SP2 seems to break desktop alerts in outlook 2007

[Brian Tillman [MVP - Outlook]]

I installed the Office 2007 SP2 last week and since then desktop alert does
not work.

I can attest that it's not systeminc in Outlook. I, too, installed SP2 on by
XP and Vista and my Desktop Alerts work.

 

[Andi]

I have Vista and Outlook2007 Sp2.
Desktop Alerts is not working too.
my solution: run outlook one time as admin.
klick on preview desktop alert button-> work now!
close outlook
start outlook normal

 

[Milhouse Van Houten]

And you've tested running it normally how many times? I think you'll find
that it was just a coincidence.

 

[Andi]

i must run outlook "as administrator" one time, but EVERY DAY wenn boot up
the computer

 

[Milhouse Van Houten]

Consider the following scenario:

The desktop alert issue has been a problem not merely since SP2, but SP2's
antecedent: the mega Outlook patch that came out a couple months ago. Then,
on April 30th, MS released a hotfix for Outlook fixing myriad issues. And
guess which one is not among them?

Or at least it doesn't mention it. Perhaps someone can try it.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/968858

 

[dtgVA]

I too have the same problem as many of you. Desktop Alterts not functioning
properly after SP2 installation. This is what I have observed when trying to
troubleshoot this problem:

When first opening Outlook 2007, if I have incoming new mail, the desktop
alert does not display. Nor will it provide a preview of the desktop alerts
in the Avanced options section of Email options from the Tool menu. On exit
of Outlook, the new grayed out icon that displays when closing Outlook takes
a long time to completely close or does not go away at all until a reboot.

If there is no new mail upon opening Outlook, the desktop alert will display
any new mail AFTER that initial check of mail on startup. On exit, Outlook
shutdowns properly without the grayed out icon hanging.

I have been able to consistently recreate this scenario over the past two
days. It would be good to find out if anyone else can duplicate my findings.
BTW, Office 2007 Smaill Business SP2 and Vista Home Premium SP1

Regards,
David

I just wanted to throw in my two cents that SP2 broke my Desktop Alerts as
well. I did a Repair and that fixed them for a day. Now they are broken
again. Hitting "preview desktop alert" in the advanced mail configuration
proves that desktop alerts are simply broken. I am on Vista SP1.

It could be related to the windows beta. Do you see a difference in
behavior if you have windows maximized?

--
Diane Poremsky [MVP - Outlook]
Need Help with Common Tasks? http://www.outlook-tips.net/beginner/
Outlook 2007: http://www.slipstick.com/outlook/ol2007/



Exchange Messaging Outlook newsletter:
(e-mail address removed)




You can access this newsgroup by visiting
http://www.microsoft.com/office/community/en-us/default.mspx or point your
newsreader to msnews.microsoft.com.

Here I'm somewhere in between: it doesn't work, maybe, 1 out of 3 times I
run Outlook. Restarting Outlook proves necessary (rebooting the machine is
overkill, though I've done that many times since installing SP2).

Note that when it doesn't work, even the 'test alert' feature hidden in
Tools/Options doesn't work, so it's truly dead, Jim, and has nothing to do
with Rules, etc.

It's hard to believe this could have slipped by the "largest" Office SP
test in history, since surely someone there would have had the
configuration necessary to make this show up.

I run POP3/IMAP, not Exchange, if it matters. Win7 RC, which may.

That does not solve it here (on both of my machines). Desktop Alert is
gone.
I can reboot as much as I want :-(


:

A forced reboot is not always required, so for some people it's only one
reboot, but yeah, I've noticed that sometimes a user-initiated reboot
makes
a difference. I have no idea what it does differently, only that it
works.

--
Diane Poremsky [MVP - Outlook]



Outlook Tips by email:
mailto:[email protected]

EMO - a weekly newsletter about Outlook and Exchange:
mailto:[email protected]

You can access this newsgroup by visiting
http://www.microsoft.com/office/community/en-us/default.mspx or point
your
newsreader to msnews.microsoft.com.


