Often the emails that we receive require some future actions for example to setup a meeting with a client or making a phone call on a particular date/time. Ofcourse you can create a new Appointment or a Task to do the same but in this post, I will show you how easy it is to set reminders on the email itself.
In Outlook 2010 (When a message is closed)
- In your Inbox, select a message
- Under the Home tab > go to the Tags group
- Click Follow Up > Add Reminder
- On the Custom dialog box, tick the Reminder checkbox. This activates the Reminder date and time boxes beneath the checkbox.
- Select a date and time for the reminder to appear. Additionally you have the option to select what sound to play when a reminder appears by click on the Sound button.
- Click OK.
The message will now be automatically flagged for follow up and the reminder will appear at the date and time specified.
In Outlook 2010 (When a message is open)
- Under the Message tab > go to the Tags group
- Here on the steps will be the same (as above) as when the message is closed.
In Outlook 2007 (When a message is closed)
- In your Inbox, right-click the message
- Click Follow Up > Add Reminder
- On the Custom dialog box, tick the Reminder checkbox. This activates the Reminder date and time boxes beneath the checkbox.
- Select a date and time for the reminder to appear. Additionally you have the option to select what sound to play when a reminder appears by clicking on the Sound button.
- Click OK.
The message will now be automatically flagged for follow up and the reminder will appear at the date and time specified.
In Outlook 2007 (When a message is open)
- On the open message window, click Follow Up on the Ribbon > Add Reminder
- Here on the steps will be the same (as above) as when the message is closed.
In Outlook 2003 (When a message is closed)
- In your Inbox, right-click the message
- Click Follow Up > Add Reminder…
- On the Flag for Follow Up dailog box, select a Due by date (and optionally a time for the reminder to appear).
- Click OK
The message will now be automatically flagged for follow up and the reminder will appear at the date and time specified.
In Outlook 2003 (When a message is open)
- On the open message window, click Actions on the menu
- Click Follow Up > Add Reminder…
- Here on the steps will be the same (as above) as when the message is closed.
Do you think that this is much easier then setting up new Appointments and Tasks?
Let us know by leaving a comment below.
Works great – I’ve been doing this for some time with one additional tweak. I created a new mail folder called “Pending & Follow-up”. I then add it as a “Favorites” folder so it shows at the top of my Navigation frame. Then, after I set the follow-up, I right click and drag the e-mail and MOVE it to my Pending & Follow-up folder. That does two things … (1) Clears the e-mail from my in-box and (2) aggregates my pendings in one folder for easy review. ~Kevin
This does NOT work for Outlook 2010. There is no option under the Tags>Follow Up> Add Reminder. This is a stupid “MS needs to fix their stupid changes” problem with Outlook 2010. They took all the easy things and made them difficult or impossible in 2010.
Hi Twinny,
I have Outlook 2010 and I can add reminders for emails. All you need to do is right-click on a particular email, select Follow-Up > Add Reminder…
On the screen that appears, set your reminder options and DONE.
Mine will only work in the Inbox folder, is there another way to make it work in other folders?