How to set calendar notification to stay visible on my PC screen for 24 hours or until I dismiss them

Question

How to set calendar notification to stay visible on my PC screen for 24 hours or until I dismiss them

Chris Byrd 50

I have looked everywhere, and the answers are all the same. The instructions tell me to set the Display duration to my desired length, but then it doesn't allow me to change the duration to the length I want, which is either to stay on the screen until I dismiss them or to stay on the screen at least 24 hours. That is the purpose of notifications: to notify you of an event. It is not to check a box to say you were notified or not work at all. Notifications that disappear or never show up are not being notified of anything at all. That is what you are doing when you say check is in the mail. You are just creating subdifuse to stall or give you time to think of something. I want my notification slapping me in the face so I don't forget to be hidden from me, so that I not only miss the appointment I am being notified of, but if I happen to stumble on where the notification was hidden, it is slapping me in the face then, but for a different reason. It is telling me that I tried to use the notifications to remind myself, but the notifications either didn't work or didn't stay on my screen until I dismissed them. That old app Mail, which was sunset because it was no longer needed, did this perfectly. If Outlook is so much better, why can't it do the one thing the app mail did so well? I have not gotten a trustworthy reminder since the day Mail was discontinued. I miss things now because I can't add them to my calendar and forget about them until they pop up on my screen. Because guess what. I don't look at my screen 24/7, so I might not look at my screen for 5 minutes in a 24-hour day. So, why did the mail that did this perfectly get replaced by Outlook, which can't do it at all? In my eyes, the wrong app was sunsetted, So How can I get back the Notification functionality to stay on my screen until I click on it, or at least for 24 hours? I basically have to set a notification to stay on my screen for 5 minutes and then set new notifications every five minutes or so apart to get messages to appear on my screen. That is crazy. Mail did exactly what I needed, and Outlook, I can't figure out what is so good about Outlook, because it either doesn't work, or when it does work, it is only halfway working, because one great thing about Outlook is you could have multiple calendars, but the notifications, if you call them that only work for the default calendar. The other calendars are useless. Because the purpose of the calendar was to remind you, and Outlook just doesn't do it. I couldn't care less about the 5 minutes a notification stays on the screen, other than the fact that 5 minutes is the longest a notification will stay on my screen. That is a problem. Give me an option to leave notifications on the screen until I click on them; it doesn't have to be the only choice, but 5 seconds to 5 minutes is a legitimate choice to me in the first place because I don't have a smartphone I stare at 24/7 to get the notifications. Give me an option in the list as well to stay on the screen until I turn it off. Is that too much for it to do? Mail did it just fine, and Mail was sunset and replaced by Outlook, which doesn't do it at all. That makes no sense to me.

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Chris Byrd 50

I think I have an acceptable workaround for this issue, and I am testing it right now. I currently have a notification I set up in Calendar as a reminder, and I posted it to appear on my screen.

I read all the documentation on how the notifications can only be set to 5 minutes, and also the three different ways to set them up

Setting up Notifications in systems that limit notifications to be between 5 seconds and 5 minutes.
Setting up Notifications in apps, which also limits notifications to between 5 seconds and 5 minutes.
The third option was to use regedit to set the time a notification stays on the screen, and I did the following:
Click the Windows key and type regedit
Open the Registry editor and navigate to Computer\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Accessibility
Opened Dword MessageDuration
Changed the value to Decimal, and the number would be 300 if the value was set for 5 minutes.
Changed the number to 86400, which is the number of seconds in 24 hours".
Closed the registry and rebooted
Set up a test notification, and as far as I can tell, it is working as long as Microsoft doesn't send a change to reset it or something else doesn't reset it.

I am not going to watch it for 24 hours to see if my test stays on the screen for 24 hours, which is not really what I wanted it to do in the first place, but was the only way I could tell someone a time that is greater than 5 minutes and stays up until I acknowledge it. But my notification has stayed on my screen now for 90 minutes, which, according to the advice above, is impossible. Which is kind of correct until you look for an answer that is not there and find one that works for you. I am not the only person who thinks 5 minutes is too short a time for a message to stay on a screen, as I read many comments from people with the exact issue I was having, and this is a solution to make banners stay on the screen for longer than 5 minutes so if you look hard enough and want something bad enough there is always a way to make it happen. Not the recommended way, I would have liked to do this, but it works for me right now. The little bell telling you to look in the notification center to see what you missed is just not loud enough for me to hear it and check as soon as the bell goes solid, indicating there is an unread notification. I don't always see the bell, but I always see the Banner, and my notifications are just too important to trust to just changing the color of a bell to indicate I have an unanswered notification. The bell may be silent for hours or all day without me noticing it, because I run stuff full screen on my desktop, and the bell doesn't show, but the banners do. So the banners are loud enough that I have to notice them. I miss the bell frequently.

