Reset reminders closer to Meeting time

My problem: my appointment reminders default to 30 minutes and I often tell Alexa to set a timer for 5 minutes, so I don't forget to join the meeting. (I know, I should use Cortana, but Alexa is here, and I can hear the reminder in other rooms. This is one of the things she is really good at.)

This code runs when meeting reminders fire and changes the reminder to 15 minutes if the current reminder is greater than 15 minutes and to 5 minutes if the reminder set for 15 minutes.

If you prefer, you could send an email, open an application or the meeting link when the meeting reminder fires.

This macro needs to go into ThisOutlookSession.

Private Sub Application_Reminder(ByVal Item As Object)
' update reminders closer to meeting
If Item.MessageClass <> "IPM.Appointment" Then
  Exit Sub
End If

If Item.ReminderMinutesBeforeStart > 15 Then
    Item.ReminderMinutesBeforeStart = 15
    Item.Save
ElseIf Item.ReminderMinutesBeforeStart = 15 Then
    Item.ReminderMinutesBeforeStart = 5
    Item.Save
End If

End Sub

How to use the macros on this page

First: You need to have macro security set to the lowest setting, Enable all macros during testing. The macros will not work with the top two options that disable all macros or unsigned macros. You could choose the option Notification for all macros, then accept it each time you restart Outlook, however, because it's somewhat hard to sneak macros into Outlook (unlike in Word and Excel), allowing all macros is safe, especially during the testing phase. You can sign the macro when it is finished and change the macro security to notify.

To check your macro security in Outlook 2010 and newer, go to File, Options, Trust Center and open Trust Center Settings, and change the Macro Settings. In Outlook 2007 and older, look at Tools, Macro Security.

After you test the macro and see that it works, you can either leave macro security set to low or sign the macro.

Macros that run when Outlook starts or automatically need to be in ThisOutlookSession, all other macros should be put in a module, but most will also work if placed in ThisOutlookSession. (It's generally recommended to keep only the automatic macros in ThisOutlookSession and use modules for all other macros.) The instructions are below.

The macros on this page need to go into ThisOutlookSession.

To put the macro code in ThisOutlookSession:

1. Expand Project1 and double click on ThisOutlookSession.
2. Copy then paste the macro into ThisOutlookSession. (Click within the code, Select All using Ctrl+A, Ctrl+C to copy, Ctrl+V to paste.)

More information as well as screenshots are at How to use the VBA Editor