Outlook includes two methods to send messages at a later time: an after sending rule that holds a message in the Outbox for up to 120 minutes or a setting in Message Options to send the mail at a specific time.
I do not recommend delaying messages more than a few days. Some versions of Outlook uses the date you pressed Send as the sent date, not the date it handed the message off to a SMTP server. If the recipient uses a sort by sent date view, they may not see your message. (Test this before using it.)
You can use VBA to send a message when a reminder fires. See Send an email when an Appointment reminder fires for the code. To delay messages sent during specific hours, see "Delay Delivery of Messages Sent at Specific Times"
To schedule recurring message, see Scheduling a Recurring Message
Hold messages for up to 120 minutes
To hold messages for up to 120 minutes, you need to create an "after sending" rule. This rule can apply to all messages or only to messages that meet the conditions you set.
- Open the Rules Wizard and click New rule.
- Select Apply rule on messages I send (at the bottom of the first Rules Wizard screen)
- Select any conditions you want and click Next or just click Next to apply it to all messages you send
- Choose Defer delivery by a number of minutes at the bottom of the Actions list.
- Click on the "a number of minutes" link to select the desired number of minutes to hold the messages.
- Click Next and set up any desired exceptions, then click Next again.
- Enter a name for your rule, turn the rule on and click Finish to finalize the rule.
Using "Do Not Deliver Before"
Outlook can hold mail in the Outbox and send it at a later date. For this to work, you need to have Outlook running at the appointed time. If you use Exchange server and online mode, not cached mode, the message is moved to the outbox on the server, allowing you to close Outlook.
I highly recommend testing this feature before using, so you understand how it works. Testing it beforehand will allow you to see if your email server uses the time you sent it to the Outbox or when Outlook actually sent the message. For more information, see "Send Time" time stamp information is incorrect when you send a delayed delivery message in Outlook (MSKB)
The option for "Do Not Deliver Before" is on the Options dialog (shown above) or, in Outlook 2007 and newer, also on the Options tab.
When I Delay Delivery of a message does it get sent from my PC to the server and wait there? Can I close Outlook, log off my PC and it will still get delivered even if I don't log on to my PC again until after the requested delivery date/time?
When you use Delay Delivery, the message is held in the Outbox on your computer, waiting for the scheduled time, so you will need to leave your computer logged in and Outlook open to send it.
There is one exception: when Exchange mailboxes are opened in online mode, the message is held on the server. Note that this is one Exchange feature not supported by Outlook.com, as it only uses cached mode.
If you hold messages to send later, you will receive a prompt from Outlook every time you close Outlook, reminding you that there are messages waiting to be sent.
You cannot disable this alert. It really does have purpose: Anyone who doesn't use Send Immediately or is having connectivity issues appreciates being told Outlook hasn't sent the messages in the Outbox. Use this dialog to stop accidentally closing Outlook.
Tools
SendLater is a free Outlook add-in e-mail scheduler with recurring email option. Prepare all your email notifications and reminders in advance and schedule their delivery. Re-send email automatically if a reply is not received. Set up repetitive follow-up emails at comprehensive time intervals. When sending recurrent emails, you can set path to CSV file and load recipients from that CSV file automatically. The updated SendLater is fully compatible with the latest Windows 2018 October Update and Microsoft Outlook 2019. | |
One of the utilities in the MAPILab Toolbox, Email Scheduler allows you to chedule messages to be sent at specific date/times or intervals by setting up a task for each message. MAPILab Toolbox is a set of 18 different add-ins for Outlook. | |
Schedule Recurring Email schedules email to send later. The maximum number of emails that can be scheduled can be in the hundreds. You can schedule emails that go out hourly, daily, monthly, early, or randomly. The monthly and yearly patterns can be adjusted by a number of days so that schedules like "2nd to last workday of the year" or "3 days after the first Tuesday of every month" can be specified. Works with all Outlook accounts, including IMAP and Outlook.com. | |
SetDeliveryTime has been created to allow users to set the default value for the "Do not deliver before:" parameter in Outlook. | |
Use ScheduledSend for Outlook to send emails on a schedule. Set a schedule and recurrence as Outlook appointment and send emails on a later date. The add-in adds a separate calendar where all your scheduled emails are displayed in a familiar fashion. | |
Email and presentation tracking, email templates, and Salesforce integration for Outlook 2010, 2013, & 2016 on Windows. |
More Information
Scheduling a Recurring Message
Sending and Retrieval Tools for Outlook
Mass Mail Tools for Outlook
Compose Tools for Outlook
Duplicate Remover Tools for Outlook
Mail Tools for Outlook - Outlook mail tools that don't fit in any of the above categories.
