Don't alert on birthdays or anniversaries.

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Guest

Today is my birthday and when I opened Outlook, I was reminded that is was my
birthday despite never having created an event for this day. It really
freaked me out. After some research, it appears that Outlook does this from
the address book entries. I don't mind the functionality existing, but the
user should be notified so they don't think something weird is going on as I
did.

----------------
This post is a suggestion for Microsoft, and Microsoft responds to the
suggestions with the most votes. To vote for this suggestion, click the "I
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http://www.microsoft.com/office/com...38aac&dg=microsoft.public.outlook.calendaring
 
What is weird about being shown a birthday reminder? If you don't want one
for yourself, simply uncheck the reminder. For other people, however, the
reminder is very handy for sending birthday greetings or anniversary
congratulations.

--
Milly Staples [MVP - Outlook]

Post all replies to the group to keep the discussion intact. All
unsolicited mail sent to my personal account will be deleted without
reading.

After furious head scratching, Brant Gurganus asked:

| Today is my birthday and when I opened Outlook, I was reminded that
| is was my birthday despite never having created an event for this
| day. It really freaked me out. After some research, it appears that
| Outlook does this from the address book entries. I don't mind the
| functionality existing, but the user should be notified so they don't
| think something weird is going on as I did.
|
| ----------------
| This post is a suggestion for Microsoft, and Microsoft responds to the
| suggestions with the most votes. To vote for this suggestion, click
| the "I Agree" button in the message pane. If you do not see the
| button, follow this link to open the suggestion in the Microsoft
| Web-based Newsreader and then click "I Agree" in the message pane.
|
|
http://www.microsoft.com/office/com...38aac&dg=microsoft.public.outlook.calendaring
 
I don't mind getting the reminder if I know that Outlook automatically
creates them. The problem is that that functionality is in no way shown to
the user. I would think the first time a birthday or anniversary is filled
in, Outlook would say it can create reminders of those from now on *if the
user wants it to do so*. It definitely shouldn't just do it.
 
Sorry, I disagree - the reminder should be the default. Just because you
think it should be otherwise, the vast majority of other users do not.
Microsoft programmed this function for the vast majority.

If you do not want reminders on as a default, then uncheck them universally
from the Calendar options page.


--
Milly Staples [MVP - Outlook]

Post all replies to the group to keep the discussion intact. All
unsolicited mail sent to my personal account will be deleted without
reading.

After furious head scratching, Brant Gurganus asked:

| I don't mind getting the reminder if I know that Outlook automatically
| creates them. The problem is that that functionality is in no way
| shown to the user. I would think the first time a birthday or
| anniversary is filled in, Outlook would say it can create reminders
| of those from now on *if the user wants it to do so*. It definitely
| shouldn't just do it.
|
| "Milly Staples [MVP - Outlook]" wrote:
|
|| What is weird about being shown a birthday reminder? If you don't
|| want one for yourself, simply uncheck the reminder. For other
|| people, however, the reminder is very handy for sending birthday
|| greetings or anniversary congratulations.
||
|| --Â
|| Milly Staples [MVP - Outlook]
||
|| Post all replies to the group to keep the discussion intact. All
|| unsolicited mail sent to my personal account will be deleted without
|| reading.
||
|| After furious head scratching, Brant Gurganus asked:
||
||| Today is my birthday and when I opened Outlook, I was reminded that
||| is was my birthday despite never having created an event for this
||| day. It really freaked me out. After some research, it appears
||| that Outlook does this from the address book entries. I don't mind
||| the functionality existing, but the user should be notified so they
||| don't think something weird is going on as I did.
|||
||| ----------------
||| This post is a suggestion for Microsoft, and Microsoft responds to
||| the suggestions with the most votes. To vote for this suggestion,
||| click the "I Agree" button in the message pane. If you do not see
||| the button, follow this link to open the suggestion in the Microsoft
||| Web-based Newsreader and then click "I Agree" in the message pane.
|||
|||
||
http://www.microsoft.com/office/com...38aac&dg=microsoft.public.outlook.calendaring
 
Don't add birthdays to the contact and it won't do it.

--
Diane Poremsky [MVP - Outlook]
Author, Teach Yourself Outlook 2003 in 24 Hours
Coauthor, OneNote 2003 for Windows (Visual QuickStart Guide)
Author, Google and Other Search Engines (Visual QuickStart Guide)



Join OneNote Tips mailing list: http://www.onenote-tips.net/


Brant Gurganus said:
I don't mind getting the reminder if I know that Outlook automatically
creates them. The problem is that that functionality is in no way shown
to
the user. I would think the first time a birthday or anniversary is
filled
in, Outlook would say it can create reminders of those from now on *if the
user wants it to do so*. It definitely shouldn't just do it.

