Is there a way to place a shortcut, preferably on my desktop, to
automatically open a new journal entry in Outlook?

tritoshemera-ga:

If you happen to have a Microsoft Office suite installed on your PC,
then this shortcut already exists in the Office Shortcut Bar. So, if
you do have MS Office installed, you can locate the shortcut file on
your PC by looking for a directory called "Shortcut Bar" using the
Windows Explorer 'Search' feature. You will want to conduct the search
starting in your 'Program Files' folder. The shortcut is named "New
Journal Entry".

The reason I am suggesting that you search for it instead of providing
you the direct location is because it varies depending on your version
of Office, and the directory name that was originally provided to the
Installation Wizard when Office was first installed. For example, I
have two PCs in front of me right now. On one, the location of the
shortcut is:

C:\Program Files\MSOffice\Office10\Shortcut Bar\Office

On the other, it is:

E:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office10\Shortcut Bar\Office

If you do not have MS Office installed, and only have Outlook, then a
quick search online using the search strategy:

  "new journal entry" shortcut

located this link:

http://www.physd.amu.edu.pl/~physmed/Office10/Shortcut%20Bar/Office/New%20Journal%20Entry.lnk

(right-click on the above link, select "Save As...", and change the
file-type suffix to '.lnk')

Please note that this method *may* not work for you if you do not have
MS Office installed, so just in case, there is one more way that
requires a bit more work. Please visit this website:

HUBCanada.com - Office Suite Training: Outlook Journal
http://www.hubcanada.com/story_8720_29

and scroll to the very bottom, the section entitled "One Click Journal
shortcuts". Follow the procedure there, and you'll be set. In case you
cannot access the website, here is a shorter version of the procedure:

1. In Outlook, open a new Journal Entry form
2. Save the blank form using File>Save As... and the Outlook Template
file type (.oft) to a safe location on your hard drive
3. Go to that location, and create a shortcut to that file
4. Place the shortcut on your Desktop, and you're done.

I hope this helps!

Regards,

aht-ga
Google Answers Researcher


--------------------------------
Search Strategy

"New journal entry" desktop shortcut
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=ISO-8859-1&q=%22new+journal+entry%22+desktop+shortcut

Excellent and thorough answer, especially considering the low price I
set.  Thanks again, aht-ga.

More from HubCanada.com
http://www.hubcanada.com/story_8720_29

One-click Journal shortcuts 
If you find yourself using manual Journaling a lot, you can create a
desktop icon which allows you to create journal entries without even
opening Outlook. To do this inside Outlook, create a blank journal
entry and save it as a template by choosing File, Save As, and, from
the Save As type list, choose Outlook template (*.oft), call it Manual
Journal Entry, and click Save.

Add a shortcut so you can make manual entries into your Journal
without opening Outlook.

Close Outlook and use Windows Explorer to locate the file you''ve just
created and add a shortcut to the desktop for it. Now you can click
the desktop shortcut icon to open a Journal Entry dialogue at any
time. Type the Journal entry details, click Save, then Close it when
you''re done. When you next open Outlook, all the manual entries
you''ve created using this template will appear in the Journal list.

Best regards,
tlspiegel

It was my pleasure, and thank you for the tip!