How to track phone calls with journals in Outlook?

You might have experienced that you have to look for pen and paper to write down a brief note during a business call. Actually, when we make a call to a certain contact in Outlook, we can track the phone call with a journal entry. In this article, I will show you how to track phone calls with journals in Outlook easily.

Track phone calls with journals in Outlook 2010 and 2007

Track phone calls with journals in Outlook 2013

Track phone calls with journals in Outlook 2010 and 2007

In Outlook 2007 and 2010, there is a command of Create new Journal Entry when starting new call which can help us track phone calls easily. And you can do as following:

Step 1: Shift to the Contact view, and right click the contact you will call, and select the Call > Business: xxxx from the right-clicking menu in Outlook 2010. See screen shot below:

Notes:

(1) The Business: xxxx will show as Home: xxxx or others depending on the type of this contact’s phone number.

(2) In Outlook 2007, right click the contact, and then select Call Contact from the right-clicking menu.

Step 2: Now you get into the New Call dialog box, check the option of Create New Journal Entry when starting new call, and then click the Start Call button.

Step 3: Now a Journal Entry is created automatically with preset subject and entry type. You can modify subject and entry type based on your needs, enter your notes for this phone into editing area, etc.

Step 4: When the dialing finishes, click the Pause Timer button, and then click the Save & Close button. See screen shot below:

Step 5: Click the End Call button and Close button in the New Call dialog box.

Track phone calls with journals in Outlook 2013

In Outlook 2013, there is no the option of Create New Journal Entry when starting new call in the New Call dialog box. As a result, we have to create journals manually to track a phone call in Outlook 2013.

Step 1: Shift to the People view, right click the contact you will call, and then select the Call > Business: xxxx (or other phone number type depending on the phone call type of this contact) from the right-clicking menu.

Step 2: In the coming New Call dialog box, click the Start Call button.

Step 3: Now you need to manually create a new Journal entry with pressing Ctrl + 8 keys simultaneously to shift to the Journal view, and then clicking the Journal Entry button on the Home tab. See screen shot:

Step 4: In the new Journal Entry windows, click the Start Timer button and Address Book button on the Journal Entry tab successively.

Step 5: Now in the opening Select Contacts dialog box, click to highlight the contact folder which contains the contact you are calling in the Look in box, select the contact you are calling now from the Items box, and then click the OK button.

Step 6: Now you get back to the Journal Entry window, enter your subject into the Subject box, click the Enter type box and specify an entry type, and enter your notes for this call into the editing area.

Step 7: When the call is finishing, click the Pause Timer button, and then click the Save & Close button on the Journal Entry tab.

Step 8: Click the End Call button and Close button in the New Call dialog box.

Note: This method is also available in Outlook 2010 and 2007 if you need to manually create a journal entry for tracking phone calls.