Content Control Tools
Security Tools -- Some of these also provide message tracking.
Signature Tools -- including random quotes
Jay says
This used to work in Outlook 2016. Ever sine updating to Outlook 365, it has a bug. If I don't go into the Outbox, then it works as expected. However, if I go into the Outbox and the message is clicked, it changes to a draft instead of a message going out. I do not have a reading pane and I'm not talking about opening the message. When this happens, even opening it and pressing send does not work, it just becomes a draft again since the cursor is highlighting the message in the Outbox as soon as I click Send again. The only thing that works is clicking forward so that a new copy of the message is triggered. I then have to delete the draft message.
Diane Poremsky says
You have an addin that is 'reading' the messages and changing them to drafts.
https://www.slipstick.com/problems/after-viewing-outlooks-outbox-the-messages-in-it-wont-send/
It should work to open the message, change folders then click Send too... but forward might be easier. If you leave the draft and it stays as the first message, the problem will be worked-around.
Lawrence Brillson says
Absolutely does not work. Attempted delayed transmission just sat in the Outbox, from which it was impossible to send. Message had to be placed in the Inbox before Word allowed "Send."
Diane Poremsky says
do you mean you had to move it out of the outbox and into the inbox, then hit Send? Do the messages send if you don't look in the outbox? If so, something is marking the messages read - see https://www.slipstick.com/problems/common-problems-that-cause-email-to-stay-in-the-outbox/#outbox
Orac says
The delayed messages sit in the outbox. How can you sort them by delivery date?
Diane Poremsky says
Add the Defer Until field to the view - then sort by it.
Amy says
Hi Diane.
I am glad to see that you are still following this question chain. I am using Outlook 2010. I try to send delayed delivery emails, but then I logout when I am not using my computer, so the message does not send until I log back in. Is there a setting that still allows these messages to go through whether I am logged in or not? Thanks so much!!
Diane Poremsky says
If you don't use exchange, you will need to leave outlook running. If yo use exchange and can connect in classic online mode, messages get handed off to exchange and outlook can be closed.
R k says
How do I make this work? I had a email scheduled for the next day certain time. Than I just closed my laptop not thinking anything of it. Than I go to see if the test email came through and see nothing. How would I do this to make it right?
Diane Poremsky says
You need to leave outlook open and the laptop on. If you don't use an exchange server account and online mode, you can't close outlook.
R k says
I have a log in to outlook 365 for the web (as its business based email). Is that what you mean by exchange server?
I am not understanding what you mean exchange server account and how it would work. Last night I called godaddy and they couldn't help me so I really appreciate your feedback and answering my question.
Chris says
Diane,
I am wondering if one can schedule a "reply" or "reply all" for a later time/date? I know how to schedule an initial email to send later but can't figure it out with regards to a reply email.
Thanks,
Chris
Diane Poremsky says
It would work the same way - you need to create the reply then set the option to defer it before clicking send.
James says
Hi Diane,
If I create a rule to delay sending a message for 5 minutes in Outlook 2013 with Exchange Server on premises, once I click "Send" the message is held in the Outbox as expected. If I go to the Outbox and I want to send the message without waiting for the 5 minutes, I've tried to open the message and uncheck the "Do not deliver before.....". I was thinking if I cleared this field and click "Send", the message would leave right away without waiting for the 5 minutes. This doesn't work. Is it supposed to work this way?
Thanks!
Diane Poremsky says
it should work (but i haven't tried it yet). Is the date & time cleared? (I'd add an exception for assigned to category - then assign a category before sending to bypass the rule.)