Lychee-Ng 28,815 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-03-19T06:19:39.4533333+00:00

That's definitely a workaround, Chris Byrd, so I've suggested your answer for anyone who would like to set up like you. However, I'd like to plug (apologize in advance) a small note here since your solution involves using Registry Editor:

Generally, modifying registry subkeys or work group is intended for advanced users, administrators, and IT Professionals. Serious problems might occur if you modify the registry incorrectly. Therefore, first check out How to back up and restore the registry in Windows - Microsoft Support

Anyway, thanks for your updates on this!!! And even though you already have this workaround, it doesn't hurt to still send out feedback, so Microsoft team knows where the hearts of users at!
Chris Byrd 50 Reputation points

2026-03-19T12:11:25.5033333+00:00

Yes, I know it is always risky to mess with the registry, and I really don't like messing with the registry because of just how much damage it can do and how quickly it can totally mess up the system, which is why I tried every method I knew to find a workaround that didn't involve the registry. I did make one mistake in my process, which is that I forgot to back up the registry before I changed it. I try to stay completely out of the registry whenever possible because I know how much damage it can do. And if any other option had worked other than me going into the registry, I would have chosen that option. It just makes me mad when something so easy and meaningful is discontinued. Like sunsetting a perfectly simple app, "Mail," and replacing it with a complicated app, "Outlook," that will not do anything close to what "Mail" did, and just throwing in "Outlook" as the replacement when Outlook failed to hold a candle to what I used "Mail" for. Then, calling it fixed because "Outlook" is better. Outlook is only better if it does what the Mail app did and then does more. It is not better when it does not do what Mail did to start with, and then it also doesn't do the better function Outlook was supposed to add, either. Improvement is not changing something just to change it. Improvement is changing something to enhance it. And when not only does the core function not work, but neither do the enhancements that Outlook was supposed to add. So the improvement to many other people and me is not an improvement at all if it ends up doing less than it did before. I understand that the notification center is supposed to keep the notifications, but if you can't normally see the bell to tell if it has been colored in to indicate there are unanswered notifications, then it is not useful as a notification system. Banners might fill a smartphone screen and become cumbersome to the smartphone user, but when you eliminate the usefulness of an app on a desktop because it doesn't fit a smartphone, something is wrong. You don't improve an app by making it useless in other applications. You enhance it to make it useful in all applications. That is an improvement. Making it work in one application by making it useless in another application is just narrow-minded when you could spend two extra minutes and make it Flawless in both applications. Make the product better by making it accommodating to all who use it. Don't take from one platform to make another platform work. Take the time to improve the product so that both platforms are enhanced. Not one at the expense of the other. I don't use smartphones; I use desktops. So don't make my desktop useless because it isn't a smartphone. Build an app that enhances both the desktop and the smartphone at the same time. That is an improvement. I don't see the bell that is supposed to show me I have notifications. I see banners. If the only way for me to see notifications is running in the background, it is failing to notify me of anything. I don't care that banners will rapidly fill my screen because my screen is a 55-inch HDTV. So that would be 100's of unchecked notifications at one time to block my view of my screen. Don't take what works for me away from me to make the user experience better for a smartphone. Improve the app to accommodate both platforms so both sides are happy. Some of the smartphone users might have a desktop somewhere in a closet that they still use from time to time, and what a pleasure it would be if the app worked for both the smartphone and the desktop. That way, the product is for sure an improvement because it works for both platforms fully, without taking away from one platform to enhance another platform, while making the first platform useless. I try to avoid making registry modifications when at all possible and look for other ways to accomplish what I need, but when the only way to make something work is to make registry changes, what am I supposed to do? Accept that it is broken and not going to be fixed, or fix it myself. Sometimes you have to fix it yourself if nobody is going to give you the tools to fix it any other way. Notifications are just too important to let wash off or get a new application because the current OS doesn't do them anymore.
Lychee-Ng 28,815 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-03-19T13:36:32.52+00:00

I understand where you’re coming from, and your frustration is completely understandable. You did the right thing by trying every supported option first and only touching the registry as a last resort. That’s exactly the cautious approach most experienced desktop users take. It’s also reasonable of you to expect a simple function like notifications works well on a desktop without forcing smartphone‑style behavior.

