Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Outlook 2010 Changing Default Task Type for Journaling

[Update: 19 May 2014] These instructions also work for Outlook 2013 / Windows 7 64bit
Summary:
I investigated the possibility of changing the default task type in Microsoft Outlook 2010 Journaling. Our department is now utilizing this feature of OL2010 for various reasons, but truly helpful when asked: “So what did you accomplish this week?” For the solution below, I changed the Registry Names for Outlook 2010 Journaling to enable the default to Task instead of Phone Call. According to my findings, Phone Call is hard-coded. The workaround switches the names to have the default task type as Task.

I backed up the Journaling registry as recommended. After making the name changes: boom-shaka-laka works like a charm!

Procedure: 
Directions below modified from http://support.microsoft.com/kb/180139

Back Up the Registry
1.       Click the Start button, click Run, type regedit, and then click OK.
2.       In the Registry Editor, navigate to the key: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Shared Tools\Outlook\Journaling 
3.       On the Registry menu, click Export Registry File.
4.       In the Save In list, click to select the folder where you want to save the backup.
5.       In the File Name box, type a name for your backup file.
6.       In the Export Range box, be sure that Selected Branch is selected.
7.       Click Save. The file is saved with a .reg extension.

Edit the Registry
Use the following steps to edit the registry:
1.       Click the Start button, click Run, type regedit, and then click OK.
2.       Navigate to the key: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Shared Tools\Outlook\Journaling
3.       Right click on Phone Call and select Rename. Change name to Task2.
4.       Right click on Task and select Rename. Change name to Phone Call.
5.       Right click on Task2 and select Rename. Change name to Task.