We will walk you through the process of scheduling an email in Outlook. Outlook 2019, 2016, 2013, 2010, and Outlook for Microsoft 365 are all supported.

• Scheduling Delayed Email Delivery in Outlook
• Create a Send Delay for All Emails
• What Happens If Outlook Is Not Running at the Appropriate Time for Delivery?
• What If There Is No Internet Connection Available at the Time of Delivery?

Scheduling Delayed Email Delivery in Outlook

Microsoft Outlook allows you to schedule email messages to be sent at a later date and time rather than immediately.

1. Click on New Email. Alternatively, you can select an existing email and choose Reply, Reply All, or Forward.
2. Compose and address the message in the message window.
3. Select Delay Delivery from the Options tab.
4. In the Properties dialog box, under Delivery options, check the box labeled Do not deliver before.
5. Enter the date and time of the email’s delivery.
6. Click Close.
7. Click Send in the message window.
8. Navigate to the Outbox folder to locate email messages that have been scheduled but not yet sent.
9. To change the delivery time or date, open the email in a new window, navigate to Options > Delay Delivery, and reschedule the send time.
10. To immediately send a scheduled email, open it in a new window, return to the Delay Delivery screen, uncheck the box next to Do not deliver before, and then press Close followed by Send.

Create a Send Delay for All Emails

You can create an email message template that incorporates a send delay into all messages you create and send automatically. This is beneficial if you frequently make changes to an email you’ve just sent, or if you’ve sent an email hastily.

By defaulting all your emails to a delay, you prevent them from being sent immediately. This provides you with an opportunity to make changes or cancel them if they fall within the duration of the delay you specify.

To create an email template with a send delay, follow these steps:

1. Select the File tab.
2. Select Manage Rules and Alerts from the Info > Rules and Alerts menu.
3. Then, select New Rule from the Email Rules tab in the Rules and Alerts window.
4. In the Rules Wizard, navigate to the section Start with a blank rule, select Apply rule to messages I send, and then click Next.
5. Select the check boxes next to the options you want to apply to sent messages in the Select condition(s) list. Clear all check boxes to apply the delay send to all messages. Then choose Next.
6. If all check boxes have been cleared, a confirmation box appears. If Yes is selected, the rule will be applied to all sent messages.
7. In the Select action(s) list, check the box labeled Defer delivery by a specified number of minutes.
8. Select a number of from the Edit the rule description list.
9. In the Deferred Delivery dialog box, specify the number of minutes for which emails should be delayed before being sent. Maximum duration is 120 minutes. Then choose OK.
10. Select Next in the Rules Wizard.
11. Check any applicable exceptions, then click Next.
12. Type a descriptive name in the Specify a name for this rule text box.
13. If it is not already checked, check the Turn on this rule check box.
14. Click the Finish button.
15. To save the changes, click OK in the Rules and Alerts dialog box.
16. When you click Send on an email, it is stored in the Outbox or Drafts folder for the specified amount of time before being sent.

What Happens If Outlook Is Not Running at the Appropriate Time for Delivery?

If Outlook is not open and running at the scheduled delivery time for a message, the message is not delivered. When you restart Outlook, the message is immediately sent.

What If There Is No Internet Connection Available at the Time of Delivery?

If you are not connected to the internet at the scheduled delivery time and Outlook is open, Outlook will attempt but will fail to deliver the email at the specified time. An Outlook Send/Receive Progress error window will appear.

Outlook will also attempt to send the message again at a later time. Outlook sends the message once the connection is restored.

If Outlook is configured to work in offline mode at the scheduled time of delivery, Outlook will send the message automatically as soon as the account associated with the message becomes available again.