How to Schedule and Send Emails Later in MS Outlook

Outlook allows you to easily schedule emails to be sent at a later date and time. This can be very useful if you want to send emails outside of business hours, remind yourself to send an email later, or simply schedule emails when it’s more convenient for you.

Scheduling emails in Outlook is straightforward – here is a step-by-step guide:

Set a Delay on Email Delivery

  1. Compose your email as usual, including recipients and message content
  2. In the message window, go to the Options tab
  3. Click on Delay Delivery
  4. In the pop-up box, check the box next to Do not deliver before
  5. Select a date and time you want the email delivered
  6. Click Close

Once you click send, the email will sit in your Outbox folder until the date/time you specified.

Schedule a Specific Send Time

Newer versions of Outlook include an even easier “Schedule Send” option:

  1. Compose email and click Send
  2. Click the drop-down arrow next to the Send button
  3. Select Schedule Send
  4. Pick one of the suggested times or choose Custom Time
  5. Choose a date/time to send
  6. Click Send

The email will again wait in your Outbox folder until sent.

Tips for Scheduled Emails

  • You can open scheduled emails from your Outbox and make edits prior to send time
  • To send immediately instead of on schedule, open the email and click Send Now
  • Outlook must remain open for scheduled sends from the desktop app
  • The web version can send scheduled emails even with Outlook closed

Manage Scheduled Emails

To view, edit or cancel scheduled emails:

  1. Open the Outlook folder tree (Ctrl+6)
  2. Go to the Outbox folder
  3. Right click any scheduled email and choose:
  • Open to view/edit
  • Cancel Sending to remove from Outbox
  • Send Immediately to override schedule

Best Practices

  • Avoid scheduling emails over the weekend or outside working hours unless necessary
  • Be careful when scheduling emails far in advance – details may change later
  • For recurring emails (e.g. monthly reports), consider setting up rules/quick steps to automate
  • If expecting replies, schedule follow-up reminders to check if a response was received

Using Outlook’s schedule send options can improve email productivity and communication. Some key benefits include:

  • Better timing – Increased open and response rates
  • Flexibility – Freedom to send emails whenever convenient
  • Work/life balance – Avoid late night/weekend email interrupts
  • Reminders – Prompt yourself to send updates/follow-ups

With some practice, scheduling emails could become a useful productivity habit for your daily Outlook use.

Outlook Add-ins for Scheduling

There are also some handy Outlook add-ins that provide advanced options for scheduling emails:

  • Boomerang – Schedule sends, set reminders, track opens/clicks
  • Bananatag – Recurring scheduled emails, read receipts, templates
  • Mixmax – Analyze best times to send, schedule chains/sequences

These tools integrate directly with Outlook for easy access to schedule and automate emails right from your inbox. Most offer free versions with premium upgrades for power users.

So in summary – Outlook’s built-in schedule send functionality provides an easy way to plan your email communication in advance. And the available add-ins take it even further for automation and analytics around your scheduled emails. Give it a try and see if scheduling Outlook emails can boost your productivity!