MacOS – Control when Reminders show in Notification Center

macosnotificationsreminders

In OSX 10.9.2 I have set reminders to show in the Notification Center. These are often for mundane tasks such as taking out the recycling. I want these tasks to appear maybe 10 mins before the due time – ideally I would like to have options the same way iCal alerts work.

However I can't find any options for when the reminders show up – they seem to show 24 hours in advance. This is confusing because for small tasks I often don't look at the time/date (where it says "tomorrow") and end up take out the recycling one day early!

Is there an option for this? I have tried setting iCal events aswell, and they also show 24 hours early.

Best Answer

You can set a specific time for a reminder: mouse over the entry in Reminders and a circled "i" for "Information" will appear, upon which you should click. Then select the checkmark box, "Remind me: On a Day," and fill in the date and time for the reminder.

The Reminders functionality in OSX and iOS is minimal; Apple seems to have wanted to include a product to be able to say they did, but not one that actually competes with any of the third-party vendors, to avoid strangling the software ecosystem like Microsoft did with Outlook. You might look at a third-party software package to meet your needs better.