MS Outlook Reminder Stuck in a Loop?

Infopackets Reader Stephen K. writes:

" Dear Dennis,

I’m running Outlook 2002 on a Windows XP-Home OS. Recently I cancelled one of my recurring appointments (a Weekly Meeting), and deleted it from my Outlook Calendar. Unfortunately, the same reminder continues to show up on my Outlook Daily Reminder List.

When I try to postpone or delete if from this list, I get the following messages: Error Message 1: 'Cannot turn off the reminder. You may be reminded again. The message you specified cannot be found.' Clicking OK, the only option, leads to the next error message. Error Message 2: 'There is an error in dismissing the reminder Weekly Meeting. Dismissing operation terminated.'

Does anyone know how to get rid of the closed-loop reminder and clear it from my reminder list? I was unable to turn anything up in the MS Knowledge Base. P.S. I love your newsletter and read it religiously! "

My Response:

Thanks for the kudos! I think it's safe to say that your problem would most likely drive anyone insane ... or at least, dizzy. Unfortunately, I don't use MS Outlook and am therefore unfamiliar with this problem. However, I suspect that one of the data files that controls reminders is corrupt and needs to be reset. I searched Google for some possibilities, and came up with two viable solutions.

Website #1: "How to Reset Reminders in Microsoft Outlook"

This page discusses how to use a special "file switch" to reset the reminder file in Microsoft Outlook.

http://uwadmnweb.uwyo.edu/itr/documents/1005.html

Website #2: "Microsoft Outlook Calendar Issues"

This page has many links to frequently asked questions about MS Outlook (which also link to the Microsoft Knowledge Base). Everything on the site seems to be well maintained and up-to-date, and definitely noteworthy for other MS Outlook related issues.

One of the Microsoft Knowledge Base links which caught my eye on this site was, "XCLN How to Troubleshoot Reminders and Free-Busy Issues", which discusses 3 separate ways to reset MS Outlook (using file switches).

http://www.slipstick.com/calendar/

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=292183

Side note: Resetting the data will most likely overwrite your Outlook data.