App Features

Smart Reminders is built with a comprehensive set of features designed to integrate seamlessly into your workflow. This guide explains all the capabilities available across different platforms and interfaces.

Microsoft Teams Integration

Tabs

Tabs provide visual interfaces for reminder management within Teams channels and personal apps.

Personal App Tab

The personal app tab is your private reminder dashboard within Teams.

Features:

• View all personal reminders in one place
• Create new reminders using form interface
• Filter and search your reminders
• Access settings and preferences
• View reminder history and analytics
• Quick actions (edit, delete, snooze)

Access:

• Click Smart Reminders icon in Teams sidebar
• Opens dedicated app window
• Available anytime, doesn’t interrupt your workflow

Use cases:

• Quick reminder check during work
• Creating reminders without typing commands
• Reviewing upcoming tasks
• Managing personal productivity

Channel Tabs

Add Smart Reminders tabs to Teams channels for team collaboration.

Features:

• Channel-specific reminder dashboard
• Create reminders for the entire channel
• Assign tasks to channel members
• Track team reminder completion
• Filter by assignee or status
• Bulk operations for team reminders

Access:

• Click the + icon in channel tab bar
• Select Smart Reminders
• Configure and save

Use cases:

• Team standup reminders
• Project milestone notifications
• Shared deadline tracking
• Collaborative task management

Permissions:

• All channel members can view reminders
• Members can create reminders (if allowed)
• Creators and channel owners can delete
• Admins can configure restrictions

Meeting Tabs

Add Smart Reminders to specific meetings for context-aware task tracking.

Features:

• Meeting-specific reminder workspace
• Track action items from meeting discussions
• Assign follow-up tasks to attendees
• Link reminders to meeting notes
• Access before, during, or after meetings
• Integration with meeting calendar

Access:

• Add tab to existing or new meeting
• Available in meeting details and during meeting
• Persists after meeting ends

Use cases:

• Recording action items during meetings
• Assigning post-meeting tasks
• Setting deadlines for meeting outcomes
• Creating recurring reminders for recurring meetings

Bots

The Smart Reminders bot enables conversational interaction using natural language.

Bot Capabilities

Natural Language Understanding:

• Interprets everyday language
• No complex syntax required
• Understands context and intent
• Supports various phrasings

Reminder Creation:

• One-time and recurring reminders
• Personal and team reminders
• Assignment to specific users
• Flexible time specifications

Reminder Management:

• List upcoming reminders
• Edit existing reminders
• Delete reminders
• Pause and resume recurring reminders
• Mark reminders complete

Interactive Responses:

• Confirmation messages with details
• Adaptive cards for rich interactions
• Quick action buttons
• Error handling with helpful suggestions

Help and Guidance:

• Type help for command list
• Context-sensitive assistance
• Example commands
• Troubleshooting tips

Bot Conversations

Personal Chat:

• Direct 1:1 conversation with the bot
• Private reminder management
• Personal notifications delivered here

Channel Mentions:

• Mention @Smart Reminders in channels
• Create team reminders from channel context
• Bot responds in the channel thread

Commands:

• remind me to [task] [time] - Create personal reminder
• remind us to [task] [time] - Create channel reminder
• list - View upcoming reminders
• delete reminder [id] - Delete specific reminder
• help - Show available commands

Messages

Smart Reminders delivers notifications through Teams messages.

Message Types

Reminder Notifications:

• Delivered at scheduled time
• Rich adaptive card format
• Includes task description and details
• Action buttons (complete, snooze, reschedule)

Confirmation Messages:

• Sent after creating/editing reminders
• Shows all reminder details
• Includes reminder ID for reference
• Quick edit/delete options

Status Updates:

• Completion confirmations
• Pause/resume notifications
• Deletion confirmations
• Error or warning messages

Message Features

Adaptive Cards: Messages use Microsoft’s adaptive card format for:

• Rich visual presentation
• Interactive buttons and actions
• Inline editing capabilities
• Contextual information display

Action Buttons: Reminder notifications include quick actions:

• Complete: Mark reminder as done
• Snooze: Delay notification
• Reschedule: Change time
• Delete: Remove reminder
• View Details: See full information

Threading:

• Messages thread with original context
• Maintains conversation continuity
• Easy to find related discussions

Notification Delivery

Timing:

• Delivered exactly at scheduled time
• Respects timezone settings
• Accounts for daylight saving time
• Queue management for busy times

Delivery Channels:

• Personal chat for personal reminders
• Channel posts for team reminders
• Direct mention for assigned reminders

Delivery Confirmation:

• Message delivery receipts
• Read status tracking (when available)
• Retry logic for failed deliveries

Personal App

The personal app provides comprehensive reminder management in a dedicated interface.

Dashboard View

Overview Section:

• Summary of upcoming reminders
• Quick stats (total active, completed today, etc.)
• Recent activity feed
• Quick create box

Reminder List:

• All personal reminders
• Sortable columns (time, description, status)
• Filter controls
• Search functionality

Calendar View:

• Visual calendar with reminder markers
• Day, week, month views
• Drag-and-drop rescheduling
• Color coding by category

Create Interface

Quick Create:

• Natural language input box
• Instant parsing and validation
• One-click creation

Advanced Form:

• Detailed form fields
• Recurrence pattern builder
• Category/tag selection
• File attachments
• Priority settings

Settings Panel

Account Settings:

• Profile information
• Connected accounts
• Timezone configuration

Notification Preferences:

• Channel selection (Teams, email, push)
• Quiet hours
• Notification sounds
• Preview options

Display Options:

• Theme selection (light, dark, auto)
• Date/time format
• First day of week
• Default reminder time

Privacy:

• Data export
• Reminder history retention
• Sharing preferences

Analytics Dashboard

Usage Statistics:

• Total reminders created
• Completion rates
• Most active times
• Streak tracking

Productivity Insights:

• Completion trends
• Common reminder patterns
• Optimization suggestions
• Goal tracking

Channel Reminders

Channel reminders enable team collaboration and shared task management.