Ok I rebooted and it works now - I wouldn't have thought of that
because
the
system rebooted automatically after SP2 install.....

Thanks for the help.

:

Did you reboot? It works here, so its not a direct bug - but its
possible
an add-in or something is interacting with it.

--
Diane Poremsky [MVP - Outlook]
Need Help with Common Tasks? http://www.outlook-tips.net/beginner/
Outlook 2007: http://www.slipstick.com/outlook/ol2007/



Exchange Messaging Outlook newsletter:
(e-mail address removed)




You can access this newsgroup by visiting
http://www.microsoft.com/office/community/en-us/default.mspx or point
your
newsreader to msnews.microsoft.com.


I just downloaded SP2 for office - i was happy to read about the
improvements
in stability to outlook. I think I found a bug though as SP2 seems
to
kill
the desktop alert feature altogether. It stopped working for me
and
then
I
created a new rule for it which doesn't work either. I even went
into
tools
/ options and the preview desktop alert button did nothing - it's
dead.

 

[Roger Lee]

I added a registry dword that told outlook 2007 to put the desktop alert in
the bottom right ("Corner"=dword:00000003). Copy paste the stuff between the
borders below to a notepad, save as name.reg and run. Works so far...
~~~~~~~~~~

REGEDIT4

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\12.0\Common\DesktopAlerts]
"Opacity"=dword:000000d4
"TimeOn"=dword:00006978
"XOffset"=dword:00000005
"YOffset"=dword:00000005
"Corner"=dword:00000003

~~~~~~~~~~

 

[Roger Lee]

Confirmed. Adding the registry entry "Corner"=dword:00000003 fixes the
problem. I rebooted and desktop alerts are definitely working. Perhaps SP2
deleted the reg entry? Anyone have a pre SP2 installation?

-R. Lee

 

[James]

Confirmed.  Adding the registry entry "Corner"=dword:00000003 fixes the
problem.  I rebooted and desktop alerts are definitely working.  Perhaps SP2
deleted the reg entry?  Anyone have a pre SP2 installation?

-R. Lee

I added a registry dword that told outlook 2007 to put the desktop alert in
the bottom right ("Corner"=dword:00000003).  Copy paste the stuff between the
borders below to a notepad, save as name.reg and run. Works so far...
~~~~~~~~~~

REGEDIT4

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\12.0\Common\DesktopAlerts]
"Opacity"=dword:000000d4
"TimeOn"=dword:00006978
"XOffset"=dword:00000005
"YOffset"=dword:00000005
"Corner"=dword:00000003

~~~~~~~~~~

Thanks guys, been waiting for someone to solve this "problem" that
Microsoft hasn't seemed to acknowledge.

 

[GZ]

Hello Roger,
I have had the same problem and wanted to use your temporary fix.
When I go into my regedit and find the HKey, how do I add the stuff between
the borders into the key or do I create a new one? If I am to add it to the
existing key, how do I do that? Do I copy and paste? I am not sure it allows
me to that and that is why my question about creating a new key.
BTW, the only value that I see under that key on my regedit is the opacity.
It does not showTimeon, Xoffset and YOffset so all these will be new addition
to my regeditl
I sure apreciatte your help and response on this. I am running Vista
Ultimate 64 SP2 together with MSOffice 2007 Ultimate SP@.
Thanks!!

GZ

 

[David UK]

This worked for me!

First off lets get Outlook up and running, then go to the system tray and
you will see the Outlook Icon, right click the icon then uncheck the "Show
New Mail Desktop Alert" then restart Outlook, once Outlook has re-started
re-check "Show New Mail Desktop Alert" and your desktop alerts should be
reinstated!

Hope it works for you as it did for me!!!

 

[Milhouse Van Houten]

Where did you get that from? It does appear to work.

 

[Milhouse Van Houten]

But there has to be more to it than that, since it sometimes worked even
without Corner.

