Introduction

This guide provides instructions on how to disable the New Mail Desktop Alert. It also sets out how to enable the New Mail Desktop Alert selectively for emails from specified senders, as identified by their unique email address.
The first stage is to disable the New Mail Desktop Alert completely. The second stage, which is optional, is to re-enable it for selected senders

Full Details

If Outlook is not already running, launch it now. Locate the Microsoft Office Outlook icon in your computer's notification area. The system tray contains various icons relating to programmes running on your PC. It is usually found in the bottom right corner of your computer’s screen, at the opposite end of the Taskbar from the Start Menu. The Outlook icon is an orange square which normally contains an image of a clock face. Right-click the icon and you will see a small menu. Halfway down is an entry reading Show New Mail Desktop Alert. If you are currently receiving new email alerts, this option will be ticked. To disable the alerts, click on Show New Mail Desktop Alert and it will become unticked. You can see this has been successful by right-clicking the Outlook icon again – the entry should now appear unticked.

You will now see no more New Mail Desktop Alerts. Note that disabling alerts in this way will not disable any other Outlook alerts you may have enabled, such as calendar or task reminders. You may also continue to get other kinds of New Email notification from Outlook – there are several different alerting cues which are controlled separately.

Re-enabling new email alerts for selected senders requires the creation of an Outlook rule. In the Outlook Mail window, click on the Tools menu and select Rules and Alerts.
Click New Rule to open the Rules Wizard dialogue box. Select Start from a blank rule at the top of the dialogue box. In the Step 1 box below, highlight Check messages when they arrive. Click Next.

In the next dialogue box, click in the box next to from people or distribution list. The entry should now be ticked and visible in the bottom box entitled Step 2. Click on the blue underlined words people or distribution list. Enter the email addresses of the people whose emails you wish to trigger a new email alert, or find their names in your contacts lists, and click OK. Click Next.

In the next dialogue box, click in the box next to display a Desktop Alert. Click Next.

In the next dialogue box, click in the box next to except if it is an Out of Office message if you would prefer not to receive new email alerts for out of office messages from your chosen senders. Click Next.

In the next dialogue box, enter a name for the rule (such as “Selective New Email Alerts”), ensure the box next to Turn on this rule is ticked, and click Finish. A message will appear saying "This rule is a client-only rule, and will process only when Outlook is running." Click OK. This means you will only receive these alerts while Outlook is running on your computer – this would also be the case if you had the New Mail Desktop Alert turned on unselectively. (This rule will not operate if you are logged in to Exchange as a user other than the one you were logged in as when you created the rule.)

The new rule should now appear in your list of rules, with a tick to the left of its name showing it is now running. Click OK to close the window.

If you want to deactivate the rule, click on the Tools menu and select Rules and Alerts. Untick the box next to the rule in the list that appears.

If you want to delete the rule, highlight it in the list and click Delete. Click OK.

Related Articles

• Switching Off New Email Alerts

Applies To

Tested using Microsoft Office Outlook 2003. May work in other versions with some modification.