Annoying Email Alerts

Have you ever been in a meeting conducting a presentation when you get an email alert that pops up in the lower right corner of the screen? I know that some of us have been in that situation before.

These annoying email alerts can cause us undue stress when we are trying to focus on the task at hand. Example: A translucent email alert window pops up showing that you have an email from Human Resources asking you to contact them as soon as possible. Everyone in the meeting has just read this; you have lost the focus of your meeting.

Here is a quick way to prevent these email alerts from being displayed on your screen if you are using Microsoft Office 2007.

• Open Outlook
• Click on Tools, Options, E-mail Options, Advanced E-mail Options
• You will see this:

• Make sure the box next to “Display a New Mail Desktop Alert (default Inbox only)” is not checked
• Click okay and you are done!

Some operational support people prefer to have these email alerts come up; it is necessary within certain job functions to be able to respond immediately to an urgent incoming message.

The great thing about this feature of Outlook email is that you can change this whenever you want, so if there is a very important email you are waiting for, just go through the same steps but instead making sure the box next to “Display a New Mail Desktop Alert (default Inbox only)” is checked.

Hopefully this little best practices tip can help prevent confidential emails from being seen when presenting.

Adapted from The Professional Assistant