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How To Kill Outlook Alerts Once And For All

Lady Killing Laptop - Outlook Alerts

Nothing in nature goes ‘beep’.

Cows moo. Insects chirp. Waves roar. But only human-made things go beep.

The sole purpose of an alert is to draw you away from what you are currently doing and make you pay attention to something else.

At times, this can be useful. A doorbell can alert you to a visitor at the front door. An ambulance arrives earlier because of its siren. A phone ‘ding’ 15 minutes before a meeting can help you arrive on time. Yet what about email notifications on your desktop or smart phone? Do they add to your productivity or have they become a beep-ing nightmare?

Microsoft Overkill

Microsoft Outlook likes to beep. Its default alert settings entice you to react to every email as it comes in.

Here’s an example. Let’s say that Pizza Hut emails you their latest lunch special. To ensure that you check out the 2.5% Meat Lovers discount, Outlook will ensure that …

  • You receive a ‘beep’
  • Your mouse pointer changes shape
  • Your taskbar shows an envelope icon
  • Your screen previews the e-mail message with a desktop alert

Overkill? Even if you’re a junk food hating, vegetarian fitness fanatic, I reckon you’re still likely to read this message in real time.

Now multiply this distraction by 50 or 120 times a day and you start to gain a picture of today’s workplace. It’s distracting, stress inducing and unproductive.

The solution? Stop letting your Outlook alerts shape the way you work by turning off the beep!

How To Kill Alerts In Microsoft Outlook 2010

Step 1: Under the File tab at the top left side of Outlook, click on Options.

Screen shot 1

Step 2: A dialogue box will open with the title Outlook Options. Click on Mail.

Step 3: On the right hand side scroll down to the section called Message Arrival. Click on each tick box to un-select all four boxes.

Screen shot 2

Ahhh. Now Doesn’t That Feel Better?

Now go and do some undistracted work!

You might also like to Get Rid Of Email Alerts On Your iPhone and iPad Forever.

Have you already turned off Outlook Alerts? Has it helped you?

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