Outlook is a well-liked universally used Microsoft mailing service. It is included in the Microsoft 365 suite and also can work as a standalone application. It is considered an efficient option for team collaboration within organizations. It permits us to send emails, manage tasks, and contact lists. It also enables us to attach important documents, presentations, and signatures within the mail.
Microsoft Outlook provides many other stunning features besides sending and receiving the email that may provide ease to users such as recalling the email, resending and rescheduling the email, scheduling the email for later, adding delay in delivering all emails, and so on.
In this article, we will demonstrate:
- What is “Schedule an Email” in Outlook?
- How to Schedule an Email on Outlook Desktop Client?
- How to Schedule an Email on an Older Version of Outlook?
- How to Delay the Delivery of All Outlook Emails?
- How to Schedule an Email on Mobile Outlook?
- How to Schedule an Email on Mac Outlook?
What is “Schedule an Email” in Outlook?
Schedule an email means sending the email later. In email scheduling, the user can set the date and time while composing and sending the email. Upon doing so, the email will be moved to the Outbox or Draft folder of Outlook for the scheduled time. When the scheduled time is completed, the email or message will be automatically delivered to the recipient.
Benefits of Scheduling an Email
- Time Management: By scheduling emails, users can manage and save time more efficiently by avoiding distractions.
- Increase Productivity: Schedule email increases productivity. Within the organization, if the team is using the scheduled emails, they will send and receive emails at the scheduled time and will never lose their focus from the real work. Meanwhile, the user can compose many messages at once which creates more free room for the user to do other tasks.
- Consistency: The user can maintain a consistent communication schedule by email scheduling. It can help you in being regular and build trust in front of your recipient.
- Flexibility: Users can schedule emails on Outlook during off-hours or weekends without disturbing recipients.
- Improve Response Rate: Scheduled emails also have a solid effect on response time. When the recipient receives the email at the scheduled time or right time, it encourages them to prioritize your work. It is also helpful when you have to send an email to a user who is following a different time zone. Email scheduling ensures the email arrival at the optimal time.
How to Schedule an Email on Outlook Desktop Client?
The Outlook desktop app is pre-installed in Windows and is also available in the Microsoft 365 suite. It is a mail client that can send and receive emails through Microsoft Exchange server email. To schedule an email on the Outlook desktop application, follow the given steps.
Step 1: Launch Outlook App
First, launch the Outlook Desktop app via the “Startup” menu:
Step 2: Compose a New Email
Next, send a new email. For this purpose, click on the “New mail” icon:
Add the email address of the recipient in the “To” field and a suitable subject or title of the email in the “Subject” field. After that, write your message and open the “Options” menu from the menu bar:
Step 3: Schedule an Email
To schedule the email, click on the below highlighted “Schedule send” icon:
Step 4: Customize the Schedule Time
Customize the scheduled time by clicking on the “Custom time” link:
Step 5: Send Schedule Email
Set the time and date to schedule the email and hit the “Send” button. The scheduled email will be moved to the “Drafts” folder until the scheduled time is complete and then the email will be delivered to the recipient:
Step 6: Verification
To check if we have successfully scheduled the email, open the Outlook dashboard, and navigate to the “Drafts” folder:
Here, you can see our scheduled email is moved to the “Drafts” folder. The notification is also embedded with an email that shows that “This message is scheduled to send on <day> <date>, <time>”:
When the scheduled time is completed, the email will be automatically sent to the recipient’s address.
How to Schedule an Email on an Older Version of Outlook?
The older Outlook version is more enriched in features than the new Outlook desktop client version. The user has more control over their emails and other components in the older version. In contrast, many features are missing in the new Outlook update, such as adding delay in delivery of all emails, resending and rescheduling the email, and so on. Therefore, many users prefer to use older Outlook.
To schedule an email on an older version of the Outlook desktop client, go through the following steps.
Step 1: Launch Outlook App
First, launch the “Outlook” app via the Start menu:
Step 2: Compose a New Mail
Next, compose a new email. For this purpose, click on the below pointed “Mail” icon:
Next, type the email, and provide the suitable subject, and recipient email address in the “To” field. Before sending the mail, navigate to the “Options” menu from the menu bar:
Step 3: Schedule the Mail
To view more options, click on the “Three dots” icon and select the “Delay Delivery” option from the context menu:
Step 4: Set Delivery Date and Time
Mark the below pointed “Do not deliver before” checkbox. Set the time and date from their respective dropdowns. After that, hit the “Close” button:
Now, press the “Send” icon to send the scheduled email. Upon doing so, the email will be moved to “Outbox” until the scheduled time is completed and the email will be delivered to the recipient’s address:
How to Delay the Delivery of All Outlook Emails?
Sometimes, users want to add a delay of some time in the delivery of all messages. This feature is helpful to rethink about email and users can modify the email within a delay time. Unfortunately, this feature is only available in an older version of Outlook desktop client. To do so, users are required to create a new rule to add delay in delivery of all emails and messages.
To create a new rule for adding a delay in the delivery of all Outlook messages or emails, go through the following illustrations.
