Sending Delayed Email With Microsoft Outlook

Sending Delayed Email

Remember those moments when you thought about sending an email message at a later date but you were afraid that you may forget about it? Well, now it’s possible with Outlook. Whether you want to send an email at a later date, or if the recipient is from a different time zone, scheduling an email message is an ideal option. What you can do is schedule that email to be sent the following day. Outlook allows you to delay emails before sending them. We’ll look at how you can delay sending an email.

When you compose an email and click send, it usually gets sent immediately. However, there are times when you want the message to be sent at a later date. You can easily do that with Microsoft Outlook. The message will sit in your outbox and it will remain there until you have scheduled it to be sent. Until that happens, you still have the option to edit and change the email message. You can even delete the message. Here are reasons why you may not want to send an email immediately.

• You want the message to sit for a few hours to give you a chance to review the content. You’ll be able to catch the errors that you have missed.
• You want to avoid sending an angry response to a heated discussion.
• You’ll be able to slow down and avoid playing email tag.
• You are sending an email to someone who is in a different time zone than yours.

Delaying a single message on Outlook

When you know how to schedule emails, you can plan outgoing messages in advance. By doing so, it makes it easier for you and increases the response rate. Here is how you can schedule an email on Outlook.

Step 1

The first thing you have to do is to open Outlook and go to a new email. You’ll find the button on the top left of the Outlook ribbon. You can also press Ctrl + N, the shortcut for a new email. Add your recipient’s email address. You can also add multiple recipients in the BCC and CC fields. Write the subject line and the email body. Now it’s time to begin the email scheduling process.

Step 2

Once you are in the email window, go to the Options tab and choose Delay Delivery. You’ll find the email scheduling functionalities.

Step 3

A dialog box will open, go to the Delivery options section. Choose the time and date you would want to send the message. Click the Close button once you are done.

Step 4

Click the send button, and you’ll have successfully scheduled your message.

Those are the simple steps you should follow to schedule an email in Microsoft Outlook. Your scheduled email will be in the outbox folder until it is time for it to be sent. In case you want to reschedule the email, click on the message and go to the delayed delivery. Make the changes you want and click close.

Delay sending all emails in Outlook

All outgoing messages go to the outbox folder. Once the message goes to the outbox, it will be sent immediately. You can disable the automated send features, but that may be too much control. You’ll still have to remember to send the email. So that option may not be the best one.
If you don’t want to disable the send feature, but you still want to delay the email, you can use the delay feature. Here are steps to follow to delay all the outgoing mail in Outlook.

Step 1

Go to the File tab and click manage rules and alerts. You can also go to the Move group on the home tab and choose to manage rules and alerts. Go to the File tab on your Outlook window. Do not go to the email message window. You can close the email message window or save the message as a draft.

Step 2

Click the new rule in the dialog box that appears. Now click on manage rules and alerts. You’ll see the rules and alert dialog box. If the email rules tab is active, click on the new rule.

Step 3

On the dialog box that appears, choose a template and select apply rule on messages I send. Click next.

Step 4

Don’t check any options in the wizard pane that follows. The lower pane displays apply this rule after I send the message and click OK without changing anything. Click yes when Outlook asks you to confirm the rule to be applied to all the messages you send.

Step 5

Check the box that says defer delivery by a number of minutes option.

Step 6

In the lower pane that appears, click the number of minutes link and enter the minutes and then click OK. The link displays the number of minutes you have entered. Once you are done, click next.

Step 7

If you want to bypass the delay, you should not check the exceptions. Click next without making any changes.

Step 8

In the final window, you’ll give your rule a name. You can check the box that says turn on this rule. Click finish and then OK to save changes.

How to send the delayed email immediately

If you have a change of mind and want to send the email immediately, you can easily do so. You can cancel the delayed email by doing the following:

• Go to the message from your outbox folder and click on the scheduled email.
• Select the options tab and click the delayed delivery in the more options group.
• Under the delivery options, clear the Do not deliver before box to send your email immediately.
• Click close and then send

Outlook is an excellent tool to schedule a single email message or all outgoing emails. If you choose to delay delivery, make sure you have an internet connection, and that Outlook is running. If Microsoft Outlook is not running, the message will not be delivered. If you need IT services, feel free to contact us.