Most of us are faced with a constant shower of emails throughout the day. While most emails don’t even require our attention, let alone interaction, some require planning. Should I answer now or later is one of the many questions that need to be answered. Microsoft wants to make life easier with the Send later option, which allows users to schedule emails in Outlook.
The scheduling feature is available on all platforms and for all users, whether you use it for free or for a fee. So you can compose and schedule an email. There are other scenarios where this comes in handy, whether it’s a meeting or an important cold mail.
Let’s understand how it works.
How to Schedule Emails in Outlook on the Web
Stage 1: Open Outlook in your favorite browser and sign in using your Microsoft account. Click the New message blue button in the upper left corner of the screen to compose a new email. You can also reply to an email in the Inbox.
Step 2: Compose your message as you normally would. Click the arrow next to the Submit button to reveal a menu with a submit later option. Choose this.
Stage 3: Set the date and time of the email in the popup that follows. Click Submit to save the changes.
You will find all scheduled emails in the Drafts folder in the left sidebar. I know. Instead it should be under the Scheduled folder. During my testing, emails were sent at the scheduled date and time each time and there is an option to cancel the scheduled email.
Click the pencil icon before Cancel Send to edit the email or the scheduled date and time.
How to Schedule Emails in Outlook on Android and iOS
There is no way to schedule emails in Outlook via the Android or iOS app. It’s strange to see how even Gmail provides this feature across all platforms. There are quite a few user requests for this feature as well. I suggest you submit your vote and ask others to do the same as Microsoft takes this seriously.
Fortunately, there are numerous third-party email apps out there that will let you schedule emails, some of which are free. We can recommend Spark Email, but there are other options. One of the best designed email apps with nifty features like send later. The steps will remain the same for both Android and iOS versions. I am using the Android version for this guide.
Stage 1: Enter your Outlook email id and password to set up your account in Spark. Follow the on-screen instructions to set it up. You can also add more accounts later from the Settings area.
Step 2: Compose a new email or reply to an old email. In the bottom bar slightly to the right of the screen you will find an airplane icon with a timer.
Stage 3: There are several default options available to quickly complete scheduling actions. Use the Choose date option to set a custom date and time instead.
One email app to rule them all.
How to Schedule Emails in Outlook on Desktop
The Outlook desktop app works a little differently and Microsoft calls the Delayed Delivery feature instead. Here’s how it works.
Stage 1: Open an existing mail or create a new one and under the Options menu select the three-dot menu to click on Delayed Delivery.
Step 2: In the popup that follows, check the ‘Do not deliver before’ box and choose a date and time based on when you want the email to be scheduled for delivery.
Click the close button and you can now send the email as usual. All the emails you scheduled can be found in the Outbox folder. You can open it to edit the content or timing of the email. Repeat the same steps to uncheck the ‘Do not deliver before’ box to send the email immediately.
timing is everything
Hopefully Microsoft adds the scheduling feature to the Outlook app on both Android and iOS. Many people read and reply to emails on the go. Not being able to schedule an email on their smartphone leaves a lot to be desired. It also breaks UI consistency which is worse. Fortunately, other apps have gone the distance to ensure users have a top-notch experience working with emails. Whichever segment you look at, I guess that’s why third-party apps are so popular.
Let us know which is your favorite feature or why you are using the Outlook email client instead of others. I guess the answer is because my company uses it.
Next: The Outlook email app is a pleasure to use with its built-in keyboard shortcuts. Read the post to find the fifteen best keyboard shortcuts for Outlook on Windows and Mac.