The entire DesktopAlerts section doesn't exist in SP1 (and probably SP2) --
unless (and this is the part I haven't confirmed) you customize your desktop
alerts (duration, opacity, etc). Then I bet it appears. Whether Corner is
there too I don't know.

But I bet this explains why so few people have seen the problem -- few
people ever customize desktop alerts. And if that section doesn't exist, you
may be immune to the problem.

I didn't use the Corner workaround, however, but rather the one elsewhere in
this thread:

First off lets get Outlook up and running, then go to the system tray and
you will see the Outlook Icon, right click the icon then uncheck the "Show
New Mail Desktop Alert" then restart Outlook, once Outlook has re-started
re-check "Show New Mail Desktop Alert" and your desktop alerts should be
reinstated!

It doesn't modify the DesktopAlerts section at all, which seems to indicate
that the "Corner" fix is incidental.

Confirmed. Adding the registry entry "Corner"=dword:00000003 fixes the
problem. I rebooted and desktop alerts are definitely working. Perhaps
SP2
deleted the reg entry? Anyone have a pre SP2 installation?

-R. Lee

I added a registry dword that told outlook 2007 to put the desktop alert
in
the bottom right ("Corner"=dword:00000003). Copy paste the stuff between
the
borders below to a notepad, save as name.reg and run. Works so far...
~~~~~~~~~~

REGEDIT4

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\12.0\Common\DesktopAlerts]
"Opacity"=dword:000000d4
"TimeOn"=dword:00006978
"XOffset"=dword:00000005
"YOffset"=dword:00000005
"Corner"=dword:00000003

~~~~~~~~~~

 

[yasmina.ezzat]

I am having the same problem, since SP2 the new mail envelope
notification icon, the sound alert, desktop alert all stopped working,
although the preview is working for me. I tried everything suggested
in the previous posts, restarting, run as administrator, the corner
issue, nothing worked for me.
This is very annoying I always thought that service packs are supposed
to fix bugs and not add ones.

 

[Stuart Sweet - Redlands for Obama Data Manager]

I am having the same problem, since SP2 the new mail envelope
notification icon, the sound alert, desktop alert all stopped working,
although the preview is working for me. I tried everything suggested
in the previous posts, restarting, run as administrator, the corner
issue, nothing worked for me.
This is very annoying I always thought that service packs are supposed
to fix bugs and not add ones.

Neither of those two fixes worked for me after the second round of
opening/closing.

 

[Milhouse Van Houten]

To be clear, since there are so many fixes floating around, you tried the
"Corner" fix and the "Show new mail desktop alert" ones, right? Those are
the two that actually work for people, though apparently not everyone (I'm
not counting the guy who had a laundry list of related problems, since that
must be some other issue above and beyond this one).

Perhaps try deleting the DesktopAlerts registry branch entirely, as it's not
there by default in a given installation (not until alerts are customized by
the user). I suspect that those without that branch have never seen the
problem in the first place.

Then, if necessary, redo the "Show new mail desktop alert" solution again.

"Stuart Sweet - Redlands for Obama Data Manager"

 

[Stuart Sweet - Redlands for Obama Data Manager]

It works until I put the PC in standby, and then it doesn't work.

 

[Milhouse Van Houten]

Did you see my previous message?

I tested the uncheck/check one, and though it worked for numerous Outlook
runs, it eventually stopped working. Perhaps it was the reboot that I did
for an unrelated matter.

I'm now testing "Corner" to see if it's more permanent.

"Stuart Sweet - Redlands for Obama Data Manager"

 

[David UK]

I had tried everything else and worked from scratch to see what worked!

Has it done the job for you?

 

[Milhouse Van Houten]

Only temporarily.

Adding the "Corner" item into the below location was also an impermanent fix
here.

Entirely deleting the key below seems to have done the trick, however. You
do lose any alerts customization (longevity, transparency) you might have
made, but that's a small price to pay. I think this dovetails perfectly with
why so few people have this problem: only a minority every customized alerts
in the first place, and those that didn't don't have this Registry key.

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\12.0\Common\DesktopAlerts