One thing I noticed when I made the change from Outlook 2007 to Outlook 2010 was the fact that the little mail icon that used to display when I received an email was no longer displaying in the notification area of the Windows 7 taskbar. I assumed that it was simply a configuration that needed to be made but when I finally got around to looking into this a two days ago I realized that I had Outlook configured properly. After some research I found out that Outlook 2010 does not display desktop alerts, which include the mail icon as well as pop up desktop alerts, properly on Windows 7 x64 computers. After looking around I came up with a solution that ended up costing me $7 but was well worth having the notification icon display when new email is received in Outlook 2010.
Outlook 2010 Notification Icon & Desktop Alert Configuration:
The above example image shows all the available options that can be configured in Outlook 2010 when an email is received. They have all been disabled in my configuration since I am now using a third party Outlook 2010 add-on which I explain in more detail below. It is absolutely nuts to me that these settings don’t work even when configured properly in Outlook 2010 but I wanted to display where they are located so you could configure them however you want if Microsoft decides to resolve the issue.
Outlook 2010 Desktop Alerts:
If you don’t care about the mail envelope displaying in the Windows taskbar then you can get away without configuring Desktop Alerts when new email is received via Outlook Rules. I personally don’t like the Desktop Alerts because I receive to much email and it becomes distracting but if you prefer this over the mail icon then you could configure an Outlook Rule similar to the following.
Outlook Rule For Desktop Alert When Email Is Received:
Launch the Rules Wizard by clicking Rules in the top navigation bar of Outlook 2010 and select Manage Rules & Alerts from the drop down menu. In the Rules and Alerts window click on New Rule to Launch the Rules Wizard.
- Rule On Messages Received: Select Apply Rule On Messages I Receive located under the Start From A Blank Rule sub section and then click the Next button.
- On This Computer Only: Scroll to the bottom of the list in the next window and put a check next to On This Computer Only and then click the Next button.
- Display A Desktop Alert: Again scroll to the bottom of the list to put a check next to Display A Desktop Alert and then click the Next button.
If you want to display a specific message in the Desktop Alerts then you can select Display A Message In The New Item Alert Window.
- Name New Rule: After clicking Next in the above window you will be taken to an exception window which you can simply click the Next button to skip past. The final window is where you will name the Rule as shown below and then click the Finish button to complete the Outlook Rule setup.
- Test Email Desktop Alerts: Now send yourself an email and you should see a message similar to the below example Desktop Alert in the lower right corner of your computers desktop.
Display Envelope Icon In Taskbar When Email Received In Outlook 2010:
If you want the envelope icon to display in the taskbar then best way I found to do that is by installing a third party Add-In called Mail Alert which can be downloaded here. You can install the trial for Mail Alert to verify it does what you want it to but after a small amount of alerts are issued you will be required to purchase Mail Alert for $6.95. Mail Alert is easy to install and just as easy to configure as shown below in the Mail Alert configuration window.
You open the Mail Alert configuration options by selecting Add-ins from the top navigation bar in Outlook, clicking on Mail Alert, and selecting Mail Alert Options from the drop down menu that displays. The great thing about these options is when they are configured they actually work! As you can see above I have configured Play A Sound and Display An Icon In The Notification Area as the ways I want to be notified about new mail. Now when email is received an envelope icon displays in the notification area of the Windows 7 taskbar.
So now you have options for configuring ways to be notified when email is received in Outlook 2010 on Windows 7 x64 computers.
“New E-Mail Button on outlook does NOT procuce a new blank E-Mail ready to be filled out.
I placed pro9duct key number in the blank for wizard, when box came up saying that trial time ran out on it.
I fo not understand why it was on trial. I installed ALL of Office about a yoar ago.
How can I get outlook to send a new E-Mail?
Your help would be aqpprecated
Cal Cruder
(Simi Valley, Califoarnia)
Hello Cal,
Your phone number has been removed from the comment. We do not allow phone numbers to be posted.
Thanks.
alex
works great thank you!!!!!!!
Sam
Hello Sam Farraj,
No problem. Thanks for taking the time to leave feedback.
Thanks.
alex
The above response does NOT answer my problem.
I will look it over again while I am waiting for youar reply
Hello Cal,
You likely will not get a response being so pushy.
Thanks.
alex
Will someone see this?
Will someone answer?
Hello yet again…
I doubt it.
Thanks.
alex
Perfect. Thanks
Hello Andy,
No problem. Thanks for taking the time to leave feedback.
Thanks.
alex
Thanks for the updates..it works
Hello Jay,
No problem. Thanks for posting feedback.
Thanks.
alex
Thank you so much, this worked great!
Hello Highland,
No Problem! Thanks for leaving feedback.
Thanks.
alex
Thanks, this was helpfull
Hello Ray,
No problem and thanks for taking the time to post feedback!
Thanks.
alex
Nope not working.
I setup the rule exactly the same way and I get no desktop alert or any other.
Hello marky,
Unfortunately I don’t have any great advice of why you are not receiving the alerts. I am now using OSX as my primary computer and no longer use these types of alerts. If you figure out why the alert messages are not displaying let us know.
Thanks.
alex
Perhaps an update to this posting?
I have/use Office 2010 and the mail-notification indeed pops-up in the lower right-hand part of my screen when an email arrives.
Win7/64 – Ultimate, and Office Pro 2010.
Cal- YOU MAKE ME LAUGH!
Alex- I found this very informative, thanks for the information & making me laugh with Cal, what a charecter.
Thanks for the post..Its working!
thanks, its working fine !!!
Thank you very much, this has bothered me for years now and thanks to you no longer!
I had to add “display a specific message” (ie; “New Email”) in the same tab as the “display a desktop alert”, that displayed center screen when a new email arrived.
This was really helpful. I just had to change computers due to a hardware issue and had to set Outlook up myself, but it was missing some important features. Very glad someone took the time to share how to customize the mail notifications. I will be able to answer emails a lot faster now! Thank you!