Changing the reminder time on a group of appointments or events is easy. Just use a group by view with the Remind Beforehand field visible and group by it. Then drag items to the group with the reminder time you want them assigned to.
First, when possible create a view with the items you need changed either grouped together or filtered. In this example, we're using the By Category view because we need to change everything in the Anniversary category.
To change the reminder on multiple items at once:
- Make sure at least one of the items has the desired Reminder time set. Times are in minutes.
- Right click on the row of field names and choose Field Chooser.
- Find the Remind Beforehand field and drag it to the row of field names to add it to the view.
- Right click on the Remind Beforehand field and choose Group By Box- this will display the group by region.
- Drag the Remind Beforehand field to the Group By Box so its the secondary group.
- Now drag items from one Remind Before group to another to change their reminder times.
Use the Reminder field to add (or remove) Reminders.
Change the Reminder on Several Appointments Video Tutorial
You can use this method to change many other editable fields, including the Private flag and Company name fields.
More Information
To select several items at once, select the first one with the mouse, hold Ctrl and click on the last item. Hold Select to pick and choose non-contiguous items.
To move everything in a group, grab the Group header (Reminder Beforehand: [minutes]) and drag it to another Remind beforehand group.
The Group By Box is is normally hidden under the Folder name, above the row of fields. Show and hide it by right clicking on the row of field names and choose Group By Box.
Excellent video. Question, is it possible to do this, meaning, "change reminder in multiple appointments at once" in newer Outlook client in Microsoft 365 for Enterprise?
No, you can't do it in the new Outlook or Outlook on the web - only in classic outlook. Sorry.
This worked perfectly! You saved me so much time it's unbelievable. Thank you!!
Absolutely perfect! Needed this for a long time. A lot of people are looking for ways to add reminders to appointments that were missed, this works well for that, and a lot more!
Thanks! That worked great for changing the Location field in all the Holidays.
Brilliant method, and so simple, but I was surprised that it would work like that, I was afraid I was going to have to resort to some kind of scripting, but I'm not on Exchange at home!
Thanks again.
Steve H.
San Diego, CA
add-on as I did not find how to edit my reply: I mean 'To-Do List' instead of 'task lists' i.e. the Outlook tasks view that combines tasks and messages with reminders.
The macro definitely works on the to-do list.
Hello,
I'm looking for a solution to a similar yet different problem: in task lists, I wish to select multiple tasks (including messages with reminders) and set them to same reminder day/time. Aim is to follow-up on similar tasks at the same time.
So far I could not locate an answer on your site or elsewhere.
Regards.
Dragging probably won't work but the macro at https://www.slipstick.com/developer/code-samples/working-items-folder-selected-items/ will work. This would be the magic that makes it work:
With obj
' do whatever
Debug.Print .Subject
.ReminderTime = Date + 1
.Save
End With
that sets a reminder for tomorrow, but you can use a specific date there instead.
Try this macro - https://www.slipstick.com/developer/code-samples/change-reminder-selected-items-to-do-list/
Otherwise nice method BUT you can not change those to NONE!!
As long as you have a None group for remind beforehand, you can move appointments into that group. If you are using the reminder field, your choices are Yes or No. You may have some meetings in Reminder:None group - they are in a weird state and just opening and resaving will move them to No.
Great Problem Solver Description. Thanks Much