VonageLog is the essential call management utility for Vonage subscribers. It downloads details of all telephone calls made and received on your Vonage line, and records them in your Outlook Journal, or directly to a CSV (comma-separated value) file for importing into Excel or third-party software. Essential for people who need to log their telephone calls and usage, VonageLog makes a tedious job as easy as a single mouse click.

Configuration
Loading Contacts
Logging In
Downloading Calls
Writing Calls
Viewing Calls in Outlook
CSV File Format
Running In The Background
Unattended Operation
Troubleshooting
FAQ

Configuration

The first time you run VonageLog after installing it, you will need to configure your Vonage web login name and password. This is required for VonageLog to log into the Vonage system and download your call information.

Type the login name and password you normally use to log into the Vonage web site. Don't worry, this information is stored securely using extremely powerful encryption. And all communication with the Vonage system is done using 128-bit encrypted SSL.

If you want VonageLog to write phone entries to your Outlook Journal, then make sure Output is selected as "Write to Outlook Journal."

Optionally, you can have VonageLog write your phone data to a standard CSV file, which can be opened directly by Excel, or any number of third-party software applications. To do so, change the Output selection to "Create CSV File." Make sure you also specify the output file you wish VonageLog to write to. If the file already exists, VonageLog will append to it - if it doesn't exist, VonageLog will create it.

Click "OK" and you're ready to start logging!

Loading Contacts

The first thing VonageLog does when it starts up is to connect to your Microsoft Outlook, and load every phone number available for every contact into memory:

This is done to speed up the searching and processing of downloaded phone call data, and is unloaded from memory once VonageLog completes. VonageLog reads the data from your Outlook Contacts, however it never alters your Outlook Contact details.

Depending on the number of contacts you have in Outlook, it can take from a few seconds to up to a minute to load all the contact information. It is a good idea not to add or delete contacts from within Outlook while this is happening. Outlook does not have to be running while VonageLog is operating - VonageLog will work whether Outlook is open or not.

Logging In

Starting the login process is as simple as clicking "Run". Once the Status is "Ready", VonageLog is ready to go. Click the Run button, and VonageLog will begin the login process. Once this has started, the "Run" button will change to "Abort". At any time, if you wish to abort the process, you can press the Abort button. VonageLog will stop processing and return to the Ready mode. No call data will be lost by aborting the process at any stage.

The first thing VonageLog will do is log into the Vonage server and confirm your login information. If either your Login or Password are invalid, VonageLog will abort at this stage and present you with an error message.

Assuming everything is fine with the login, VonageLog will display your Vonage account number, the name associated with the account, and the date the account was created with Vonage. The account number is important - it is used to register VonageLog when you purchase it! Once it has validated this account information, VonageLog will begin downloading your calls. 

Downloading Calls

After VonageLog has logged into the Vonage server, it will begin downloading call data. It will start with the most recent calls first, and work backwards. If VonageLog has never been run before, it will work backwards until it reaches your "Account Created" date. On an average broadband connection, this will take approximately two minutes for every year's worth of calls, depending on the actual number of calls.

If VonageLog is writing to a CSV file, it determines which calls to download based upon the Transaction ID specified in the Configuration screen. This Transaction ID is updated automatically when VonageLog completes. Setting this Transaction ID manually to any other number will cause VonageLog to download from that Transaction ID onwards. For instance, setting the Transaction ID to zero will cause VonageLog to download every call ever made and received and write them all to the CSV file.

As the calls are downloaded, the current date being downloaded, as well as a running total number of the calls downloaded are displayed on the screen.

Writing Calls

Once VonageLog has completed downloading all the applicable calls, it sorts them to ensure they are written in correct date order, then begins to save them. As the calls are saved, the current date being saved is displayed.

If writing to CSV file, this saving process is extremely fast - thousands of calls can be written in a number of seconds. If writing to the Outlook Journal, the internal speed of Outlook limits the writing speed to approximately 30 calls per second, dependent on the speed of the PC.

When VonageLog has completed saving the call data, it will alert you with a message:

In addition, the status will return to "Ready". At this point, you can click Run again to start the download process again, to download any new calls.

Viewing Calls in Outlook

Outlook, by default, does not show the Journal on the main icon bar. Different versions of Outlook access the Journal in different ways. Consult your Outlook documentation on how to view the Journal. You may want to place a quick-access icon for the Journal on your main Outlook bar.

By default, Outlook shows Journal entries in a timeline mode. VonageLog calls will appear on this timeline:

Notice that the beginning of the blue line indicates the start of the phone call, and the length of the blue bar indicates the duration of the phone call. The name and/or company information is derived from the Outlook contact record. If the phone call has a phone number that matches an Outlook contact record, that contact's record information is used to populate the Journal entry.

