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Men more frequently require to be reminded than informed

 Samuel Johnson  

If you’re reading this, you’re probably no stranger to Microsoft Outlook. The app has, in recent years, gone from strength to strength, becoming the messaging app of choice for business correspondence. You can create tasks, set reminders and convert both to timed emails for Outlook to send at the appropriate time. However, if Outlook reminders stop working, that will surely reduce productivity at work and elsewhere. Sadly, that’s what has been happening for some Office users lately: a strange error occurs preventing them from saving a created reminder.

When some users create a new meeting, they are unable to save it in Outlook. Sometimes, while dragging the edges to increase the allocated appointment time, a weird error message pops up and prevents them from saving the file. Retries and restarts don’t seem to work as Outlook keeps showing the message below:

“The reminder for “appointment name” will not appear because the item is in a folder that doesn’t support reminders. Is it OK?”

Obviously, this is not an ideal situation to be in. For busy employees in the workplace, it will be incredibly frustrating, especially since time is at a premium. They may end up giving up the attempt as a lost job, and this might cause consequences later. Because the reminder isn’t set, they might miss an all-important meeting or forget to carry out an urgent task at the appointed time.

This is why we’ve created this guide to help you solve the issue so you can easily save your appointments and quickly move on to the next task. First, let’s check out the possible reasons for the Reminder not appearing issue in Outlook.

Why Don’t Outlook Reminders Work Again?

There’s no single reason for the “Reminder will not appear” issue in Outlook. Multiple causes have been discovered, all leading to the same unwanted result. The most common reasons for the error’s occurrence are explained below. Once you’ve grasped them, you’re on your way to a cure.

  • Faulty Outlook

Obviously, if an app isn’t working properly, some of its features are broken. Unfortunately, this might be the reminder function in Outlook. If some of the app’s files become damaged for any reason, it will affect how Outlook behaves. This usually occurs with a virus infection. Also, memory rationing can cause Outlook to become slow and buggy, causing problems with setting up appointments.

  • Wrong Save Location

Outlook stores reminders, meetings, and appointments in the default calendar folder. Sometimes, reminders stop working because the file being worked on isn’t saved in the default folder but instead in another folder. This other folder may or may not be a subfolder of the calendar. It is possible you might have unintentionally changed the folder location. Some .pst files can also become disconnected from the main folder.

  • Corrupt reminders

We’ve all experienced a situation where a file simply fails to open. Other times, it opens but can’t be operated on in the way one wants. This points toward file corruption, and Outlook files aren’t exempt from the possibility either. Corrupted reminder files are known to cause the “Reminder will not appear” error in Outlook.

  • Disabled Reminders

This is very rare but shouldn’t be totally discounted. When the option to display reminders is disabled, you, of course, won’t be able to perform some actions when scheduling a meeting. This option might be part of a group policy, and in this case, it can only be triggered centrally, so you might be unable to modify it by yourself if the administrator has disabled the functionality.

How to Fix Outlook Reminders Not Working on Windows 10

When the “Reminder will not appear” error message pops up in the middle of trying to save a scheduled appointment, don’t despair. You should work through the solutions below, and you’ll surely find one that works for you.

  • Disable Add-ins

Outlook add-ins bring extra features to the app, allowing you to use it for many things ordinarily outside its purview. Nonetheless, some add-ins can cause compatibility issues with the main app. If you have issues with saving reminders, you should check that it isn’t an add-in that’s causing them.

The best way to do this is to enter the add-in window in Outlook and disable one add-in at a time. Then return to the main Outlook window and try to create and save a reminder. If it works, you’ve found your culprit. If the issue persists, return to the add-in window and disable another one. Keep doing this until you’ve either isolated the problematic add-in or verified that the issue is unrelated to them.

Here’s how to disable an add-in in Outlook 2010 and higher:

  • Launch Outlook.
  • Click the File tab.
  • Select Manage Add-ins or Manage Apps. This will bring up a window showing all your installed add-ins, the name of each add-in, its publisher, the installation method, and its current status.
  • Clear the checkbox under the “Turned on” column for the add-in you want to disable.

That’s it. You can keep going provided your add-ins aren’t too much, otherwise it’s best to try the other solutions first. If you’re using Outlook on the web, you can manage your add-ins by selecting Settings > Manage Integrations.

You’ve probably noticed that the more add-ins are integrated into Outlook, the slower the app seems to be relative to when there were little or no integrations. This effect is more pronounced on older systems running slower processors with limited memory. To ensure Outlook runs as smoothly as possible, we recommend you install Auslogics BoostSpeed. It will help most processes and operations go at a faster pace.

  • Verify the Save Location for Outlook Files

The best place to save reminders is naturally the default save location created for them when you installed Outlook. Sure, saving to another location doesn’t make any difference most of the time. You can even save to a location on another drive without issues. However, should the “Reminder will not appear” error rear its annoying head, you’re advised to check what your save location is. If it isn’t the default location, change it to the default and try to save your reminder again.

To check what your current save location is, click File > Info. Then, click Account Settings twice and click Data Files. The default locations for your Outlook files are C:\Users\%username%\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Outlook\ and C:\Users\%username%\Documents\Outlook Files\. If the current location doesn’t match any of these, change it to the default.

After this, saving your reminder file should be a breeze.

  • Enable the “Show Reminders” Option

In case this feature has been turned off, getting reminders won’t be a cakewalk; it likely won’t work at all. So, if you’re using Microsoft Outlook 2010 and higher, here’s how to enable the “Show reminders” feature.

  • Click File.
  • Click Options.
  • Select Advanced.
  • Tick the “Show reminders” checkbox under the Reminders option.
  • Click OK to save and exit.

Reminders should start working now.

  • Reset the Reminder Queue

If the annoying error simply refuses to go away despite your efforts so far, resetting reminders might just be what you need to do.

First, close Outlook. Open Task Manager and close every Outlook-related process. Then open the application again and save a task or reminder. Ensure it is saved to the application default folder, which is your primary Calendar or Task folder. Now, with Outlook still running, do the following:

  • Press the Windows key + R to bring up the Run box.
  • Type the following into the box and click OK or hit the Enter key:

outlook /cleanreminders

  • If that doesn’t work, reopen the Run box and try this instead, not forgetting to hit the Enter key as well:

outlook /resetfolders

Both commands basically do the same thing — clearing reminders so you can start afresh. This should resolve the issue. If not, try the next solution.

  • Repair PST Files with Third-Party Software

In the case of a corrupted file that you must open at all costs because of the important information therein, your options if Outlook can’t open or save it are pretty limited. If the file can be opened, you can copy its contents and create another reminder file. If you have backed up the file, you can use the reserve copy instead. If neither of those is an option, you can use a third-party tool to repair the file.

  • Enable Support for PST Files in Outlook

PST is an abbreviation for Personal Storage Table, Microsoft’s proprietary format for storing things like calendars, reminders, tasks, and messages in Outlook and other Office applications. Obviously, support for the PST format must be enabled for reminders to work as envisaged.

In case everything else you’ve tried hasn’t resolved the issue, here’s one more roll of the dice for you to make:

  • Click the File tab in Outlook to open the File options menu.
  • Select the Import & Export option.
  • In the right pane, click the Open Outlook Data File option.
  • A window showing a list of different Outlook file formats will appear. Right-click the “outlook.pst” entry and click Data File Properties from the context menu.
  • In the new window, click the General tab.
  • Tick the “Display reminders and tasks from this folder in the To-Do Bar” checkbox.

That’s all. Restart Outlook, and everything should be back to normal.