Outlook can alert you to a variety of actions with sound effects. You can control some of these sounds through the Outlook options panewhile other settings are controlled by Windows.
New message notifications
When you receive a new message in Outlookyou can receive alerts with soundsa message pop-up notificationor simply a change in the Outlook icon in the status bar.
To change these settingsuse the following steps.
- Select the File tab.
- Select Options > Mail.
- Under Message Arrivalselect or clear the Play a sound check box.
Note
You can also change other notification behaviors heresuch as changing the mouse pointer brieflyshowing an envelope icon in the bottom right of the Windows Taskbaror showing a Desktop alert.
If you'd like to change the sound played when you receive a new messagesee Change the sound played when an email message arrives.
Calendartaskand flag reminders
When you receive a calendartaskor flag reminderOutlook can play a sound. To turn this on or offuse the following steps.
- Select the File tab.
- Select Options > Advanced.
- Under Remindersselect or clear the Play reminders sound check box.
If you choose to play a reminder soundyou can either use the default sound file or select Browse to select a sound file that you want to play.
Miscellaneous alerts and changing sound volume
Note
The instructions in this section are written for Windows 10. For older versions of Windowsthe basic settings should remain the samebut the way you access these settings may be slightly different.
The volume of the sounds Outlook plays is controlled by your Windows sound settings.
Outlook may also play a sound for errors and alerts that you receive. For exampleif you try to Dismiss All reminders from the Reminder dialog boxyou may receive a warning or informational message. Other tasks that may have audible alerts include:
- Permanently deleting an item by pressing the Shift key and the Delete key
- Moving multiple conversations at once to another folder
- Closing an item you've made changes to without saving or sending the item
Whether or not sounds are played for these alerts is controlled by Windows. To turn all Windows sounds offuse the following steps.
- Select the Windows button and type Sound. You should have an option for Sound mixer options.
- Select Sound mixer options and use the Volume slider to adjust your sound levels. By adjusting the Volume to its lowest level (0)all sounds will be muted.
Change individual alert sounds in Windows
You can change the sound Windows plays for various alerts and reminders by using the following steps.
- Select the Windows button and type sound. You should have an option for Change system sounds.
- Select Change system sounds.
- In the Sound dialog boxyou can select an item from the Program Events list to change the sound associated with the event. To never play a sound for that eventregardless of your other Windows sound settingsuse the Sounds dropdown box and choose No Sounds from the very top of the list.