Scheduling a Recurring Message

Suppose you need to process reports at the end of each month and need data from your co-workers to complete the reports. They always seem to forget, so you need to send them a reminder. How do you automate the process, so they get the reminder automatically?

See Using Microsoft Outlook to Schedule Report Transmissions for a method that uses custom forms. Note that tighter security in Outlook may prevent this from working as expected.

In addition to scheduling recurring messages, the tools on this page can be used to schedule messages to be sent later.

Using Appointment Forms

You can open a prepared email template by creating an online meeting. Unlike the utilities listed in the Tools section, need to press Send to actually send it. It is more "in your face" than a reminder, for those messages you need to schedule but want to edit before sending.

1. Create a message and save it as an email template (*.oft)
2. Open an meeting invitation (or click the invite button on an appointment) and enter your email address in the To field.
3. Add a check to the Online meeting option.
4. Select Using Windows Media Services
5. Enter the file location of the template in the Event address field Add a check to the field to Automatically start Windows Media with the reminder Save and close.

When the reminder triggers, a dialog will open, asking if it can open the template. Once opened, press Send.

(Not supported in Outlook 2007.)

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Updated Oct 06 2009

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