The Journal entries can also be shown in a standard list mode:

In list mode, calls can be grouped or filtered as desired to derive useful information regarding individual contacts, dates, or other items.

In either case, double-clicking on the journal entry will open the entry and show you the detailed information for the call:

Note that the Journal entry is linked directly to the associated contact. In the details area, two phone numbers are listed. For outgoing calls, it shows the phone number dialed from, and the phone number dialed. For incoming calls, it shows the phone number dialed from, and the phone number called. This information is useful for Vonage users with multiple physical or virtual phone lines.

For incoming calls, if caller ID information was available, it is listed. For all calls, the appropriate Vonage Transaction ID is included.

CSV File Format

The format of the CSV file is simple, and contains the same information that is written to the Outlook Journal. The fields are as follows:

Running in the Background

VonageLog can run in the background, connecting periodically to the Vonage server and automatically downloading your calls. Simply set the "Run Every" setting on the Configuration screen to the time period you want in between call downloads. You can then minimize VonageLog - it will disappear, and a small red telephone icon will show up on your task tray, next to your system clock. Move your mouse over the small telephone icon, and it will tell you the next time VonageLog will run. Click on the icon, and VonageLog will return.

When configured to connect periodically, VonageLog will tell you when it will run next, as shown in the screen above.

Note: The periodic connection functionality is available only to registered copies of VonageLog. Unregistered copies of VonageLog will not connect automatically.

Unattended Operation

VonageLog can be configured to complete its operations on an unattended, scheduled basis, or with a single desktop shortcut. This is accomplished by using command line parameters. The following command line parameters are recognized:

VonageLog.exe /RUN

When used with the /RUN command line parameter, VonageLog will automatically start up, load the contact list, run with the current configuration parameters, and then exit. It does so invisibly, without showing the VonageLog screen, or showing any messages - including error messages! This can be used to put VonageLog in the Windows Task Scheduler, to allow it to run automatically on a regular basis.

VonageLog.exe /RUN /VISIBLE

When the /VISIBLE command line parameter is added to the /RUN parameter, VonageLog does the exact same thing as when running with just the /RUN parameter - except it shows the user interface on screen, so that you can see the process taking place.

VonageLog.exe /RUN /SHOWMESSAGES

The /SHOWMESSAGES command line parameter, when combined with the /RUN parameter, causes VonageLog to show any and all messages - error messages or completion messages. VonageLog will not exit until the "OK" button is clicked on these messages. It is not a good idea to use this parameter in a scheduled task, as the task will never complete - it will sit and wait for "OK" to be pressed.

All three parameters can be combined:

VonageLog.exe /RUN /VISIBLE /SHOWMESSAGES

This will run VonageLog, showing the process, showing the completion message, and exiting when the message is dismissed.

You can configure a Windows Shortcut to automatically run VonageLog with a single mouse click:

Troubleshooting

Even though VonageLog appears simple, there are some complex things happening in the background. Here's what to do if you encounter a problem:

Login Error 301, Invalid or no response from Vonage server while trying to log in

This indicates that VonageLog was completely unable to contact the Vonage server. VonageLog attempts a standard SSL web connection using port 443. Ensure your firewall is configured to allow outbound connections from Outlook. Ensure you are connected to the Internet!

Login Error 302, Invalid or no response from Vonage server

This indicates that VonageLog was able to log into the Vonage server, but was unable to download call data from the Vonage server. This can be caused by interruptions in Internet service, but is most frequently caused by service outages on the Vonage server itself. Wait a few minutes and try again. Ensure you can log into the Vonage web page using your login name and password.

Vonage Error 303, Username and/or Password specified rejected by Vonage server

VonageLog was able to successfully contact the Vonage server, however when it sent the login name and password you supplied, the Vonage server responded by saying that either the login name and/or the password were invalid. Ensure you are using the correct login name and password. They are the same login name and password used to log into the Vonage web page.

Login Error 307, Account start date not found

This indicates that VonageLog successfully logged into the Vonage server, however it could not find the account start date associated with your Vonage account. This is critical for proper operation. Ensure your Vonage account is active and in good standing.

Vonage Web Error, Error Accessing Vonage: xxx

VonageLog is functioning normally, however there is a problem accessing the Vonage server. The "xxx" will be replaced with a three digit code and description of the error. Ensure you are connected to the Internet, and that VonageLog is not being blocked by a firewall.

FAQ