Outlook: Cannot turn off the reminder.

Posted on by Alturiak

Some time ago, my Outlook 2007 kept prompting me with the following error: “Cannot turn off the reminder. You may be reminded again. Could not open the item. Try again.” After experimenting for quite some time, I finally found a solution somewhere on google. Unfortunately, I only noted down the solution, but not where I found it – please let me know if you think I stole it from you. :-)

edit 2017-06-04 15:43: image removed, source dead

Here’s how we fix this problem:
Download MFCMAPI tool from codeplex.com/MFCMAPI[1], then:

  1. Run MFCMAPI on the desktop
  2. Go to “Session” ->Logon and Display Store Table
  3. Select your profile
  4. Doubleclick the affected Mailbox
  5. Expand “Root Container”
  6. Right click “Reminders” and select “Open Contents Table”
  7. New Window Launches with Title “Reminders”
  8. Select the reminder items listed there, Right click and select “Delete Message”. This will delete not only the selected reminders, but also the items they belong to, so you might want to re-add them afterwards[1].
  9. Close MFCMAPI

… and you’re done. Leave me a message if this post was any help to you, or – more importantly – if it wasn’t. :-)

[1] Thanks to Stephen Griffin for the link to the up-to-date version and the heads-up.

20 thoughts on “Outlook: Cannot turn off the reminder.”

  1. This will work – until you notice that your appointments are missing. The Reminders search folder is just a view on the folders it monitors. When you delete items from the Reminders folder, you’re deleting the real items.

    Of course – if deleting the appointment/task/message that was triggering the reminder dialog works for you, then by all means, delete it. :)

    BTW – latest version of MFCMAPI is on Codeplex: http://codeplex.com/mfcmapi

  3. Dudes, thanks so much! I had a very similar error that was driving me batty and the steps you provided worked like a charm.

  4. I can’t get past step #5: “Expand Root Container.” Not sure what you mean by this…

  5. @Colly Mitchell
    You need to doubleclick the affected mailbox. A new window will open up, containing a list item on the left, named “Root Container”. Doubleclick it or select the “+”-Sign next to it.
    Blogpost has been updated to reflect this behaviour more precisely.

  6. Thanks for the fix. But now when my Outlook 2007 opens I get the error message “Object could not be found” for the To-Do Bar. Any suggestions?
    Many Thanks.

  9. i followed your steps….. when i use MFCMAP it deletes the reminder or appointment reminder to the deleted items….

    i dont want this to happen….whenever a reminder comes and if hit on dismiss, it should never remind me again but should stay in the calendar items…but instead i get Cannot turn off the reminder. You may be reminded again.

    but where as MFCMAP will delete reminder completely to deleted items, if this is the case i can delete a reminder or appointment myself , why should i use MFCMAP PROGRAM….

  10. This worked perfectly. Found similar solution on other sites, but had bad links to tool. Thanks.

  13. Very helpful. Now Bill Gates isn’t popping up with an undeletable false reminder everytime I start Outlook. Thank you!

  14. Thanks!

    Funny enough Microsoft used this tool to remedy an issue with a mailbox that seems to have fowarded emails to an old domain.

  15. Thank you so much for this. Very helpful! There were a few inconsistencies in the instructions when the latest version is used, but not so far off.

  16. I was able to delete most of the reminders, except 2. They won’t delete and the reminders keep popping up. Thanks.

  17. Great help bro. It worked like a GEM. I have been getting the reminders for one message for which I was not able to either snooz or dismiss but with the steps provided by you I am able to delete. To right click on Reminders, one has to expand Finder under Root – Mailbox to see Reminders then they can right click to open Contents table.

Comments are closed.