Outlook Journal -can automatic entry be paused to allow comment entry?

[jpagesq]

I would like to pause automatic Journal entries for Contacts so that I could add a comment. Ideally it would pop-up when auto entry was created. OR any thought for way to get notice entry was created so I can add comment in real time.

[ProfDD]

You are more likely to get help on this from a microsoft.public.outlook forum than from here.

I'm still trying to find something useful to me that Journal does that I can't more naturally do another way. How do you use it ?

[jpagesq]

As an attorney my interest is to track activty related to a case. In addition to tracking activity related to a client Contact, I also create a fake Contact where the name is the path to the file where Word documents for a particular case are filed. That gives me an automatic Journal entry each time those files are accessed. I've not seen others do that.

The problem is that I have not found a way to sort the Journal so those entries will sort together with the client entries. It might be possible to acomplish that by incorporating a case identifer field in every Outlook form, but I have not tried it because it will be a lot of work and I can't be sure that Journal would sort by the field--there are fields that can't be used to sort. As a work-around, I put a case ID (number) in each message, filename, etc. Then, I can search for the ID and retrieve all related Journal entries.

Outlook is tantalizing because it has so much power and data but has so many limitations--many unexpected--that you have to work around. i have the feeling that it was written with the prospect that it would integrate into a system that was never created. For instance, it is mostly impossible to use the data without exporting it to another program to be processed, e.g., you can create a table view which includes a duration field but can't tablulate the numbers without some export process.

[ProfDD]

You raise some interesting points about why Outlook is as it is. It seems as if it is a case of standardization by default on a fundamentally poor architecture, at least from a user's point of view. The fundamentally non-relational structure of the database; the baroque layering of features; and the multiple modes of extending the product (VBScript, VBA, COM (req. C##)) make it hard to grasp what's going on. I think it makes sense from MS's point of view, but it must be a support nightmare. If I had the courage to switch to something else, I would.

[jpagesq]

Think MS avoids support problems simply because most people can't use much more than the email, calendar, and task features, which are pretty straight forward.

If I knew what your main uses are, I might be able to make suggestions. I belong to a list of more than 1,000 small law firms. Email and calendar alternatives are frequently disscussed.

[ProfDD]

I'm a daily reader of the posts at several of the groups at microsoft.public.outlook. So occasionally I find things about Outlook from seeing how others use it and how the more knowledgeable folks answer questions. Same with GTD forums and add-in sites.

I've become a heavy user of e-mail rules to sort it into GTD-relevant categories. I'm learning custom forms. I look forward to learning VBScript. Perhaps even VB !

I've been trying to start a list of Outlook annoyances. But I keep finding that there are adequate solutions, workarounds, or add-ins for most problems. I implement those that solve my current real problems and avoid solving the hypothetical. Same with my Palm. I have found that many Outlook add-ins and Palm Apps, freeware or commercial, are buggy.