Anne Marie Christensen writes:

I have a question! When you have several recurring appointments, all set with reminders of course, what is the most efficient way to cancel the reminders when you are going on vacation? If you don't selectively turn reminders off for the vacation period, you are bombarded with pop-ups about all the meetings you missed when you return from vacation.

To minimize the impact of reminder pop-ups, one suggestion would be to upgrade to Outlook 2002 or Outlook 2003. Outlook 2002 and above deals with the multiple reminder pop-up windows by combining all of your reminders into one dialog box, instead of separate ones for each reminder. It also allows you to dismiss all reminders at one time.

The reminder option can also be turned off completely if you don't want to use it, or if perhaps you'll be on a long vacation. To turn off the reminders, clear the Display Reminder and Play Reminder Sound check boxes under the Reminder Options in the Advanced options. You can find the Advanced options under Tools->Options->Other. Remember to enable the reminders upon your return from vacation.

Francine Otterson is the President of the San Diego Outlook User Group and a Microsoft Outlook MVP. She has been in the IT industry for over 10 years, providing technical support, software customization solutions and training in corporate settings, and as a consultant. She balances her work around her daughter and husband in sunny San Diego, California.