Have you ever missed a critical deadline because an email got buried in your inbox? Or walked into a meeting ten minutes late because nothing nudged you beforehand? If you're nodding along, you're in good company. The good news is that learning how to make reminders in Outlook isn't just a nice-to-have skill—it's a genuine productivity lever. Outlook offers a surprisingly robust reminder system that spans your outlook calendar, email follow-ups, tasks, and even contacts. This guide walks you through every method across desktop, web, and mobile, then goes a step further with troubleshooting and advanced tips most tutorials skip.
I've spent years helping teams wrangle their Outlook setups, and I'll share some hard-won lessons along the way. Let's get started.
Outlook Reminders Setup: Understanding Your Options
Before we dive into the click-by-click details, it's worth taking a step back. Outlook isn't just one tool—it's a suite of interconnected modules, and each one handles reminders slightly differently. Understanding the landscape will save you from setting things up in the wrong place.
The 5 Types of Reminders You Can Create
Outlook gives you five distinct ways to remind yourself of something important. Here's a quick breakdown:
| Reminder Type | Primary Use Case | Where It Lives |
|---|---|---|
| Calendar Event | Meetings, appointments, deadlines | Calendar module |
| Task | To-dos with due dates | Tasks module |
| Email Follow-Up | Nudge yourself to reply or act on an email | Inbox (via flag) |
| Contact | Follow up with a person | People/Contacts module |
| Flagged Item | Any email or task you've flagged for later | Inbox or Tasks |
| Now, here's a distinction that trips up a lot of users: a reminder and a follow-up flag are not the same thing. A flag is a visual marker—it adds a little colored icon next to an email so you remember to come back to it. A reminder, on the other hand, actively pops up a notification window at a specific date and time. You can have a flag without a reminder, but you can't have a reminder without a flag (for emails, at least). Think of the flag as a sticky note and the reminder as an alarm clock. |
One more thing: Outlook's default reminder time is 15 minutes before an event. That works fine for meetings, but it's often too short for tasks or deadlines. You'll want to change that default, and here's how.
How to Set Default Reminder Time in Outlook
Changing the default reminder time is one of those five-minute fixes that pays off daily. Here's the path:
- Open Outlook on your desktop.
- Go to File > Options.
- Select Calendar from the left sidebar.
- Scroll down to Calendar options.
- Find the Default reminders dropdown and pick your preferred time—say, 30 minutes or 1 hour.
Click OK, and you're done. From now on, every new appointment or meeting you create will use your custom default.
A couple of caveats worth noting: this setting only applies to the desktop app, and it only affects new events. Existing appointments keep whatever reminder they already have. Also, the web and mobile versions of Outlook have their own fixed defaults (usually 15 minutes), so you'll need to adjust reminders individually if you primarily work in those environments.
How to Create Reminders in Outlook Calendar (Desktop & Web)
The calendar is where most people live in Outlook, so let's start there. Whether you're on the full desktop client or the web app, the process is similar—with a few platform-specific quirks.
Setting a Reminder for a New Appointment or Meeting
For a new appointment:
- Press Ctrl+Shift+A (or click New Appointment in the Home tab).
- Fill in the subject, location, and start/end times.
- Look for the Reminder dropdown in the Options group on the ribbon.
- Select how far in advance you want the alert—15 minutes, 1 hour, 1 day, etc.
- Click Save & Close.
For a new meeting (with attendees):
The steps are nearly identical, but you'll use Ctrl+Shift+Q or click New Meeting. The reminder you set applies to you, not to the attendees. If you want others to get a reminder, they'll need to set their own—Outlook doesn't let you control that remotely. I've seen plenty of people assume the meeting invite carries the reminder; it doesn't.
Adding a Reminder to an Existing Calendar Event
Need to add a reminder to something already on your calendar? Easy:
- Double-click the event to open it.
- Find the Reminder dropdown (same spot as before).
- Choose a new time, or select None to remove the reminder entirely.
- Click Save & Close.
That's it. The change takes effect immediately.
How to Set Reminders in Outlook Web App (OWA)
The web version of Outlook—available on both Mac and PC—has a similar interface, but it's not identical. Here's what to expect:
- Go to outlook.com or your organization's OWA portal.