Mike says
Hi Diane,
I have question about outlook. I used option delay email and everything is working great BUT. I am sending message to my client at 11pm and setting don't send before 9am.He will receive this at 9am ,but it showing in the message that I sent this at 11pm.Is it possible that he will have showed that I sent this at 9am and he received at 9am even if I sent at 11pm? I just don't want to show my clients that I am working evening hours as they will be sending me million emails.
Thanks for your help
EdH says
I've set mine for 1 minute. This is so when I have that "uh oh" moment after hitting send, I have a bit of a buffer.
The problem is this rule seems to cause Outlook to ignore manually deferred delivery, say one I've set for 3-4 hrs later for some reason. Any ideas how to get those to work too?
Bradavon says
It worked in Outlook 2010 with the Outlook Hotmail Connector, but the "Defer delivery by a number of minutes" rule in Outlook 2016 RTM with Outlook.com (Hotmail) using Exchange ActiveSync doesn't work.
The rule gets ignored and e-mails are sent immediately. Using the "Do Not Deliver Before" manual option works fine.
This is a problem with Outlook Rules as the "Defer delivery by a number of minutes" rule actually enables the "Do Not Deliver Before". It's the same functionality but done for you.
Using the same "Defer delivery by a number of minutes" rule on an IMAP account in Outlook 2016 RTM works fine.
I've not tested it in Outlook 2013 with Outlook.com (Hotmail) using Exchange ActiveSync. So cannot comment on that.
Diane Poremsky says
I'll check it in Outlook 2013, but I'm expecting the same behavior. Outlook.com is moving to exchange servers and once it's moved, the problem will go away. Everything will just work.
Jack says
What happens when you want to delete the email before it is sent? I tried to delete it from my sent folder, but the email went out after the 2 minute delay...
Diane Poremsky says
If you delete it from the outbox before sending, it won't be sent. If it's in the sent folder, it was already sent.
Amer Adel says
Delaying or Scheduling the sending / delivery of an Email in Outlook is VERY handy for those times when I want to draft and send an email but don’t want it delivered until a specific date and time.
Can you please guide me with the directions were i can set Outlook to send my delayed Business emails even if my Outlook or my desktop is closed? I travel a lot and want to make sure my business emails are sent on a specific date and time even when i shut down my desktop at office for travelling.
Thank you in advance.
Diane Poremsky says
The only way to send delayed mail when outlook is closed is if you use Exchange server and use classic online mode, not cached mode. The sent item will be stored on the server and send at the appointed time. Otherwise, outlook will need to be open to send.
Nikhil says
Thanks Diane. That worked just the way I wanted. I can choose to defer receipts of emails in my Inbox. I had two questions:
1.) Does it also impact Calendar sync? I would like that to be real time in case there are any meeting changes happening. If it impacts, is there a work around?
2.) Can I schedule a sync for other non-Inbox folders or I will need to manually switch between offline and online modes?
Thank in advance.
Diane Poremsky says
It will affect calendar sync. The Sync folder button on the Send and receive tab should sync the current folder. You can't schedule a sync - you'll need to do a folder at a time or go online.
Nikhil says
Dear Diane,
I am using Outlook 2013 and MS Exchange. I would like to use deferred receipt of emails. I tried using 'define send/receive' option, but I understand it doesn't work for exchange. I would like to have a feature where I get emails only every 4 hours. In other words a fetch vs. push option.
Is there a workaround for MS Exchange?
Diane Poremsky says
It is possible to configure Exchange to work like a pop account and send on a schedule, but it can result in sync problems. Better is to work offline - exchange accounts will use the offline settings to sync the inbox, other folders will need to be synced manually.
Brian Lain says
Does the hold messages rule no longer work for Outlook 2013? I don't see the "after I send this message" option, all I have is "after I receive this message". Or perhaps this doesn't work for Exchange accounts?
Diane Poremsky says
it is present and works with Exchange.
first screen: apply on messages i send is at the bottom.
actions screen: defer delivery by number of minutes is at the bottom.
Shiva says
What are the pros and cons for delaying your email messages?
