The user receives a reminder for each item with `Remind' turned on. Reminders appear in one of two forms: on-screen or email. On-screen reminders appear anytime the Calendar Tool local computer is running, whether or not the Calendar Tool itself is running. For example, when it is time for the dentist appointment reminder ( Figure 145 ), the system displays the on-screen dialog shown in Figure 189.

The reminder text varies depending on how soon before the appointment the reminder is to appear. Specifically,

1. If the reminder appears on the same date as the appointment is scheduled, the word "today" appears before the time.

2. If the reminder appears on the day before the appointment is scheduled, the word "tomorrow" appears before the time. This is the case in Figure 189, because the reminder has been set to appear 24 hours before the appointment.

3. If the reminder appears two or more days before the appointment is scheduled, the month name and numeric date appear before the time.

If the user responds with `Redisplay', the system removes the reminder dialog from the screen and redisplays it in the indicated amount of time. The default time is 10 minutes, which the user can change to a value between 1 minute and 99 hours. The menu to the right of the numeric data field contains the selections `minutes' and `hours'. The default value of 10 minutes can be set as an option, as described in Section 2.7.3

The same general form of reminder is sent for all types of scheduled item. The difference is in leading several words of the reminder text. The four text forms are:

"You have an appointment ..."

"You have a meeting ..."

"You have a task due ..."

"There is an event ..."

When the `email' setting is selected for a reminder, the system sends an electronic mail message to the user at the time the reminder is scheduled to appear. The subject of the message is "Calendar Tool Reminder". The body of the message is the same text that appears in an on-screen reminder, left justified in 72 character columns.

The Calendar Tool sends email reminders using the electronic mail facilities of the underlying operating environment. Once an email reminder has been sent, its further handling and delivery are beyond the control of the Calendar Tool.