Tip 245: Outlook’s Desktop Alerts Settings

Outlook 2003 (and up) users can change how long the Desktop Alert is displayed. This is the blue rectangle which displays on the screen when new mail arrives and is also known as ""toast"". (It's not to be confused with the New mail alert window which is controlled by Rules and supported in all versions of Outlook.)

The easiest way to configure it is using the Tools, Options menu, Email Options, Advanced, Desktop Alerts Setting button. You can adjust the time it remains on the screen and how transparent it is. In Outlook 2010, look for this option in File, Options, Mail - it's one of the first few settings.

The maximum time you can display the blue alert is 30 seconds, if you need longer, you will need to edit the registry.

Note: to adjust the screen location, drag the alert to another position.

Edit the Registry

Browse to the DesktopAlerts key in the registry, create a DWORD named TimeOn (if not already present) and set a value in milliseconds, up to 4 billion worth (50 days.)

Outlook 2003
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\11.0\Common\DesktopAlerts
DWORD: TimeOn
Value: in milliseconds, accepts values up to 4 billion

Outlook 2007
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\12.0\Common\DesktopAlerts
DWORD: TimeOn
Value: in milliseconds, accepts values up to 4 billion

Outlook 2010
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\14.0\Common\DesktopAlerts
DWORD: TimeOn
Value: in milliseconds, accepts values up to 4 billion

This registry key also holds the values for the screen location and transparency. (These keys are created when you change the default settings.)

Do It For Me

If you are adverse to editing the registry, you can download the appropriate reg file below (right click on the link, choose Save Target as). Open it using Notepad and change the number in this line: "TimeOn"=dword:00111770 (this is 111.77 seconds, or almost 2 minutes). Save your changes then double click on it to add the value to your registry.

Outlook 2010 | Outlook 2007 | Outlook 2003

To convert seconds or minutes to milliseconds, type your query into your favorite search engine. For example, how many milliseconds is 5 minutes shows you that 5 minutes = 300000 milliseconds.

Published April 5 2005

Related posts:

Tags: desktop alert, new mail alert, registry key

This article is filed under Tips Archive.
Last reviewed on Dec 10, 2011