- Click New Event (or double-click a time slot on the calendar).
- Fill in the event details.
- Scroll down to find the Reminder dropdown—it's usually below the time fields.
- Select your desired time and click Save.
One notable limitation: you cannot change the default reminder time in OWA. The web app always defaults to 15 minutes, and there's no settings option to alter that. It's a minor annoyance, but worth knowing so you don't go hunting for a setting that doesn't exist.
How to Set Reminders for Emails and Tasks in Outlook
Calendar events are only half the story. Some of the most valuable reminders you can set are for emails sitting in your inbox and tasks on your to-do list.
How to Create Email Reminders in Outlook with Follow-Up Flags
This is the feature I use more than any other. Here's the workflow:
- Right-click on the email in your inbox.
- Hover over Follow Up and select Add Reminder.
- In the Custom dialog box, set the Flag to field (e.g., "Reply," "Forward," or "Follow up").
- Set the Start date, Due date, and Reminder time.
- Click OK.
The email now has both a flag and a reminder. At the specified time, a pop-up will appear, and the email will show up in the Tasks section as a flagged item.
Here's the key distinction I mentioned earlier: if you just click the flag icon (without going through Add Reminder), you get a visual marker but no pop-up notification. That's fine for low-priority items, but for anything time-sensitive, always use Add Reminder.
How to Add Reminders to Outlook Tasks
Tasks are a different beast. They live in their own module, and they don't automatically sync with your calendar. Here's how to set a reminder:
- Navigate to the Tasks module (or press Ctrl+Shift+K for a new task).
- Fill in the subject and any details.
- Check the Reminder box.
- Set the date and time for the reminder.
- Click Save & Close.
The reminder will pop up even if the task window isn't open. One thing to note: task reminders don't appear in the calendar's Reminders window by default—they show up as a separate pop-up. If you're expecting everything in one place, that can be confusing at first.
How to Set Reminders in Outlook Mobile App (Android & iOS)
The mobile app has come a long way, and it now supports reminders for calendar events natively. Here's how to use it.
Setting Reminders for Events on Your Phone
- Open the Outlook mobile app and tap the calendar icon at the bottom.
- Tap the + icon to create a new event, or tap an existing event to open it.
- Scroll down to find the Reminder option.
- Tap it and select a time—options range from "At time of event" to "1 day before."
- Tap Save in the top corner.
The mobile app uses the same reminder system as the desktop, so anything you set on your phone will sync across devices. That said, the mobile app doesn't support reminders for emails or tasks—only calendar events. For those, you'll need to use the desktop or web version.
Enabling Notifications for Reminders on Mobile
Here's the thing: a reminder is useless if your phone doesn't actually show it. I've lost count of how many people tell me their reminders "don't work" on mobile, only to discover notifications are disabled.
To fix this:
- Go to your phone's Settings.
- Tap Notifications (or Apps & notifications on Android).
- Find Outlook in the app list.
- Make sure Allow Notifications is toggled on.
- Check that Alerts or Banners are enabled, not just badges.
You should also check the in-app settings: tap your profile picture in Outlook, go to Settings > Notifications, and make sure calendar notifications are turned on.
How to Make Outlook Reminders More Noticeable
Even with reminders set correctly, they're easy to miss if your system isn't optimized. Here's how to make sure you actually notice them.
Customizing Reminder Sounds and Alerts
The default reminder sound in Outlook is... well, let's just say it's easy to ignore. You can change it:
- Open Windows Settings (Win + I).
- Go to System > Sound > More sound settings.
- In the Sounds tab, scroll down to Program Events.
- Find Microsoft Outlook and select Reminder.
- Choose a new sound from the dropdown, or browse for your own .wav file.
On macOS, the process is similar: go to System Preferences > Sound > Sound Effects, and change the alert sound.
For critical events, consider setting a second reminder. Outlook allows multiple reminders per event—just open the event, set the first reminder, save, reopen, and set another. It's a bit clunky, but it works.