Creating Channel Reminders

Methods:

• Mention bot in channel: @Smart Reminders remind us...
• Use channel tab create interface
• Convert personal reminder to channel reminder

Visibility:

• Posted to channel
• All members notified
• Visible in channel tab

Assignment:

• Remind entire channel
• Assign to specific members
• Multiple assignees supported

Channel Reminder Features

Threading:

• Reminders thread with original conversation
• Context preserved
• Easy reference to related discussion

Mentions:

• Tagged users receive explicit notifications
• @mention in reminder description
• Notification even if user mutes channel

Permissions:

• Configurable by channel owners
• Who can create reminders
• Who can delete reminders
• Edit permissions

Tracking:

• Completion status visible to team
• Who completed the reminder
• Completion timestamp
• Comments/notes on completion

Timezone Handling

Smart Reminders handles timezones intelligently across global teams.

User Timezone Detection

Automatic Detection:

• Detected from Microsoft account
• Determined by browser/system settings
• Can be manually overridden

Configuration:

• Set in user settings
• Persists across devices
• Updates apply to all reminders

Timezone Conversion

Personal Reminders:

• Created in your timezone
• Notifications at your local time
• Displayed in your timezone everywhere

Team Reminders:

• Created in creator’s timezone
• Each recipient sees their local time
• Notifications at local time for each user

Example:

• Creator (New York, EST) sets reminder for 2pm
• Teammate (London, GMT) sees reminder for 7pm GMT
• Both receive notifications at the correct local time

Daylight Saving Time

Automatic Adjustment:

• Reminders adjust for DST changes
• Maintains consistent local time
• No manual updates needed

Example:

• Reminder set for 9am daily
• Remains at 9am after DST transition
• Server time adjusts automatically

Multi-Timezone Teams

Team Distribution:

• View team members’ timezones
• Schedule reminders considering all timezones
• Avoid reminders outside business hours

Timezone Display:

• Show timezone abbreviations (EST, PST, GMT, etc.)
• Display relative times (“in 2 hours”)
• Option to see all timezones for team reminders

Notification Delivery

Smart Reminders ensures reliable and timely notification delivery.

Delivery Channels

Microsoft Teams:

• Primary notification channel
• Rich adaptive card format
• Interactive action buttons
• Real-time delivery

Email:

• Backup notification channel
• Plain text and HTML formats
• Includes reminder details
• Links back to Teams or web app

Web Push:

• Browser notifications
• Available when web app is open
• Desktop notifications
• Sound and visual alerts

Mobile Push:

• Mobile device notifications (if app available)
• Lock screen display
• Badge counts

Notification Timing

Precise Scheduling:

• Fires exactly at scheduled time
• Millisecond accuracy
• Queue management for high volume

Retry Logic:

• Retries failed deliveries
• Up to 3 retry attempts
• Exponential backoff
• Fallback to alternate channels

Batching:

• Multiple simultaneous reminders batched
• Prevents notification flood
• Summary card for many reminders
• User configurable

Notification Customization

Content Options:

• Full task description
• Truncated preview
• Title only (for privacy)

Sound:

• Default notification sound
• Custom sound selection
• Silent mode option

Priority:

• High priority reminders
• Urgent notifications
• Banner vs inline

Delivery Confirmation

Read Receipts:

• Track when notification is seen
• Mark as read automatically or manually
• Read status in reminder list

Action Tracking:

• Record when actions taken (complete, snooze)
• Timestamp all interactions
• Audit trail for team reminders

Do Not Disturb

Quiet Hours:

• Set times for no notifications
• Reminders queue until quiet hours end
• Configurable behavior

Focus Mode Integration:

• Respects Microsoft Teams Focus mode
• Suppresses non-urgent notifications
• Urgent reminders override (optional)

Failed Delivery Handling

Network Issues:

• Queue for later delivery
• Retry when connection restored
• Local storage backup

Account Issues:

• Fallback to email
• Web dashboard notification
• Admin notification for persistent failures

User Offline:

• Deliver when user returns online
• Persist in notification queue
• Expiry after certain period (configurable)

Additional Features

File Attachments

Attach files to reminders for context:

• PDF documents
• Images
• Spreadsheets
• Links

Tags and Categories

Organize reminders:

• Custom tags
• Color-coded categories
• Filter by tag
• Tag-based analytics

Reminder Templates

Create reusable templates:

• Common reminder patterns
• Pre-filled descriptions
• Standard schedules
• Team-shared templates

Integrations

Connect with other tools:

• Microsoft Planner
• Microsoft To Do
• Outlook Calendar
• Azure DevOps
• Custom webhooks

API Access

For advanced users and developers:

• RESTful API
• Create/manage reminders programmatically
• Webhooks for events
• Authentication via OAuth

Accessibility

Built for everyone:

• Screen reader support
• Keyboard navigation
• High contrast themes
• Adjustable text sizes

Next Steps

Explore these features in action:

1. Check your Subscription & Limits
2. Get Help & Support when needed
3. Start using advanced features to maximize productivity

Smart Reminders is designed to adapt to your workflow—explore and discover what works best for you!