Reminders

Sometimes, a friendly nudge is all you need to stay on track. I can remind you about anything — meetings, important dates, or that your parking meter's about to expire.

Setting and getting reminders

How do I set a reminder?

To have Sandy remind you about something, email her with:

remind [thing to remind you about] [when to remind you]

For example:

remind me to move my car in 15 minutes

remind me to call Jennifer on Friday at 9am

remind me to leave for the dance at 5:30pm

remind me to pick up some salad mix tomorrow

To Sandy, "remember" and "remind" are pretty much identical. Having both just allows you to write in whichever way feels more natural to you. So whether you write "remind me to move the car in 15 minutes" or "remember to move the car in 15 minutes", if you include a date or time, Sandy will set a reminder.

How do I tell Sandy when to remind me?

Sandy understands quite an assortment of date and time notations:

  • 12- and 24-hour time (1:30pm; 13:30)
  • Specific dates (May 14, 2007; 5/14/07; 5.15)
  • Relative dates (today; tomorrow; next Thursday; Thu; next week)
  • Relative times (this afternoon; tomorrow morning; next thursday evening)
  • Relative date intervals (in 2 days; in 3 weeks; in a month)
  • Relative time intervals (in 15 minutes; in an hour; in 4 hours)
  • Date ranges (May 14-16; 10/14-10/22)
  • Time ranges (1-4pm)

For example:

remind me to pick Steve up for work on Wednesday morning

remind me to leave work in an hour

remember the marketing meeting on 5/14 1-4pm

How do I know Sandy actually set a reminder?

Trust ;-) — and confirmation. Sandy will email you a confirmation (along with an attachment you can double-click to add to your own calendar if you'd like) in response to anything you ask her to remember for you or remind you about.

And you can always check out the list of everything Sandy's handling for you on her web site.

If Sandy's confirmations are too chatty for you, turn them off in your Email settings »

How will Sandy remind me?

When the time comes to remind you, Sandy will email a friendly reminder to your primary email address.

Sandy will also be glad to send a text (SMS) reminder to your mobile phone; all she needs is your mobile phone number.

She can even Twitter you a reminder tweet if you'd like. And from there you can even re-route that reminder via instant message (AIM, iChat, Google Talk, and LiveJournal).

Associated with each of the ways Sandy can remind you — email, SMS/text, and Twitter — is an On/Off switch. It's up to you whether you receive the reminder by email, on your mobile phone, over instant messenger — or all three!

Look for those On/Off switches on the Email, Mobile, and Twitter settings pages.

When will Sandy remind me?

If you specify a time interval like "in 15 minutes" or "in an hour," Sandy will remind you at that time. For example:

remind me to move my car in 15 minutes

Let's say Sandy received this message at 3:00pm; she'd then remind you at 3:15pm.

Specify a date and time like "Friday at 9am" and Sandy will remind you 15 minutes before the scheduled time. For example:

remind me to call Jennifer on Friday at 9am

Sandy would remind you at 8:45am on Friday.

To change how long before a particular date and time Sandy sends you a reminder, visit your Date and Time settings »

If you don't specify a reminder time (only a date, like "on Sunday"), Sandy will remind you that morning. For example:

remind me to pick up some salad mix tomorrow

Sandy will remind you tomorrow morning at 7am. You can change your default reminder time to 9am, 5am, 1pm — any hour you prefer — in your Date and Time settings »

And if you specify neither a date nor time along with the word "remind", Sandy will send that reminder the next morning at 7am (or at whatever hour you've set as your default reminder time). For example:

remind me to clean up the playroom

Let's say Sandy received this message at 2:17pm on a Thursday; she'd then remind you at 7 on Friday morning.

This is the one time when "remember" and "remind" mean something different. Ask Sandy to "remember" something and don't mention a date or time and she'll simply remember it for you. Ask her to "remind" you about it, on the other hand, and she'll make sure she does — the following morning if she has nothing more to go on.

Thumb-typer? Instead of typing "remember" or "remind", try "r", as in: r yoga fri 8a

Snoozing reminders

Can I snooze a reminder?

Sure thing! Need a little more time? Take all the time you need.

To snooze any reminder (that is, ask Sandy to remind you about the same thing again later the same day or at any other time), reply to the reminder email and let Sandy know when would be a more convenient time.

For example, let's say it's 8:45am on Friday and Sandy just emailed you a reminder about calling your friend Jennifer at 9am. Perhaps you're in the middle of something and need just a few more minutes. Reply to Sandy's reminder with:

snooze for 15 minutes

snooze for an hour

Perhaps Jennifer isn't in when you call. Just snooze that reminder further still, like so:

snooze until tomorrow morning

snooze until this afternoon

Power moves!

When you're comfortable with the basics of setting and snoozing reminders and are up for something more adventurous, read on...

Change your default reminder time and reminder interval

To change your reminder interval (how long before an appointment Sandy should remind you) and default reminder time (the time of day at which to remind you by default), visit your Date and time settings.)

Snooze your email

Many people use their email inboxes as dynamic to-do lists, hoping that by keeping stuff "at the top" it will stay "top of mind." They usually fall into the darker recesses of your inbox, never to be heard from again. (And since everyone already knows this, they attempt to keep it "top of mind" anyway.)

Your head has better things to do than to keep track of important email messages you're not quite ready to deal with yet. Snooze those email messages by forwarding them to Sandy and adding a reminder to the subject or body of the message like so:

Remind me to follow up on Richard's question in 4 days

Subject: Remind me in 2 days re: Whatever the message subject

You'll get that message back when you're good and ready for it!

If you're a TiVo fan, think of this as "time-shifting" your email from today to Friday just as you do Tuesday night's prime-time television programming.

Here are some examples of email messages just itching to be snoozed:

  • Online shopping delivery details: "You order has shipped and will arrive on 12/17..."
  • Queries in need of further research: "I'd love your thoughts on these project ideas before next month's big meeting..."
  • Time-sensitive offers: "And this coupon is good through 2/15..."
  • Follow-ups: "I'll have that on your desk by next Tuesday at 9am..."