How to schedule emails in Gmail and Outlook

You can stop worrying about delivering an email at an inappropriate time. Optimise your scheduled emails based on your working hours and your recipient’s time zone and availability.

Gmail and Outlook both give you the option to schedule your emails for later that day, week, or year. Here’s how to do it.

SCHEDULE EMAILS IN GMAIL USING YOUR BROWSER

Follow the simple steps below to schdeule your emails.

• After you have drafted your email, click the arrow next to the blue “Send” button
• Click “Schedule send”. The schedule send button can be accessed by clicking the arrow next to the “Send” button
• Click on one of the scheduling options

Gmail will suggest some options for send times. If you choose the “Pick date and time” button at the bottom of the pop up window you can set any date and time you want the message to go out. Then click “Schedule send.” You can also decide the send time for your email yourself.

SCHEDULE EMAILS IN GMAIL USING YOUR MOBILE APP

You can also schedule emails in the mobile app.

• Once you have written your message, tap the three dots in the top right corner
• Select “Schedule send” from the options at the bottom of the screen (iOS) or the drop down menu (Android)
• As in the browser version, you can choose from one of the times Gmail suggests or select “Pick date and time” to select your own date and time for when the email will go out
Tap “Save” in the top-right corner of the pop-up window (iOS) or tap “Schedule send” in the bottom-right corner (Android)

On mobile you can access the “Schedule send” button by clicking on the three dots in the top right corner of the draft window.

Whether you are using your browser or the app, the email will end up in your Scheduled box. You will have to click on the message to edit it and then click “Cancel send.” This will revert the email back into a draft so that you can make any changes. You can then reschedule it if you want to.

SCHEDULE EMAILS IN OUTLOOK

You have to use the desktop app for Outlook.This feature is not available in the browser or mobile versions.

• Once you have started a new message click on the Options tab at the top of the screen
• Click the three dots in the bar on the top
• Select “Delay delivery” from the drop-down menu

Outlook gives you the option to delay sending the email in the app.

• Under “Delivery options,” make sure the box next to “Do not deliver before” is ticked. You can use the drop down options or just type in the date and time you want the email to go out. Click “Close” when you are done. Use this window to select the time your message goes out.

The email will end up in your Outbox where you can make any changes including adjusting the send time.

The one drawback is that you will have to keep the Outlook app open in order for the email to go out on time. If you close the app it will send the email the next time you open the app.