Have you ever noticed, that you set a reminder in the Microsoft Outlook application to deal with some important staff, & you think the Outlook reminder is not working.
Is that so?
Maybe, but there is another thing, By default, Outlook’s reminders window opens up behind other opening windows.
If you’re busy, you might miss some important reminders in Outlook. To avoid missing reminders, the best way is to always bring them to the front of all open windows.
Outlook reminder is designed to pop up an upcoming meeting, I am sure nobody wants to appear in the meeting late, the resulting missed or tardy appearances to meetings left a poor impression on other attendees.
Here in this article ensure your Outlook meeting reminders are always on top!
Outlook Reminder dialog box pops up with sound to remind you of the task, by default the biggest problem with reminders is that you often don’t see them while working.
There must be tons of benefits, but somehow it always hides behind the window when you are working, Outlook 365 gives you options to display reminders on top of all windows, which ultimately psychologically reminds you of that important task.
Here’s how you can enable the feature:
- Open Outlook >> Click the File tab,
- Click Options in the pane to the left >> and then choose Advanced.
- Go to the Reminders section and click on the check box “Show Reminders on Top of Other Windows” option.
- Click Ok
This process ends up with reminders buried behind windows, from now onwards Outlook meeting reminders are always on top.
I personally use these options and trust me I have never missed any task or event.
Make The Outlook Reminders Pop Up On Top While Working on Other files [Using VBA]
Apart from the above-inbuilt method, which is only available in Microsoft Outlook 365, for users in 2003, 2007, 2009, 2013, 2017 & 2019 enabling the “Show reminder on top” feature is not available.
Those users (including me) really frustrated with hidden reminders behind other windows.
You can use the VBA code to handle it! Here are the steps to follow:
- Open Outlook
- Press Alt and F11 simultaneously
- A separate Microsoft Visual Basic window appears
- Drill down to Project1 >> Microsoft Outlook Objects >> This Outlook Session
- Paste the code below into the blank section
Private Declare PtrSafe Function FindWindowA Lib "user32" _
(ByVal lpClassName As String, ByVal lpWindowName As String) As Long
Private Declare PtrSafe Function SetWindowPos Lib "user32" ( _
ByVal hwnd As Long, ByVal hWndInsertAfter As Long, _
ByVal X As Long, ByVal Y As Long, ByVal cx As Long, _
ByVal cy As Long, ByVal wFlags As Long) As Long
Private Const SWP_NOSIZE = &H1
Private Const SWP_NOMOVE = &H2
Private Const FLAGS As Long = SWP_NOMOVE Or SWP_NOSIZE
Private Const HWND_TOPMOST = -1
Private Sub Application_Reminder(ByVal Item As Object)
Dim ReminderWindowHWnd As Variant
Dim cnt As Long
On Error Resume Next
cnt = 1
Do Until (cnt > 20 Or ReminderWindowHWnd <> 0)
ReminderWindowHWnd = FindWindowA(vbNullString, cnt & " Reminder(s)")
cnt = cnt + 1
Loop
SetWindowPos ReminderWindowHWnd, HWND_TOPMOST, 0, 0, 0, 0, FLAGS
End Sub- Finally Click F5 to Run the code, close the window, and even if Outlook is minimized, the reminders will pop up on the top of the screen while you are working on other applications.
One of my friends encounter me and remind me of the sound Outlook generates, the point is If you keep your sound turned up, the ding might be enough to get your attention, but if you work in a noisy environment or keep your sound turned down, it is difficult to get attention, in that scenario you won’t trust your ears you have to trust your eyes.
This article seems small but, you get all your answers on Outlook Reminder on Top.
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