How do I create a timeline-type activity report for my boss?

[Guest]

I need to create a report for my boss that shows communication and other
activity relating to a particular client. I tried to do this in
Outlook/Journal, but I can't seem to print out the timeline overview (prints
each entry instead of items on timeline as a whole).

Is there a way to do this? Should this be done in Access? If so, is there
a way to tie e-mail and other communication items from Outlook to Access
without having to recreate each entry in a database?

Thanks!

 

[Sue Mosher [MVP-Outlook]]

There really isn't any easy way to do this. I tried it once using Excel with Outlook data exported and was unhappy with the results of several hours' work.

If you want to try it in Access, you can create tables using the "linked tables" feature to pull in Outlook data without export/import. It may not give you all the fields you want, though.

--
Sue Mosher, Outlook MVP
Author of Configuring Microsoft Outlook 2003

and Microsoft Outlook Programming - Jumpstart for
Administrators, Power Users, and Developers

 

[Guest]

Thanks, Sue. What method do you recommend for tracking activity related to a
particular contact? Do you do this in Outlook for your contacts? I'd love
to know how to maximize my usage of Outlook if there is any way to
automatically create a record of activity that can be shared with another
user in some format.

 

[Sue Mosher [MVP-Outlook]]

Outlook doesn't have any features designed for tracking contact activity and sharing it with someone else. For that, you usually need a contact management tool -- see http://www.slipstick.com/addins/contact_management.htm

--
Sue Mosher, Outlook MVP
Author of Configuring Microsoft Outlook 2003

and Microsoft Outlook Programming - Jumpstart for
Administrators, Power Users, and Developers