefit from an automatic audit trail. You can place other items in the journal manually as required.
Note
After you set it up, the journal’s automatic tracking is always on. A piece of Outlook 2007 code runs in the background and monitors the Microsoft Office system applications you’ve selected to track—even if Outlook 2007 itself is closed.
Another issue to consider in relation to journaling is latency. When you use automatic tracking for documents, you’ll often notice a significant lag between the time you close a document and the time the entry appears (or is updated) in the journal. Also keep in mind that if you’ve opened the document previously, the most recent tracking entry doesn’t appear at the top of the list. By default, journal entries are ordered according to start date, which in this case would be the first time the document was opened or created, not the most recent time.
Note
Using automatic journaling can have a significantly negative impact on the performance of your applications because of the added overhead involved in journaling. This might not be apparent on your system, depending on its capabilities and the types of documents you use. However, if you see a significant decrease in performance after turning on automatic journaling and can’t afford the performance drop, you’ll need to stop automatic journaling and resort to adding journal entries manually.
The journal has many options that allow you to control what is recorded, how it is recorded, and when it is recorded. To set journal options, choose Tools, Options. On the Preferences tab, click Journal Options to open the Journal Options dialog box, shown in Figure 23-5. The choices you make in this dialog box determine how your journal is set up and what it tracks.
The following list summarizes the options in the Journal Options dialog box:
Automatically Record These Items. Select from a list of Outlook 2007 items that can be tracked as journal entries. All options here involve three forms of messaging: regular e-mail, meeting notifications, and task delegation. Item types selected in this list are tracked for the contacts you specify in the For These Contacts list. Selecting an item to track without choosing an associated contact has no effect for that tracking option.
For These Contacts. Here you link items you want to track with those contacts you want to track them for—task requests from your boss, for example. Outlook 2007 then automatically creates journal entries for the selected contacts and related items. Only contacts in your main Contacts folder can be selected for automatic journaling. You’ll need to move (or copy) contact entries from subfolders to the main Contacts folder if you want to track items for them.
Also Record Files From. Outlook 2007 creates an automatic journal entry every time a Microsoft Office system application selected in this list creates or accesses a document. The selections available depend on which Microsoft Office system applications are installed on your system. Documents from Microsoft Office Access, Office Excel, Office PowerPoint®, Office Word, and Office Project can be tracked.
Caution!
When you set up automatic tracking for a particular document type (for example, Word 2007 documents), this setting applies to all documents you create, open, close, or save with the selected application. Thus automatic tracking can also create many journal entries filled with information you might not need to preserve. Make this selection with care.
Double-Clicking A Journal Entry. Double-clicking a journal entry can open either the entry itself or the item referred to by the entry, depending on your selection in this area of the dialog box. Use this option to specify which action you prefer as the default. You can later override this setting by right-clicking the journal entry in any journal view.
AutoArchive Journal Entries. Click to open the Journal Properties dialog box and configure archive settings for the Journal folder.
Note
For details on archiving Outlook 2007 items, see Chapter 31.
You won’t find a one-click solution when you want to turn off automatic journaling. To turn off this feature, you must open the Journal Options dialog box and clear all the check boxes in the Automatically Record These Items and Also Record Files From lists. It’s not necessary to clear contacts selected in the For These Contacts list. Because automatic journaling consists of tracking specific Outlook 2007 events for a contact as well as when specific types of Microsoft Office system files are accessed, breaking the link for items to track is enough.
Troubleshooting
Automatic journaling is causing delays
Automatic journaling can cause very long delays during manual or automatic save operations as well as when you exit the application. Although it might appear that the application has stopped responding, in fact it is simply saving the journal information. If your system stops responding during these procedures, check Outlook 2007 to see whether automatic journaling is turned on for the specific application involved. If so, wait a minute or two to give the application a chance to save your data, and then turn off automatic journaling if it has become too inconvenient to use. You can continue to add journal items manually for the application, if needed.
Recording e-mail to and from colleagues in the journal is a great way to keep track of discussions and decisions concerning a project, and it’s easy to locate those messages later.
To record e-mail messages exchanged with a specific contact, follow these steps:
In Outlook 2007, choose Tools, Options, and then click Journal Options on the Preferences tab to open the Journal Options dialog box.
In the Automatically Record These Items list, select the E-Mail Message check box.
In the For These Contacts list, select the contact whose e-mail you want to record.
Click OK twice to close both dialog boxes.
You can configure your journal to automatically keep track of your interactions with any one of your contacts. If you’re working with a colleague on a specific project, for example, you might want to monitor your progress by recording every e-mail message, meeting, and task that involves this colleague.
To set up your journal to keep such a record based on the name of the contact, follow these steps:
In Outlook 2007, choose Tools, Options, and then click Journal Options on the Preferences tab to open the Journal Options dialog box.
In the Automatically Record These Items list, select the types of Outlook 2007 items you want to record in the journal.
In the For These Contacts list, select the relevant contact. (You can select more than one.)
Click OK twice to close both dialog boxes.
Suppose you create and maintain custom Excel 2007 workbooks for the different divisions in your corporate enterprise. In the course of a busy day, it’s easy to forget to write down which files you worked on and for how long. There’s a better way than keeping track on paper: you can have the journal automatically record every Microsoft Office system file you open, including when and how long you had each file open. Outlook 2007 can monitor your files and create a journal entry for every document you open and work on from other Microsoft Office system applications such as Microsoft Office Visio®, Office Word, Office Excel, Office Access, Office PowerPoint, and Office Project.
Note
Although the journal can automatically record work only in these Microsoft Office system programs, you can enter your work from other programs manually.
Follow these steps to automatically record files you create or open:
In Outlook 2007, choose Tools, Options, and then click Journal Options on the Preferences tab to open the Journal Options dialog box.
In the Also Record Files From list, select the programs for which you want to automatically record files in your journal. When you create, open, close, or save a document from any of the selected programs, the journal will record a new entry.
By default, double-clicking an icon on the journal timeline opens the journal entry. If you’d rather be able to open the associated file when you double-click the icon, select the Opens The Item Referred To By The Journal Entry option.
Click OK twice to close both dialog boxes.