The following articles were included in our Exchange Messaging Outlook (EMO) newsletter published on March 17, 2022.
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Today's Highlights
- Send & Receive Settings for Exchange accounts
- Delay Sending Email in Outlook
- Delay messages in Outlook on Mac
- Delay Send in Outlook on the web
Send & Receive Settings for Exchange accounts
Over the past couple of months, several users scheduled appointments with me, hoping I could fix send and receive problems affecting Outlook.com or Microsoft Office 365 email account.
The users previously used POP or IMAP accounts and were in the habit of customizing the settings in Define Send/Receive Groups (Ctrl+Alt+S). They changed the setting for the Exchange accounts too, which caused the accounts to have trouble syncing.
Microsoft Exchange accounts don’t use the send and receive group settings. When a new message arrives, the server pings Outlook and the message is downloaded. You don’t need to click the send and receive button if you have Send Immediately enabled (which is recommended).
In the Send/Receive groups, any Microsoft Exchange accounts (including Outlook.com) the option for “Include the selected account in this group” should not be checked.
If you changed the send and receive group settings and want to revert to the defaults, type or paste the following into File Explorer's address bar then press Enter to open File explorer to the folder where the *.SRS file is stored and delete it.
%appdata%\Microsoft\Outlook
Outlook will create a new *.SRS file with default settings for the account type. This will reset Check every nn minutes to 30 minutes, which is a bit high if you have POP or IMAP accounts in your profile too, or don’t use Send Immediately. Open the Define Send/Receive Groups using Ctrl+Alt+S and lower it to between 5 and 8 minutes. We don’t recommend setting this to less than 5 minutes.
If you only have Exchange accounts in your profile and send immediately, you don’t need to change the “check every” setting.
Delay Sending Email in Outlook
In Windows, Outlook’s default setting is to send your email immediately. While you can disable "Send immediately when connected" in File > Options > Advanced and let Outlook send your mail every nn minutes, you have other options if you want to delay sending mail for a few minutes.
You can use a rule to delay messages for up to 120 minutes. When you use this rule action, messages are held in the Outbox until the delay ends. Like all rules, it can apply to messages with words in the subject or to specific recipients or it can apply to all mail except to specific people (like your boss) or other conditions.
If you want to send messages at a specific date and time, you can use Outlook’s Delay Delivery option. Look for the Delay Delivery button on the Options tab. When you use this, messages are held in the Outbox and sent at the appointed date and time IF Outlook is open. You can’t set it to send messages at 6 AM then Outlook or shut down your computer and go to bed.
Note: Clicking the Delay Delivery button to look at the settings will set it to send at 5 PM “today”. If you just want to look at the Options dialog, click on the expander icon in the right corner of the group to open the Options dialog.
Delay Delivery is not automatic, you need to set it on every message you want delayed or use a rule. If you want to delay all messages sent after a certain time of day, you need to use a macro or an addin, unless you use an Office 365 business mailbox and Outlook 365, in which case Outlook will display a banner asking if you want to send it during your working hours.
For more information and screenshots, see To delay sending a message in Outlook
For a macro to delay delivery automatically, see Delay Delivery of Messages Sent at Specific Times
Delay messages in Outlook on Mac
Outlook on Mac can hold messages to send later, but only if you are using a Microsoft Exchange account (including Outlook.com) and have an Office 365 subscription.
You’ll need to enter the date and time you want to send it, with the default being the “work day starts” time on the next work day as set in Outlook Preferences.
Delay Send in Outlook on the web
Outlook on the web can delay sending mail too. Expand the Send button and choose Send Later. It has two present defaults – tomorrow at 8 AM and Sunday at 8AM or you can choose a custom time and date. If you recently used Send Later, the last chosen time is available to select.
When you use Send later, the messages are placed in the Drafts folder. If you change your mind, you can edit or delete the message from drafts.
Unlike in Outlook desktop software, you don’t need to have Outlook on the web open or signed in. The message is held on the server until its time to send the message.
You can also have mail held for a few seconds in the event you accidentally hit Send or changed your mind after hitting Send. It only holds it for up to 10 seconds, so you need to be quick. This is enabled in Outlook on the web's Settings (gear icon) > View all Outlook settings > Mail > Compose and Reply.
New & Updated Exchange Server Support Articles
Description of the security update for Microsoft Exchange Server 2013: March 8, 2022 (KB5010324)
Exchange Service Host service fails after installing March 2022 security update (KB5013118)
Outlook meeting reminder won't stay set as "None" in Exchange Server 2019 or 2016
Fixes an issue in which StoreDriver.config validation fails and it makes meeting reminder can't be set to "None".
RFC certificate timestamp validation in Exchange Server 2013
Upgrading to this new release is critical for continued support of add-ins to be installed in Microsoft Outlook in Microsoft Exchange Server 2013.
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