We hear this question a lot:
If I'm reading an email and want a reminder, I choose Follow-up > Custom and then click the Reminder box. The time defaults to 4:00PM - and I would like to change it to 8:00AM.
You need to change your quick click default to anything except Today and the reminder will default to the start of your workday. Right click on the flag column and choose Set Quick Click to change it.
Reminders on flags that are due "Today" (as in, set today, due today) default to have a reminder as of one hour before the end of your work day, as set in Calendar options. This allows you time to complete the task for going home; plus an 8 am reminder won't do you much good at 2 pm.
In Outlook 2007, 2010, or 2013, if you use a custom reminder for later in the day (say 11:30 AM) any messages flagged before that time will use that reminder time. Messages flagged after the reminder time has passed will not have a reminder set. The reminder dialog will default to 1 hour before the end of your workday.
Reminders for tomorrow or later use the reminder time set Task Options, or in older versions, the start of the work day (as configured in Calendar options) for the default reminder time, so you have plenty of time to work on the task before the end of the work day.
If you have the Quick Click default set to "Today" the reminder time defaults to 4 pm (or one hour before the end of the work day) or to the custom reminder set in Options, Tasks. If you use tomorrow, this week, or next week as the default quick click, the reminder defaults to the start of your work day,
Change the Quick Click flag by right clicking on the Flag icon field and choosing Click "Set Quick Click..." Select any thing but Today.
This week or Next week settings
When Quick Click is set to This Week or Next Week, the default dates are from this week or next, with the due date defaulting to the last day of your work week as set in Calendar options. For most people this will be Friday but if you configured your work week to end on a different day, Outlook will set items flagged for this week or next week to be due the last day selected (Thursday in this screenshot of Outlook 2010's dialog.)
Custom flag reminder default
The default flag and reminder time for a custom flag is based on the Quick Click setting. If Quick Click is set for Today, Custom fields will default to Today, with the reminder 1 hour before the end of the workday setting. If you change the Quick Click to tomorrow, this week, or next week, the default date will change accordingly and the reminder time will default to the start of your workday.
My Quick Click flag is set to This Week, so Custom defaults to "this Friday" and the reminder time defaults to the time I have set in Task Options, which is 8 AM. Changing the Start or End time will change the reminder date, but not the time.
Type a new task default due date
While we're on the subject of Quick Click flags and reminders, your Quick Click choice also affects the default due date for tasks entered into the To-Do's Type a New Task field.
A user asked the following question:
Can I set the default due date for tasks in Outlook 2007 to "None"? Most of the tasks I create do not require a due date. The default seems to be "Today" when I type the tasks into the blank line at the top of the To Do List but when I create the tasks using the new task button, the default due date is none
The due date is set based on the Quick Click flag choice. The To-Do Task list picks up the Quick Click flag setting. You can set the Quick Click flag to No date or use buttons or shortcuts to open task forms instead of using the Type a new task field.
Use Ctrl+Shift+K to open a new task form from anywhere in Outlook and turn off In-cell editing to hide the Type a new task field.
Reminders are set based on your task reminder settings in Task Options. (File, Options, Tasks in Outlook 2010 or Tools, Options, Task options in Outlook 2007.)
Excellent tip!
Hello, I have a problem. When I send an email, I use flag for recepients and the recepients are not getting the flaged emails in to task or to do list. Do you know how to treat this issue ?
Incoming Flags can be removed by the server or by rules. They also show up differently in the message and the recipient needs to reflag them to see them in tasks.
Current versions of outlook flag after the message is sent, so you don't send the flag. There will be a note on the flag that it will be added later.
Thanks, this solved a longtime annoyance on my Windows machine. Is there a corresponding fix for Mac? I'm running Office 365 on both machines, but I can't find any option to change the default task settings on the Mac.
As far as I know, not, you cant set the default reminders for tasks on the mac.
If I flag an item and then delete it, will it still remind me to follow up?
if you delete the item or clear the flag, the reminder is removed too.
What a great tip! I've been so irritated with the reminder time set to 4pm for so many years! Your directions were easy to follow and I was able to make the change.
Thank you so much!
-Lee
I have a custom form and for some reason, once I imported it to outlook 2016 it automatically sets a reminder on all new contacts for 09/28/2017 at 10am.
How can I fix this?
Does the form have a flag and reminder set for that time? You'll need to re-save the form with no reminder set.
If I want to send a reminder/flag to the person to whom I have sent the mail for him to action on something until he sends me a reply.How do I set this ?
You can set a flag on messages you send, but the recipient could be using a rule to remove the flags... if you want a flag set on your copy in the sent folder, you need to go in an set it.
Hi Diane,
I'd like 'this week' flag to set due date of my tasks to Sunday of the current week. I changed my default work week in Calendar tab to "Mon to Sun". I thought this would do, but still every time I select 'this week', the due date is set for Friday, instead of Sunday.
Is there a way you can help me?
I'm not sure if you can get it to do sunday (didn't in my quick tests - sunday is always the first day) but it should definitely set Sat as the due date if you have all 7 days selected.