auto likn e-mail to projects

I need to keep track of incoming/outgoing e-mail messages on a "per project"
basis, so that later I can bill for time reading/composing messages; I
thought e-mail autolinking would do that, but maybe I misunderstood; I can't
seem to get it to work except manually, i.e., select message, right-click
"Link to Record," select "Business Projects" from drop down list, scroll to
project, double-click and then "OK." What a pain! Is there an easier way?
Thanks in advance---David Rowell