Thank you again for clearly explaining your perspective. I genuinely appreciate the way you laid it out.

2 additional answers

Your answer

Lychee-Ng 28,815 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-03-19T06:19:39.4533333+00:00

That's definitely a workaround, Chris Byrd, so I've suggested your answer for anyone who would like to set up like you. However, I'd like to plug (apologize in advance) a small note here since your solution involves using Registry Editor:

Generally, modifying registry subkeys or work group is intended for advanced users, administrators, and IT Professionals. Serious problems might occur if you modify the registry incorrectly. Therefore, first check out How to back up and restore the registry in Windows - Microsoft Support

Anyway, thanks for your updates on this!!! And even though you already have this workaround, it doesn't hurt to still send out feedback, so Microsoft team knows where the hearts of users at!
Lychee-Ng 28,815 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-03-19T13:36:32.52+00:00

I understand where you’re coming from, and your frustration is completely understandable. You did the right thing by trying every supported option first and only touching the registry as a last resort. That’s exactly the cautious approach most experienced desktop users take. It’s also reasonable of you to expect a simple function like notifications works well on a desktop without forcing smartphone‑style behavior.

Thank you again for clearly explaining your perspective. I genuinely appreciate the way you laid it out.

Answer 1

robin billups 0

You can't sign in here with a personal account. Use your work or school account instead. when I attempt to align Zoom and my Outlook calendar notifications.

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Answer 2

Lychee-Ng 28,815 Microsoft External Staff Moderator

Hi Chris Byrd,

I understand you want calendar notifications to be more effective, by either remaining on screen until you dismiss them, or staying visible for at least a day. Unfortunately, I need to be very up front with you:

In Windows 11, standard notification “toasts” have a maximum on‑screen duration (up to 5 minutes) and cannot be kept permanently visible by design.

At the moment, Windows’ built-in notification system does not offer “stay until dismissed” or longer visible toasts. For that specific requirement, you would need a dedicated (third-party) reminder/alert tool that supports persistent overlays.

In addition, you may submit a feature request via the Windows Feedback Hub (pressing Win + F) so the product team can look into this, and consider adding support for persistent, dismiss‑only notifications like what you’re looking for.

I know this isn’t the answer you wanted, but I think it’s better to be direct so you won’t waste time looking for settings that don't exist. Thanks for reading.

If the answer is helpful, please click "Accept Answer" and kindly upvote it. If you have extra questions about this answer, please click "Comment".

Note: Please follow the steps in our documentation to enable e-mail notifications if you want to receive the related email notification for this thread.

Chris Byrd 50 Reputation points

2026-03-26T14:41:15.1966667+00:00

Well, I had a good run of notifications working just the way I wanted them to for about a week, and woke up this morning, started doing my daily normal checking everything out, and thinking it was going to be a good day. Guess what, my notifications not only stopped staying on my screen like I had them configured to do. Boy, was I wrong. Something happened overnight. Now, not only are the notifications I set up to test to make sure they still work were not working, but I am back to square one, and the only way I get any notifications is if I have the calendar app open. That makes no sense at all. The notifications are to notify me to check my calendar. Not to slap me in the face when I have the calendar open. Some other things are acting weird as well, but that is a whole other issue altogether. Rebooted several times, and nothing seems to fix it.
Chris Byrd 50 Reputation points

2026-03-26T15:14:04.91+00:00

Oh, sorry about that. I expect things not to work, and even though I did the same setup for a calendar event, it didn't work. But for some reason, it started working again. The only thing I seemed to have done differently is log in to Q/A., and it asked me if I want to continue using my account, which I have set up and happens to be the same account I have set up in Outlook that is supposed to log in automatically. So it might be that the correct account didn't log into Outlook, which is why my alerts weren't showing up. But when I selected the account to log in to Q/A, it logged me in to Outlook as well. That may be part of my issue as well because I only use the account created in Outlook to use the calendar, and I don't use Outlook because I use AOL, which seems to have issues with Outlook. Worked great with Mail, but Mail was no longer needed, and sunset and Outlook replaced it with so many improvements I can't begin to list them all. That might be because I can't seem to get any of the improvements to work. I guess it is just me, though, who has this issue. Even though I had to scroll through hundreds of people listing Notifications not working before I found where my Q/A was. But it is working now, so it was a false notification that was actually sent to Q/A.