Diane Poremsky says
Pro: you can prepare a message and send it later, or if just delaying a few minutes, make edits before it actually sent.
Con: Outlook needs to be running for delayed messages to send and the time you sent it to the outbox is used as the sent time - if you delay too long the recipient might wonder what's up.
Nishant Vatsal says
How Diane - I want the email delivery to occur only when recipient's Outlook calendar is free. Could you guide me with directions to get this accomplished?
Diane Poremsky says
I don't have any samples that can do that - first, you'd need to have read permissions to their calendar and would need to check for a free time and date before sending it. It would only work if the person is on your own exchange server.
Will Leslie says
Thanks for clearing that up for me, Diane! Appreciate your help!
Will Leslie says
Hi Diane: We tried the scenario you answered based on "Eric Trieber's" question. We have tested this and it is not working for us; we could not send a email with a delay that had both mixed recipients (internal and external). We are not using POP/IMAP with an internal Exchange. Is there something we are missing? Thanks!
Diane Poremsky says
The rule only works if the message is to one group or another - when a message has internal and external recipients, it'll be held. Outlook won't send to some of the recipients and not to others.
Eric Treiber says
Diane: Similar to a question asked previously, can a system be set up whereby e-mails that have recipients that are internal to our company receive a "sent" e-mail immediately, but recipients outside of our company are delayed in receiving the very same e-mail? The purpose of this request is so that we might pull back an e-mail that was accidentally sent to the wrong person or that had a mistake in it. Thank you.
Diane Poremsky says
If you use a rule to delay mail by a few minutes, yes. It's rule-based - use words in recipients address and assuming you use exchange server, use @ for the word. (Internal Exchange email addresses don't have @ in them.) If you use POP/IMAP, apply the rule to all mail except if it has yourdomain.com in the recipients address.
Samantha says
I've set up the rule, but can you override it by pressing send/receive?
I've tried and it's not sending it.
Diane Poremsky says
No, not really. Add the defer until field to the view and you can see when it is scheduled to be sent. If you aren't using Send Immediately, pushing send and receive button should send it if it's past the deferred time and the next scheduled send hasn't hit yet.
Brennan says
This is a great guide! I've been searching for the best ways to do this because I've had it set up before but it didn't do what it was supposed to. I think I now know where I went wrong. Thanks for sharing!
Tony Richards says
Thanks for the reply
I continued hunting after I sent the email to you.
You may be interested in this
https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/office/jj220496(v=exchg.80).aspx
Diane Poremsky says
Cool, the EWS API can do it. Are the messages left in the outbox or held in the Exchange queue? (I'm not sure I have time to test it this morning.)
Tony Richards says
Can you delay all messages on an Exchange server to only go out after a certain period of time for all users? My client wants to give all his users the chance of recalling the message if a mistake has been made
Diane Poremsky says
There isn't a setting on the server for this; it would need to be set up for each user.
Martin says
Thank you for your reply.
This is with an Exchange account at my workplace. By the sound of it, if I want to use DNDB I shall have to apply the workaround of setting my SendImmediately category, until we upgrade to 2013.
Diane Poremsky says
Yes, correct, you'll need to use the category for now.
Martin says
These two methods do not work well together (Outlook 2010).
I have a Rule to delay sending all mail by 1 minute, unless I have assigned the mail to a SendImmediately category.
Outlook ignores any time that I set in Do Not Deliver Before (DNDB) and sends the mail after 1 minute as normal - unless I assign the mail to SendImmediately, in which case the DNDB setting is honoured.
I wouldn't mind if Outlook either i) sent the mail at the later of DNDB/1 minute (which in reality would usually mean at the DNDB time), or ii) combined both settings and sent the mail 1 minute after DNDB. However, to silently ignore my DNDB time is very poor.
Diane Poremsky says
What type of email account? It's either fixed in 2013 or works as expected with Exchange accounts. (I'll check it on 2010 in a next.)
My expected behavior is do both - send at the configured time and apply the rule - but logically, 'hold it for 1 minute then process the deliver before time' could also work - it depends which applies first, the DNDB setting or the rule.