How to Schedule an Email Message in Microsoft Outlook

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Do you want to schedule an email message to be sent later? If you're not ready to send a single message in Microsoft Outlook, you can schedule it for any time in the future using the "Do not deliver before" option. You can also delay sending all emails for up to 2 hours. Alternatively, disabling automatic sending and receiving lets you control exactly when Outlook delivers and receives new messages. This wikiHow guide will show you how to send a delayed email in the Microsoft Outlook desktop app for Windows and Mac.

• Schedule a single email using the "more options" button in the Tags section.
• Delay all sent emails by up to 2 hours using the rules feature.
• Turn off automatic sending and receiving in the advanced section of the options menu.

Delaying an Email

• Remember to include any attachments you'd like to send.
• Did you know you can also unsend emails in Outlook? This is a great feature to try alongside delaying emails.

Make sure you're looking at the "Classic View" of the ribbon. You should now see several icons in groups at the top of the new message window. The groups are called Undo, Clipboard, Basic Text, Names, Include, Tags, and a few others. If you only see some simple icons and not these menu groups, click the down arrow on the far-right side of the toolbar and select Classic Ribbon.

Click the More Options icon in the "Tags" section of the ribbon. This is the arrow pointing downward and to the right in the "Tags" panel of the ribbon. A Properties window will expand. [1] X Trustworthy Source Microsoft Support Technical support and product information from Microsoft. Go to source

Check the "Do not deliver before" box. This is in the "Delivery options" section of the window. You'll find the option to delay an email here.

Select the date and time you want the email to send. You can change the date and time in the drop-down boxes next to the "Do not deliver before."

• If you decide you don't want to send a delayed email, you can follow these steps to send the message immediately:
  • Go to the "Outbox" folder in the left panel and open the message.
  • Click the More Options icon (the arrow) in the "Tags" section.
  • Uncheck the "Do not deliver before" check box.
  • Click Close to close the "Properties" window.
  • Click Send in the email composition window to send the message.
  Advertisement Method 2 of 3:

  Delaying All Emails

  

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  Click the File menu in Microsoft Outlook. If you want to delay all email messages for a specific period of time, use this method.

  

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  • If you have any existing rules to filter inbound or outbound email messages, they'll appear here.

  

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  \n"> Click the New Rule… button. It's at the top of the "Email Rules" tab.

  

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  Select "Apply rule on messages I send" and click Next . This option is under the "Start from a blank rule" section.

  

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  • You can also select no conditions to have the delay rule apply to all sent emails.

  

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  \n"> Click defer delivery by a number of minutes .

  

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  Click a number of under Step 2. This is in the second box labeled "Step 2: Edit the rule description (click an underlined value)." A small window will appear.

  

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  Type in how long you want emails to be delayed by, and then click OK . You can enter anywhere from 1 to 120 minutes.

  

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  \n"> Click Next .

  

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  \n"> Select exceptions and then click Next . Adding exceptions is optional.

  

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  \n"> Type in a name for the rule. This could be something like "sent email delay rule."

  

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  • Now that you've automated delayed emails, you can also check out how to add a signature.
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  Turning off Automatic Sending & Receiving

  

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  • This method allows you to create an Outlook rule that all sent emails are delayed by up to 2 hours.
  • Note that this method won't work if you don't control your Outlook server (e.g., you're using a work account).

  

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  \n"> Click Options at the bottom-left corner.

  

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  \n"> Click Advanced in the left panel.

  

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  \n"> Uncheck the "Send immediately when connected" box. This is under the "Send and receive" section.

  

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  \n"> Click the Send/Receive… button. It's under the "Send and receive" section.

  

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  Uncheck the 2 "automatic send/receive" boxes. Remove the checkmarks from the boxes next to "Schedule an automatic send/receive every 30 minutes" and "Perform an automatic send/receive when exiting."

  Close and then OK." width="460" height="345" />

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  • Now that your email will not be sent as soon as you click the Send button, you'll need to send your emails manually. No messages will be sent or received until you complete these steps:
  • Go to the Send/Receive tab.
  • Click the Send/Receive All Folders button.
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