If you’re like most people, you probably have a default reminder time for appointments in Outlook. But if you’re like many others, that time might not be ideal for you. In this article, we’ll show you how to change the default reminder time for Outlook appointments. ..


This isn’t exactly an earth-shattering geek tip, in fact most of you likely already know how to change the default reminder time. I’m just really tired of getting this popup dialog on my screen, telling me that I have a meeting in 15 minutes… so it occurred to me that I’d be a lot more productive without this nuisance. (of course, I’d be even more productive if I didn’t have to waste my time at the boring meeting)

If you are setting up the boring meeting, you can change the reminder time when setting up a new appointment by checking the Options section on the ribbon.

To change the default across all appointments, open up Tools \ Options and change the Default reminder drop-down:

Change it to 5 minutes, and you don’t have to use Snooze ever again. Just click Dismiss, and go to your meeting. Try not to fall asleep, or at least learn to doze with your eyes open.