Milly Staples said:
What is weird about being shown a birthday reminder? If you don't want
one
for yourself, simply uncheck the reminder. For other people, however,
the
reminder is very handy for sending birthday greetings or anniversary
congratulations.

--
Milly Staples [MVP - Outlook]

Post all replies to the group to keep the discussion intact. All
unsolicited mail sent to my personal account will be deleted without
reading.

After furious head scratching, Brant Gurganus asked:

| Today is my birthday and when I opened Outlook, I was reminded that
| is was my birthday despite never having created an event for this
| day. It really freaked me out. After some research, it appears that
| Outlook does this from the address book entries. I don't mind the
| functionality existing, but the user should be notified so they don't
| think something weird is going on as I did.
|
| ----------------
| This post is a suggestion for Microsoft, and Microsoft responds to the
| suggestions with the most votes. To vote for this suggestion, click
| the "I Agree" button in the message pane. If you do not see the
| button, follow this link to open the suggestion in the Microsoft
| Web-based Newsreader and then click "I Agree" in the message pane.
|
|
http://www.microsoft.com/office/com...38aac&dg=microsoft.public.outlook.calendaring
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
Brant Gurganus said:
Today is my birthday and when I opened Outlook, I was reminded that
is was my birthday despite never having created an event for this
day. It really freaked me out.
Click to expand...

When you entered yourself as a contact and defined your birthdate in the
contact record, Outlook automatically added the date to the calendar.
After some research, it appears that
Outlook does this from the address book entries.
Click to expand...

No, not address book entries, but contact records.
I don't mind the
functionality existing, but the user should be notified so they don't
think something weird is going on as I did.
Click to expand...

Read the documentation.
 
I think Brant made a good suggestion for a better user interface. I would
suggest simple "Remind Me" check boxes next to birthday and anniversary
(checked by default). This gives people an opportunity to disable what is
currently a hidden feature. Otherwise, a person could be penalized with tons
of unwanted reminders if they enter those details for hundreds of contacts
(and they shouldn't have to entirely disable reminders!).

Walt

Milly Staples said:
Sorry, I disagree - the reminder should be the default. Just because you
think it should be otherwise, the vast majority of other users do not.
Microsoft programmed this function for the vast majority.

If you do not want reminders on as a default, then uncheck them universally
from the Calendar options page.


--Â
Milly Staples [MVP - Outlook]

Post all replies to the group to keep the discussion intact. All
unsolicited mail sent to my personal account will be deleted without
reading.

After furious head scratching, Brant Gurganus asked:

| I don't mind getting the reminder if I know that Outlook automatically
| creates them. The problem is that that functionality is in no way
| shown to the user. I would think the first time a birthday or
| anniversary is filled in, Outlook would say it can create reminders
| of those from now on *if the user wants it to do so*. It definitely
| shouldn't just do it.
|
| "Milly Staples [MVP - Outlook]" wrote:
|
|| What is weird about being shown a birthday reminder? If you don't
|| want one for yourself, simply uncheck the reminder. For other
|| people, however, the reminder is very handy for sending birthday
|| greetings or anniversary congratulations.
||
|| --ÂÂ
|| Milly Staples [MVP - Outlook]
||
|| Post all replies to the group to keep the discussion intact. All
|| unsolicited mail sent to my personal account will be deleted without
|| reading.
||
|| After furious head scratching, Brant Gurganus asked:
||
||| Today is my birthday and when I opened Outlook, I was reminded that
||| is was my birthday despite never having created an event for this
||| day. It really freaked me out. After some research, it appears
||| that Outlook does this from the address book entries. I don't mind
||| the functionality existing, but the user should be notified so they
||| don't think something weird is going on as I did.
|||
||| ----------------
||| This post is a suggestion for Microsoft, and Microsoft responds to
||| the suggestions with the most votes. To vote for this suggestion,
||| click the "I Agree" button in the message pane. If you do not see
||| the button, follow this link to open the suggestion in the Microsoft
||| Web-based Newsreader and then click "I Agree" in the message pane.
|||
|||
||
http://www.microsoft.com/office/com...38aac&dg=microsoft.public.outlook.calendaring
Click to expand...
 
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