Show AllA Desktop Alert is a notification that appears on your desktop when you receive one of the following items:
E-mail message The alert displays the name of the sender, the subject, and the first two lines of the message.
Note A Desktop Alert doesn't display the contents of an encrypted or digitally signed message. To view the message, you must open it.
Meeting request The alert displays the sender, subject, date, time, and location of the meeting.
Task request The alert displays the sender, subject, and start date of the assigned task.
For Microsoft Exchange server and POP3 e-mail accounts, a Desktop Alert is displayed only when a new item arrives in your default Inbox. If you want to display a Desktop Alert when an item arrives in any other Exchange folder, or when you receive items that meet specific conditions, you must create a rule. You must also create a rule if you want to be notified when you receive a new item in an IMAP e-mail account.
You can use Desktop Alerts to "pre-process" incoming items without having to open your Inbox first. When a Desktop Alert appears, you can perform several actions that would normally require you to open the item. For example, you can set a flag on a message, delete it, or mark it as read
If you want to keep a Desktop Alert visible so that you can take more time to read it, pause your cursor on the alert before it fades from view.
You can customize the appearance of your Desktop Alerts. You can have them remain visible for as briefly as three seconds or for as long as 30 seconds. You can also adjust their transparency to make them more noticeable or to keep them from blocking your view of documents and other items on your desktop. You can also change where your Desktop Alerts appear by dragging one of them to a more preferable location on your desktop.
You can also drag the Desktop Alert preview to the location you want from the Desktop Alert Settings dialog box.
If several items arrive in your Inbox at the same time, you won't necessarily receive a Desktop Alert for each item. If you receive a large number of items within a particular period of time, Microsoft Outlook displays a single Desktop Alert to indicate that you received several new items. This prevents your desktop from suddenly becoming overwhelmed with alerts, an annoyance that would almost certainly interfere with your work and temporarily obscure a portion of your desktop.