Email Reminders From Excel File

[PSittner]

Hello,

My goal is to have reminders sent via email based on information in an Excel file. I am looking to build a spreadsheet with different tasks by row. There would be a handful of columns with descriptive information that I’d like included. Here's what I would ideally have for columns:

• Activity
• Due Date
• Reminder Date (probably a few days before Due Date)

Ultimately, I want the information to be sent to several recipients, and their email addresses would be included in the spreadsheet.

Alternatively, myself and my team all use Outlook. I guess another method would be to build the Excel file with necessary information and have it uploaded as a separate calendar within Excel. I tried that, but couldn't get it to work with a reminder. The even shows up in my calendar when I test, but no reminder alert fires.

Any advice is greatly appreciated.

Regards,

Patrick Sittner

 

[Diane Poremsky]

As long as the calendar is in your default mailbox, reminders should fire if they are set - you need to set the time and enable the reminder. You need to use the Reminder on/off field and set it to True.

 

[Diane Poremsky]

Oh, and if the calendar is in your mailbox, you can use the reminders to generate email to others.
http://www.slipstick.com/developer/send-email-outlook-reminders-fires/

FWIW, if you are planning to import a spreadsheet, export from outlook using the default field map so you can get the field names. It makes importing so much easier. You can delete the fields you aren't using so the spreadsheet is less complicated, but import will be a breeze.

 

[PSittner]

As long as the calendar is in your default mailbox, reminders should fire if they are set - you need to set the time and enable the reminder. You need to use the Reminder on/off field and set it to True.

Thank you, Diane. I appreciate the quick response. I've seen your name on here and have been impressed with your knowledge, so I am glad you replied!

With regards to the reminders, I found a template online that includes a column. However, even when I set it to True, it doesn't work. Is it possible that the heading is invalid? It's listed as "Reminderonoff'" rather than how you have it above. Do you think that's the issue? If you'd like, I can attach the sample spreadsheet I've been trying to use.

Also, what do you mean by "default mailbox"? Are you talking about my default calendar? If so, that's where these reminders populate. Is there a way to have them set in a new calendar rather than the default?

Thanks again!

 

[Diane Poremsky]

When you get to the last page of the import wizard there is a button to Map Custom Fields. Click it and see if your field is matching to the right one in outlook.

 

[PSittner]

When you get to the last page of the import wizard there is a button to Map Custom Fields. Click it and see if your field is matching to the right one in outlook.

Thank you, Diane. I did some reformatting, and looks like it worked! One more question. Is it possible to do multiple tabs in one Excel file to upload as calendars? Or is it better to just do different files?

 

[Diane Poremsky]

In 2010 i think you can use tabs - the sheets need named ranges. But it's usually safer to use CSV files because you don't need named ranges and don't have to worry about missing content outside of the named range.