Step 1: Navigate to the “File” Menu
Launch the Outlook app and navigate to the “File” menu as shown below:
Step 2: Open the “Rules and Alerts” Option
To create a new rule or to manage an already designed rule, click on the “Rules and Alerts” settings:
Step 3: Create a New Rule
From the “Email Rules” menu, click on the “New Rule” option to design a new rule:
Step 4: Set the Rule to Add Delay in the Delivery of All Messages
To apply the new rule on the send messages, click on the below pointed “Apply rule on messages I send” from the “Start from a blank rule”. After that, hit the “Next” button:
There is no need to specify some condition to add a delay in delivery. Simply hit the “Next” button to proceed:
Upon doing so, the alert box will appear on the screen to apply the new rule to every message that the user sends. Hit the “Yes” button and proceed:
From the next windows, mark the below-highlighted checkbox from “Step 1” to apply the “defer delivery” action. From the “Step 2”, click on the “a number of” link to set the delay time interval:
Next, set the delay time from the “Deferred Delivery” box and hit the “OK” button. For instance, we have set a “2 minutes” delay in the delivery of all sent emails:
Move a head by hitting the “Next” button:
There is no need to add any exception or users can add it according to their preferences. Press the “Next” button to proceed:
Lastly, set the name of the rule in “Step 1”. After that, mark the below-pointed checkbox from “Step 2” to turn on the rule and hit the “Finish” button:
Again a new alert message will appear on the screen that alerts the user this rule is only applied on currently opened Outlook and is not applied on any other server Outlook and on other systems. Now, hit the “OK” button to proceed:
Step 5: Apply the New Rule
To apply the new rule, hit the “Apply” button:
After that, press the “OK” button to proceed:
This will apply a new rule to add a delay of 2 minutes in all delivery emails.
Step 6: Verification
To test the working of the “Delay Delivery” rule, compose the new email and hit the “Send” button. If the rule is applied correctly, the email should move to the “Outbox” folder to complete the delay time and then be delivered to the recipient address:
Now, navigate to the Outlook dashboard and open the “Outbox” mailbox:
Here, you can see that we have successfully applied the “Delay delivery” rule to add a delay of “2 minutes” in the delivery of all emails:
Note: This rule is only created and usable on older versions of Outlook. Even though the “File” menu is also missing in newer Outlook.
How to Schedule an Email on Mobile Outlook?
To schedule an email on a mobile Outlook, follow the provided instructions.
Step 1: Launch Outlook
First, search for the “Outlook” app in the search menu of mobile and click on the below highlighted Outlook app icon to launch it:
Step 2: Compose a New Email
Next, click on the “New mail” icon to compose and send a new mail:
Next, type the recipient’s email in the “To” field, set the suitable subject for the email in the “Subject” file, and type the message:
Step 3: Schedule the Email
To schedule the mail, click on the below highlighted “Three dots” icon:
Now, hit the “Schedule Send” option to schedule the email:
Choose the time and date to schedule the email. For this purpose, hit the “Choose a time” option:
Now, set the date and time by clicking on their respective options. Here, we will continue with the default date:
Now, set the time from the below-highlighted clock or manually set the time. After that, press the “OK” button:
Now, hit the “SCHEDULE” option to schedule the email on mobile:
The above action should move the scheduled message to the “Drafts” folder until the scheduled time is completed and the message or email is delivered to the recipient’s address.
Step 4: Verification
For verification, check the “Drafts” mailbox. For this purpose, first, open the Outlook dashboard by hitting the below highlighted “Outlook” icon:
Next, click on “Drafts” to open the Drafts mailbox:
Here, you can see we have effectively scheduled the email on mobile Outlook. When the scheduled time is completed, this mail will be delivered the to recipient:
How to Schedule an Email on Mac Outlook?
Microsoft Outlook is also available for Mac OS. But there is some minor difference in its interface than Windows client Outlook. To schedule the email on a Mac Outlook, go through the following instructions.
Step 1: Compose a New Email
First, click on the “New Email” option to compose a new email:
Next, type the recipient email in the “To” field, add the suitable subject in the “Subject” field, and type the email:
Step 2: Schedule an Email
To schedule the email, click on the drop-down icon of the “Send” button. After that, select the “Schedule Send” option to schedule the email:
Next, set the date and time for the email and hit the “OK” button to send it:
This will move the email to the “Drafts” folder of Outlook for the scheduled time.
Step 3: Verification
For verification, navigate to the “Drafts” folder, and open the scheduled email. The below highlighted embedded notification shows that we have effectively scheduled the email:
That is all about scheduling an email in Outlook on different platforms.
Conclusion
To schedule an email on Outlook, different ways are used depending on the platform. On Windows, first, compose an email, navigate to the “Options” menu, and select the “Schedule Send” option. On Mobile, compose a new email, and hit the “Three dots” icon beside the “send” button. After that, choose the “Schedule Send” option to schedule the email. On Mac, compose a new email, click on the “Send” drop-down button, and choose the “Schedule Send” option to schedule the email. We have demonstrated method for email scheduling in Outlook on different devices and OS.