You can also view an animated version of this procedure, Animation: Set personal reminders in Outlook.

Have you ever wanted to set an Outlook reminder for something - say, to buy groceries on your way home from work - but didn't want to make it an appointment because you didn't want the time to appear to others as busy on your calendar? There are two ways you can do this.

The first way is to create an event. An event is usually an activity that lasts 24 hours or longer, such as a trade show or a seminar. Events appear in banners at the top of your calendar.

The second way is to create an appointment of zero time duration. Appointments always appear on your own calendar and usually appear as busy time when others view your calendar. However, since this appointment has no duration, it will not be seen when others view your calendar.

Once you determine where you want your reminder to be displayed - at the top of your calendar (an event) or in the calendar (an appointment with zero time duration) - follow the steps below to create a personal reminder.

Set a personal reminder using an event or an appointment with no time duration

1. On the File menu, point to New, and then click Appointment.
2. In the Subject box, type your reminder text.
3. Do one of the following:
   To create an event, select the All day event check box.
   To create an appointment with zero time duration, select the time you want the appointment to start, and then change the end time to be the same as the start time.
4. Select the Reminder check box, and then enter the amount of time before the appointment when you want the reminder to occur.
5. Click Save and Close.
   

    Note    In Calendar, you can quickly create any new calendar item by selecting a block of time, right-clicking, and then clicking New calendar item on the shortcut menu.