Out of Office reminder

[Ed Cones]

Outlook 2003 on an Exchange server.

When Out of Office is set, there should be a reminder to turn it off when
Outlok is started. Instead, it often reminds me when I remember to turn it
off and click Tools/Out of Office assistant. Then it reminds me, which is
really not that helpful.

Several of my users have the same problem. Why is this, and can it be fixed?

thx . . .

 

[F.H. Muffman]

Outlook 2003 on an Exchange server.

When Out of Office is set, there should be a reminder to turn it off
when Outlok is started. Instead, it often reminds me when I remember
to turn it off and click Tools/Out of Office assistant. Then it
reminds me, which is really not that helpful.

Several of my users have the same problem. Why is this, and can it be
fixed?

First, could you clarify when it is reminding you? When you go to Tools
- Out of Office, thats when you get the pop up?

Every time you set the OOF?

Are you shutting down your machine, or just closing out of Outlook?

What happens if you turn on your OOF right now, reboot your computer and
then start Outlook?

 

[Ed Cones]

First, could you clarify when it is reminding you? When you go to Tools
- Out of Office, thats when you get the pop up?

Every time you set the OOF?

Are you shutting down your machine, or just closing out of Outlook?

What happens if you turn on your OOF right now, reboot your computer and
then start Outlook?

I click Tools on the menu, then "Out of Office Assistant, and the reminder
pops right then -- not terribly useful, huh?

I can log off, and the OOF reminder doesn't work. I can restart (per your
suggestion) and it works fine. We just log off and leave our computers
running for nightly updates, but I have emailed my other user with this
problem and suggested she restart instead of just logging out.

I support about 300 users on Outlook, and this comes up every now and then.
I'd love to find a solution that doesn't require the user to remember
something. Personally, I just set a task with reminder for a couple of hours
before I'm due back.

Thanks for the reply and suggestion.

 

[F.H. Muffman]

First, could you clarify when it is reminding you? When you go to

I click Tools on the menu, then "Out of Office Assistant, and the
reminder pops right then -- not terribly useful, huh?

I can log off, and the OOF reminder doesn't work. I can restart (per
your suggestion) and it works fine. We just log off and leave our
computers running for nightly updates, but I have emailed my other
user with this problem and suggested she restart instead of just
logging out.

I support about 300 users on Outlook, and this comes up every now and
then. I'd love to find a solution that doesn't require the user to
remember something. Personally, I just set a task with reminder for a
couple of hours before I'm due back.

Ok, well, that tells me that Outlook isn't actually shutting down. Try this:

Reboot your machine.
Log in, go to Start - Run and run 'outlook /safe'
Set your OOF.
Do whatever you'd normally do when leaving.
Do whatever you'd normally do when coming back.
Start Outlook.

Do you get the warning?

 

[Ed Cones]

Ok, well, that tells me that Outlook isn't actually shutting down. Try this:

Reboot your machine.
Log in, go to Start - Run and run 'outlook /safe'
Set your OOF.
Do whatever you'd normally do when leaving.
Do whatever you'd normally do when coming back.
Start Outlook.

Do you get the warning?

Aarruugg!!

Out of Office Assistant isn't a menu option in Safe Mode.

Wouldn't logging off the computer close whatever's open?

 

[F.H. Muffman]

Ok, well, that tells me that Outlook isn't actually shutting down.

Out of Office Assistant isn't a menu option in Safe Mode.

Really? Huh. Interesting. Obviously didn't know that.

Wouldn't logging off the computer close whatever's open?

Not necessarily. Services might keep running. Anything that just keeps
running, like A/V software, or software that works with Outlook, like a Blackberry
or PDA sync type application.

If you set up OOF, go to File - Exit out of Outlook, wait about 10 minutes
and then pull up Task Manager and look at the Processes tab, is Outlook still
running?

 

[Ed Cones]

Not necessarily. Services might keep running. Anything that just keeps
running, like A/V software, or software that works with Outlook, like a Blackberry
or PDA sync type application.

If you set up OOF, go to File - Exit out of Outlook, wait about 10 minutes
and then pull up Task Manager and look at the Processes tab, is Outlook still
running?

Outlook stops immediately in the Process tab when I stop Outlook. To
complicate matters, I and the other user having problems often don't log onto
the same computer where we set the OOF to start with. As an experiment I'll
suggest she restart whatever computer she sets it on and I'll do the same.
Maybe that's all it'll take. Thanks for your time.

 

[F.H. Muffman]

Not necessarily. Services might keep running. Anything that just

Outlook stops immediately in the Process tab when I stop Outlook. To
complicate matters, I and the other user having problems often don't
log onto the same computer where we set the OOF to start with. As an
experiment I'll suggest she restart whatever computer she sets it on
and I'll do the same. Maybe that's all it'll take. Thanks for your
time.

Ok, going back to when Outlook.exe isn't in the Processes tab, if you then
restart Outlook, do you get the notification that your OOF is on (assuming
you turn it on before you exit Outlook)?

In other words, is this just an issue where you log on on a different machine,
or does it happen locally too?

 

[Ed Cones]

Ok, going back to when Outlook.exe isn't in the Processes tab, if you then
restart Outlook, do you get the notification that your OOF is on (assuming
you turn it on before you exit Outlook)?

In other words, is this just an issue where you log on on a different machine,
or does it happen locally too?

If I set OOF and exit Outlook, OUTLOOK.EXE drops off the Processes tab. I
can restart Outllook right then and get no reminder. If I log off and back
in, no reminder. But if I restart, I get a reminder. This is on the same
computer.

However, I set OOF and just logged off, like our users do, then logged onto
a different computer and got a reminder. I then set OOF on that computer,
stopped Outlook and restarted with no reminder. I then set OOF on that
computer, logged off and came back to mine, logged in and started Outlook --
no reminder.

I had another user try hers. She set her OOF, stopped Outlook, restarted
Outlook, and got the reminder.

I'm stymied.

I sure appreciate all the time you've put in trying to help me with this.
For now, I've told the other user to set a task as a reminder.

 

[F.H. Muffman]

Ok, going back to when Outlook.exe isn't in the Processes tab, if you

If I set OOF and exit Outlook, OUTLOOK.EXE drops off the Processes
tab. I can restart Outllook right then and get no reminder. If I log
off and back in, no reminder. But if I restart, I get a reminder.
This is on the same computer.

However, I set OOF and just logged off, like our users do, then logged
onto a different computer and got a reminder. I then set OOF on that
computer, stopped Outlook and restarted with no reminder. I then set
OOF on that computer, logged off and came back to mine, logged in and
started Outlook -- no reminder.

I had another user try hers. She set her OOF, stopped Outlook,
restarted Outlook, and got the reminder.

I'm stymied.

I sure appreciate all the time you've put in trying to help me with
this. For now, I've told the other user to set a task as a reminder.

Do any of your users work? It really sounds like something in the environment.
What version of Outlook?

 

[janwillem_v]

I've got the same problem! Does anyone have a solution for this?

 

[AnotherNewGuy]

Out of 300 users, I've had this reported by two plus myself. I just restart
the computer when I set OOF, and I've advised the others to do it as well.
It seems to solve the problem in all cases.

We normally just log off; then it doesn't work. Restart, and it works fine.

 

[janwillem_v]

We always shutdown the pc instead of "log off". But what if you set the oof
with outlook webaccess? You're pc at work isn't powered on and you'll still
have the same problem...

 

[AnotherNewGuy]

Mine doesn't remind me in OWA even if I restart. But after a restart, it
reminds me when I start Outlook. The users in question don't use OWA.