Many email clients including Outlook give you an option to schedule your emails. So after composing them, you don’t have to send them immediately. You can willfully delay the delivery of an individual email. You can set the date and time by having them saved in the Outbox and get sent only at the specified time. In this article, learn how to schedule or delay email delivery in Outlook.
For Office 2007
The steps are a bit different for users of Office 2007 and those of subsequent versions. Let’s look at the steps for Office 2007 users first.
If you’re using newer version of Outlook, here are the steps to follow:
If you want to delay the delivery of all messages, follow these steps:
For Office 2007
The steps are a bit different for users of Office 2007 and those of subsequent versions. Let’s look at the steps for Office 2007 users first.
- Open the email message or compose one
- Open the Options tab and then More Options group. Within it, click on Delay Delivery
- From the Delivery Options menu, check the ‘Do not deliver before’ box
- Set the delivery date and time
- When you click send, the message will not get send before the time and date you’ve specified. You also don’t have to be online to get the message sent. Outlook will send it for you
- Open Tools menu
- Then, select Rules and Alerts and then New Rule
- There are two steps to complete. In Step 1:
- Select a Template box, then go to Start from a Blank Rule and click on Check messages after sending. Hit Next
- Select Conditions list, opt for the options you need, and click Next
- If you leave out all the check boxes, you’ll be presented with a confirmation dialog box. Clicking on Yes will apply the settings to all messages you send from Outlook
- In the Select Actions list, define the delay time in defer delivery by a number of minutes
- In Step 2:
- Edit the rule description box, then click on a number of (which is underlined). Input how long you want the emails to be held before sending. Enter the number of minutes. It can be as high as 120 minutes
- Click Ok and then Next to proceed further
- If there are any exceptions you want to have for any email ID or message group, specify them or click Next to proceed
- Then again in Step 1, Specify a name for the rule box you created
- To apply this rule, click the check box that reads Turn on this rule
- Finally, click Finish
If you’re using newer version of Outlook, here are the steps to follow:
- Open an email you want to sent or compose a new one
- Locate the Tags group in the Ribbon and click on the arrow which would open more options
- Find the Delivery options section and tick the Do not deliver before check box
- Specify the delivery date and time of your choice
- Click on Close
If you want to delay the delivery of all messages, follow these steps:
- Click on File, then Manage Rule & Alerts, then New Rule
- There are two steps, in Step 1:
- Create a template box by clicking on Start from a Blank Rule. Then, click on Apply rule on messages I send and then Next
- If you don’t tick any checkboxes and proceed, you’ll be presented with a dialog box. Clicking on Yes will apply the rules to all the messages you sent
- Then select actions list, and check on defer delivery by a number of minutes box
- In Step 2:
- Edit the rule description, and click on a number of (it’s an underlined phrase). Input the number of minutes you want the emails to be held in the system before sending out. The maximum limit is 120 minutes
- Click on OK and then Next
- If you want to exclude certain messages, then tick the checkboxes for exception and click Next
- In Step 1, provide a name for the new rule
- Then tick the Turn on this rule option
- Finally, tap Finish
