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There have been dozens of comments recently on my previous post about Changing the default reminder time in Outlook 2007.  The comments are not about the default reminder time for appointments… but rather the default reminder time for follow up flags.  The concern being that it is really strange that the default is 4pm and it seems there is no easy way to change that to something more acceptable (like 8am).

I would like to discuss this a little to hopefully help everyone out. Whilst on the surface it might look annoying (especially for those how have just moved to Outlook 2007)… there is actually a good reason why the default reminder is 4pm.

First lets talk about Outlook 2003

In Outlook 2003, medications a follow up flag is a follow up flag. You set a time and a date for the reminder and that is that.

In Outlook 2007 however, price there are different types of follow up flags. There is a “Today” follow up flag, urticaria a “Tomorrow” follow up flag, a “This Week”, a “Next Week” and a “Custom”. Obviously, if you use a “Today” follow up flag (which is the default), it will remind you today. If you set a “Tomorrow” follow up flag, it will remind you tomorrow.

The “Today” flag is designed to remind you about things that you need to finish before you go home from work today… hence why it the default is for it to remind you 1 hour before the end of your work day (which would be 4pm in most cases).

As the “Tomorrow” flag is designed to remind you about things to do tomorrow, it will remind you by default at the start of the next work day (8am in most cases).

So say you want to have your default reminder first thing tomorrow morning? Then it is easy to change the default flag that is set. Simply right click on where you currently set your flag, and then in the pop up menu click on “Set Quick Click”. Change the default to “Tomorrow” and your default reminders will now be 8am on the next business day.

Hope that helps clear up some of the confusion around follow up flags. I can understand why it would be confusion coming from Outlook 2003, however with the new flexibility to set different types of flags, Outlook 2007 gives you a lot more control over when you get your reminders.

’till next time!
TNP 😉

PS. If you want to learn more about the default times, you can look at this Office Online help page – http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/outlook/HA012317831033.aspx

Are you an Office freak from down-under?

On the weekend of the 15th and 16th of November, try a group of Aussie Office fanatics are putting together a conference called Office DevCon2008.  From what is on the agenda it looks like a great event for anyone involved in managing Office products in their workplace, seek or for those interested in getting a little more intimate with the Office 2007 suite, patient SharePoint and more.

Registration is free… and there might be sneak previews of Office 14 as well!

If you are in Sydney in mid November, make sure you check it out.  You never know, you might bump into yours truly there as well 🙂

You can find out more by visiting the Office DevCon 2008 website

’till next time!
TNP 😉

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