Can’t delete a reminder in Outlook 2007? I recently had this very strange problem where I created a calendar event in Outlook 2007 with a reminder attached to it, the event passed, I dismissed the reminder, but it won’t go away! The reminder pops up each time I open Outlook 2007.
Not only that, I deleted the calendar event thinking that it would get rid of the reminder, but it doesn’t! So the reminder still lives even though there is no event for it to go with! Strange!
Finally, I figured out how to remove the reminder from a forum post and it’s pretty crazy what you have to do to delete the Outlook reminder.
Step 1: Download and install MFCMAPI (Microsoft Exchange Server MAPI Editor) from the Microsoft website.
Step 2: Open the program and then click on Session from the top menu and choose Logon and Display Store Table.
Step 3: Choose Outlook in the dialog that says Choose Profile. Click OK.
Step 4: Now double-click on the profile that says “Mailbox ““ Your Name“
Step 5: A new window will pop up. Expand Root ““ Mailbox and then find Reminders. If it’s not directly under the Root, it may be under Finder. Then right-click on it and choose Open Contents Table.
Step 6: Now find the reminder that you are not able to delete and delete it here. You should be able to identify the reminder by the From, To and Subject fields.
Step 7: If, for some reason you are not able to find the undeleteable reminder here, you can simply delete the entire Reminders folder under the Root. The Reminders folder will be re-created again when Outlook starts.
Note that if you delete the Reminders folder, do NOT select “Hard Deletion“ when the alert window pops up. That’s it! Now the reminder will no longer show up in Outlook and you won’t keep getting those annoying pop ups saying you missed the appointment!
Read my previous post if Outlook is sending two copies of every email. If you are having other problems with Outlook, check out my post on how to make sure Outlook runs smoothly. Enjoy!
[...] is a more common Outlook error, but other strange errors include the inablity to delete an Outlook reminder and Outlook 2003 sending duplicate emails. Enjoyed this post? Subscribe to Help Desk Geek via RSS [...]
Our IT Manager came accross this fix and it works GREAT. TYVM!
Thank you ! This worked great. This reminder was beginning to drive me mad.
THANK YOU. This had been plaguing me for months!
Worked great! Thanks a million, I was about to burn the pc…
FYI – the location for MFCMAPI is now http://mfcmapi.codeplex.com/
thanks for this tip!
In step #4 I do not get a line "Mailbox- "name" ????? Please help
Thank you—deleting the FOLDER did it. I suddenly had 1654 reminders showing up after I copied my "contacts" from an old profile into a newly created profile. TX TX TX
Thank you, all sorted.
I've done this and still have the reminders popping up, any other suggestions? I've tried deleting the folder, everything at this point. Already ran the inbox repair tool and used outlook.exe /cleanreminders also.
Aseem, I've used your post "Cannot delete Outlook 2007 reminder" several times with great success…TYVM ::-)
The last time I had so many popping up that I elected to use "Step 7" taking care NOT to select 'Hard Deletion' which brings me to the reason for this "Comment"….
I now have a new batch of recurring reminders and Outlook never recreated the Reminders folder :-(. Now my only fix is to open and delete the appointment(s) and I'd really prefer to keep them in my Calender. Do you have any ideas?
Dude. Finally! Tried everything thing else in the book and this was the solution. Make sure to check all profiles and all mailboxes. Turns out a bogus sync with my phone went to the wrong profile and was lurking in the background.
I had tried the /cleanreminders which and it didn't work, but this method did.
Thank you for taking the time for putting this together.
Stefano R.
This fix Worked! I'd resigned myself to ignoring an orphaned reminder in Outlook 2007. Finally googled for "outlook 2007 delete reminder" and this page was at the top of the list. Thank you!
Thanks for the solution. It worked great. I had the problem over 1 year and now it's gone.
You maked my day :-)
The fix worked like a charm! Thank you very much.
Finally! A solution that works!
Many Thanks.
This worked for me as well. Great!
Awesome! Worked perfectly for me! I thought I'd have the reminder popping up every 5 minutes forever. I did a Bing search for 'remove a reminder for a missing email in outlook' and this post came right up.
Thanks!
Is there a fix to Office for Mac as well.
I have this exact problem, but can't find a solution for Office for Mac.
Run Outlook 2011.
Thanks!
this worked great on my corporate Outlook! thanks for the post
Thanks so much! I was able to delete that pesky reminder!
Once I turned Cached mode off and renamed the ost file I then got a Reminders container and could find the offending reminder. With cached mode on I did not get a reminders container
I can't find the reminder folder.
This worked awesome!! Thanks so much for posting this!!!
The instructions were difficult to follow, but worked. thanks. this has been bugging me for months
The MFCMAPI program has been changed please update these instructions. In step 4 I cannot see anything with my mailbox name. Thanks
Thank You! I had a couple of calendar reminders that kept popping up and couldn’t be removed. It had been driving me bonkers until I found this MAPI editor… Worked like a charm :)
I have this problem and attempted to follow these instructions. However, MFCMAPI has changed, and like Andrew T. 2/15/12, I cannot find the mailbox name anywhere. Would appreciate seeing an update to these instructions, or just an update within the comments. Thanks.