How to make Outlook Calendar reminders pop up in Windows 7

Question

I'm just starting to use Windows 7 and I want to know how to make my Outlook reminders pop up and show themselves. They keep opening discretely, quietly as just another Outlook entry on the taskbar. And I keep overlooking them, because they pop up behind everything else.

How do I make them less easy to overlook?

(Yeah, usually you don't want obnoxious apps that push themselves to the forefront. But there are a few places where I do want that, and Outlook calendar reminders are one of them.)

Answer 1

There is no way. Our company tried escalating it to Microsoft directly. One thing people do here is assign it a more obnoxious sound, to help notice it. But Microsoft has told us it is by design.

Answer 2

This was bugging me too. After some intense searching I found a partial answer: http://www.pcreview.co.uk/forums/hidden-outlook-reminders-t3972914.html

If you change the "Taskbar buttons" setting under the "Taskbar and Start Menu Properties" to "Never combine," then the grouping separates and the reminder pops-up in front of whatever else you have open.

I tried to test it and found that it was inconsistent; one time it stayed hidden behind what I was working on, and another time it popped up front. In both cases there was an icon on the task bar that looked different from Outlook itself, so there was at least a chance that I would notice it.

Answer 3

The way I do this is using this tool: http://www.carthagosoft.net/desktask.htm Desktask enables you to show all of your tasks & appointments directly on the desktop. You can't overlook it there ...

Answer 4

I used Filebox eXtender and when the first reminder comes in I open it and click the new 'pin' icon at the top right of the caption bar. Then when the next reminder comes in, it comes in the foreground...

Answer 5

The best answer I've found is here: How to get Outlook appointment reminders to pop up in front of other windows again using some simple VBA.

It entails adding a few lines of simple VBA code to "ThisOutlookSession". Now, it pops up a window every time. Much better.

• Create a Digital certificate for later
• Hit Start and type ‘certificate’, select ‘Digital Certificate for VBA Projects’
• Enter a name for your certificate
• Done
• Open Outlook and hit Alt + F11 to start the VBA editor.
• In the tree on the left, expand ‘Microsoft Office Outlook Objects' and double click on ‘ThisOutlookSession’

• Paste in this code, modifying the text in quotes to suit your preferences. Leave the quotes in.

  Private Sub Application_Reminder(ByVal Item As Object)
  
  
      If TypeOf Item Is AppointmentItem Then
      MsgBox "Message text", vbSystemModal, "Message title"
      End If
  
  
  End Sub
  

• Sign the Macro so it will run by going to Tools > Digital Signature… and choosing the certificate you created earlier

• Close the VBA window

Answer 6

I tried the VBA solution above and it works -- well sorta... it pops up a (very small) window with the title "Message Title" and text "Message Text". Before closing the small window, I noticed the Outlook icon on the taskbar was throbbing. When I closed the small window, the Outlook reminder came up.

Note: I have two monitors side by side. The small "Message Title" window came up on the right screen, and the Outlook reminder window came up on the left screen.

But it's a solution!

Thanks!! (I no know a little about the VBA script tool!!!)

Outlook 2010 on Windows7