The snooze feature is also your friend. When a reminder pops up, you can click Snooze and choose a delay (5 minutes, 1 hour, etc.). This is perfect for when you're mid-task and can't act on the reminder right away.
Troubleshooting: Why Are My Outlook Reminders Not Showing Up?
This is the #1 question I get, and the answer is usually one of these five things:
| Common Cause | Quick Fix |
|---|---|
| Reminders window is closed | Go to View > Reminders Window to reopen it |
| Notifications disabled in Windows/macOS | Check system notification settings for Outlook |
| Outlook isn't running | Reminders only fire when Outlook is open (or running in the background) |
| Reminder time is in the past | Open the item and set a future reminder time |
| Item isn't marked as a reminder | Double-check the reminder field is set, not just the flag |
| Let me expand on the first one because it's the sneakiest. The Reminders window is a separate pop-up that appears at the top of your screen. If you click the X to close it, it doesn't come back automatically—you have to manually reopen it via View > Reminders Window. I've seen users go weeks without reminders because they accidentally closed that window once. |
Advanced Tips: Recurring Reminders and Microsoft 365 Integration
Once you've mastered the basics, these advanced techniques will take your reminder game to the next level.
How to Set Recurring Reminders for Tasks and Events
For anything that happens on a regular schedule—weekly reports, monthly reviews, quarterly planning—recurring reminders are a lifesaver.
For calendar events:
- Create a new appointment or open an existing one.
- Click the Recurrence button in the ribbon (it looks like a circular arrow).
- In the Appointment Recurrence dialog, set the pattern (daily, weekly, monthly, yearly).
- Set the range of recurrence (start date, end date, or "no end date").
- Click OK, then Save & Close.
For tasks:
The process is similar: open the task, click Recurrence, set the pattern, and check the Reminder box. The reminder will fire each time the task recurs.
How to Set a Reminder in Outlook Before Email Sent (A Quick Step)
Here's a workflow that's saved me more than once. If you want to be reminded to follow up on an email after you send it, you can automate that with Quick Steps:
- Go to the Home tab and click Quick Steps > Create New.
- Name it something like "Send & Follow Up."
- Choose Flag Message as the action.
- Set the flag to Follow Up and check Reminder.
- Set a default reminder time (e.g., 2 days).
- Click Finish.
Now, whenever you send an email that needs a follow-up, just click your Quick Step before hitting send. The email gets flagged, and a reminder is set automatically. It's a small automation that saves a lot of mental overhead.
These features are available in most Microsoft 365 subscriptions, including the basic ones. If you're on an older standalone version of Office, some of these may not be available—worth checking your version if something doesn't work as expected.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can you set reminders in Outlook calendar without creating appointments?
Yes. Create a simple appointment, then mark it as Private and set its availability to Free. This way, it won't block your calendar as busy time, but you'll still get the reminder. Alternatively, use a Task with a reminder—tasks don't appear on your calendar at all, but they'll still pop up at the scheduled time.
How do I change the default reminder time in Outlook?
Go to File > Options > Calendar > Reminder options. Set your preferred default time (e.g., 30 minutes). This applies to new events only—existing events keep their current settings. The web and mobile apps don't allow changing the default.
Why are my Outlook reminders not showing up?
The top five reasons are: 1) The Reminders window is closed (reopen via View > Reminders Window), 2) Notifications are disabled in your system settings, 3) Outlook isn't running in the background, 4) The reminder time is set in the past, and 5) The item isn't actually marked as a reminder. Check these in order, and you'll usually find the culprit.
Can I set reminders on the Outlook mobile app?
Yes, for calendar events. Open the event, scroll to Reminder, and select a time. Make sure notifications are enabled in your phone's settings, or the reminder won't display. The mobile app doesn't support reminders for emails or tasks.
Conclusion
Learning how to make reminders in Outlook is one of those skills that pays dividends every single day. Whether you're setting a calendar reminder for a critical meeting, flagging an email for follow-up, or automating a recurring task, Outlook has the tools you need—you just have to know where to look.
Start by setting your default reminder time today, then create your first recurring reminder. If you found this guide helpful, share it with a colleague who might be struggling with missed deadlines. For more productivity tips, check out our other guides on Outlook.