Inbox subfolders used to pop up reminders, not in this new contract w/O2K (nor at home in new O2003)

[StargateFanFromWork]

This is so funny that it's occurring at home and at office with 2 different
Outlook versions though both on Win2K.

For years in Win98SE with O2K, the flags in inbox subfolders would always
work. Same with O2K on Win2K for over a couple of years or more now at
other work contracts.

Now new contract with O2K on Win2K _and_, coincidentally, new O2003 on new
Win2K installation at home, no subfolders are working either when for years
of experience at home they did.

What's so very different now, really? After years of relying on this
feature and in combination with a certain set of rules I set up at each new
work contract to mirror certain conditions at home, I send myself "reminder"
messages back and forth several times a day to help me with work issues as
well as remembering things to do at home. But now neither system is working
properly so my reminder system is breaking down and it's impacting on my
effectiveness.

Does anyone know what would be wrong and how to fix?

TIA. D

 

[Vince Averello [MVP-Outlook]]

Reminders don't work from folders other than the default ones unless you use
an addin like this one:
http://www.slovaktech.com/remindermanager.htm

 

[StargateFanFromWork]

Yes, so the messages in the archives tell me; yet my years of experience
otherwise would argue that fact! And without an addin.

As mentioned, all subfolders in my inbox in 6 years at home have worked
(O2K/Win98SE) and over 2 years with O2K/Win2K at offices have also worked.
I have a very specific folder structure that I emulate in each new contract
with a specific style of reminder messages that I use a hyperlink for and
copy rules from place to place. But now with new contract _and_
coincidentally new OS/version of Outlook at home, no longer the case. I
mean, we're talking nearly 6 years here at home! That's what I'm trying to
get to the bottom of _without_ a _shareware_ add-on!

_Yes_, flags _never_ worked outside the inbox. But they always did, and for
years, in inbox subfolders. I'm wondering if there is something to "turn
on" that I never needed to before yet that for whatever reason, needs to be
done now.

Thanks.

*****************************

 

[Ken Slovak - [MVP - Outlook]]

Unless you've had a version of Outlook that no one else has ever had
reminders in folders other than Inbox, Calendar, Tasks and Contacts will
only turn red when due. The reminders will never actually fire.

If you looked at the MAPI restriction used by the hidden Reminders folder
you'd see that it only looks in those 4 default folders.

 

[StargateFanFromWork]

Yes, well, despite what you all are saying, I am not a liar. I do contract
work and move around different govt depts/private sector companies so have
experience with many different installations of O2K and this has worked in
all the different places I've worked besides also working at home.
(Granted, basically use the same default backup files.) But the very first
thing I do in a new contract with Outlook is to to set up my system of inbox
subfolders and to customize various rules to reflect any changes between
info from one contract to another (i.e., different email addresses).

In fact, in one contract last year, my job was critically dependent on those
flags popping up from my subfolders as my entire job was document-tracking
with a ton of email being sent to me on a daily basis for many ongoing
ministerial documents. The way I ended up controlling the massive amounts
of data arriving every day for each docket from various contributing
officers was to move each piece of received email to a folder named for the
docket #. But emails containing the most pertinent info I flagged (along
with pertinent instructions in the flag message area) so that they'd pop up
at the right date/time close to the due date. With this system, I was able
to stop worrying about missing any deadlines or pertinent instructions while
keeping all the emails for each docket together in one separate folder and
_out_ of my inbox!

Plus I've used for years now, esp. in last 2-3 years, system of sending
myself reminders back and forth from work and home. This has allowed me to
not need an electronic organizer and in fact, is a much better system than
one of those would be. These reminder messages I bring up via a template
that has a specific set of words at the beginning of the subject line. A
rule at home/work moves these messages to a TO DO folder along with flagging
the email - set at 0 days - so that the instant I log on at work or at home,
these messages pop up right away and I can either action immediately or
assign them a more pertinent date/time for further action yet all these
reminders are not in my inbox obscuring actual messages!

I'm guessing that the O2K installation here at this new work contract
(Win2K, O2K) might have been affected by the new backup files from my new
installation at home with new Outlook, too (no longer O2K on Win98SE at
home, but O2003 on Win2K). I don't see why, otherwise, here at work. Since
my backup files come from home, I think it's safe to assume that O2003
either doesn't support flags on inbox subfolders, or I have to change some
sort of setting somewhere that may have been a default setting in O2K but is
no longer (?).

It's a real pain now when I get home or arrive here. I must now transform
these emails into tasks so that I can have them popup! Wow, what a waste of
time! I miss my old reliable system where the subfolder emails themselves
would just pop up.

Anyway, the answer lies somewhere even if no-one here might not know what it
is. We power-users don't have the knowledge you guys have, but we have the
practical reality of using software hours and hours a day, day-in, day-out
for weeks, months and years on end. Plus in my case, I have the advantage
of knowing when things truly work or not due to changing work conditions in
the field since I work in so many different contracts with a wide array of
different setups. That's the real test! <g> And that's the case here.
Despite what has been said, guess what, I've been using this system for
years now, and that's why it doesn't matter to me how often someone says it
can't be done, because it's what I've been doing for a long time. Go figure
what hitch has gotten into it now, but there we are.

Thanks. Appreciate the attempts to help very much. I'll keep hunting
around for the answer(s). I need my old functionality/effectiveness back re
this. D

********************************************

 

[Ken Slovak - [MVP - Outlook]]

I never said you were a liar. All I'm saying is you've seen a feature in
Outlook that no MVP or member of the Outlook team ever saw. If the feature
was there I wouldn't be selling my reminder addins. So since I've never seen
that feature I can't help you.