The following articles were included in our Exchange Messaging Outlook (EMO) newsletter published on March 2, 2023.
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Today's Highlights »
Change Appointment Reminders
Did you ever wonder if you could assign different reminders to different types of appointments?
Well you can. When you create the event, set the reminder, then scroll to the end of the reminder time menu and choose "Sound". If Sound is grayed out, you need to select a reminder time then reopen the menu.
If you want to change the reminder sound on several existing appointments, use a list view in the calendar and add the Reminder Sound and Reminder Sound File fields to the view then group by the Reminder Sound File field. If you add the Reminder Sound field as a second field to group by, drag the items to the Yes group in the Reminder Sound File group to assign that reminder sound.
If you are only grouping by the sound file, you need to click in the Reminder Sound field to enable it. You may not see a checkbox in the Reminder Sound field, it will be visible once you click in it.
Changing the reminder sound is a multi-step process when you create a new item and while it's easy enough to do when you only change it occasionally, if you do it often a macro will cut the steps to one click when add the macro to the ribbon or Quick Access Toolbar.
I have screenshots in this article, along with a macro that will change the reminder sound on any Outlook item, opened in a new window or selected.
Setting Reminder Times
Speaking of reminders, you don't need to select a reminder time from the menu. You can type in the reminder – but need to type it in, in the same format on the reminder menu "2.5 days", "23 minutes", "8.5 hours" as Outlook's date and time shortcuts won't work in the reminder field.
You can use natural language and shortcuts in the date and time fields in appointments and tasks. You can type the date in short date format (don't need the year) use natural language like "next Tuesday" or shortcuts like "1w" or "3d".
When you type times, if the start time is the top of the hour, you only need to type the hour, not 00 for minutes. When you need to enter minutes, use a dot (period) instead of colon. You don't need to add a or p if the time is during working hours but using a or p will guarantee Outlook gets the time correct. You can enter times in 24-hour format, even if you are not defaulting to 24-hour time format.
It is definitely one of my favorite Outlook features!
I have more information on using natural language to enter dates and times in this article.
Changes Coming to Microsoft 365 Family Shares
As many users discovered, you can no longer share a Microsoft 365 family subscription and NOT add the person you share with to your Family group. If you remove a person from the family group, they lose the software share too.
The "upgrade" is still rolling out. If you can still share without adding the person to the family, do your shares now, before your account is upgraded.
While Microsoft is silent on why they are doing this, I'll make a wild guess that it's to discourage people from sharing with non-family members. I've already had questions from several affected users who said they didn't want a relative they shared with to have access to their family calendar.
If you don't you want someone to have access to the family group or family calendar, you won't be able to share your subscription with them.
New & Updated Outlook Support Articles
Known issues with Outlook Desktop Shared Calendar Improvements
Can't sign in to Outlook with Outlook.com account
Error when opening Actionable Messages
Users may notice that the incorrect timeslot is selected after clicking a meeting in the Calendar
Unable to dismiss shared calendar reminders for Outlook.com accounts in Outlook Desktop
Extending an all-day event on a shared calendar unexpectedly shortens or lengthens the event
Duplicate shared Calendar(s) after transitioning between Mail and Calendar modules
No results when searching with the built-in ‘Received’ filter in Outlook
Flickering observed in Outlook Calendar while scrolling
Calendar events missing in Scheduling Assistant
Other Resources
Messages appear duplicated in message list
How to turn off group header in Outlook desktop and Outlook on the web.
Change Password or Pin Complexity after removing from Intune
After my account and computer was removed from Intune policies and the account was removed from Windows Settings > Accounts > Access work or school, I wanted to revert to a simple 4-digit password but could not revert to a simple pin code.