How to schedule emails in Gmail and Outlook

With most office jobs working from home right now, email is no longer a “reply as soon as you get this” sort of thing. I mean, it shouldn’t have been to begin with but try telling that to your boss…

That means you never really know if you should send that email now, or if you should wait to send it at a more appropriate time. Not everyone likes getting emails at 3am, even if that’s the best time to send replies since it’s the only time of day where the oppressive heat isn’t affecting your brain.

Thankfully, you can schedule emails in most email clients, so you can write away at 3am, and schedule those replies to be sent at a normal hour. We’re not going to tell you that this could also be a way to make your boss think you’re doing 9-to-5 instead of whenever the mood takes you but that’s very possible.

Schedule emails in Gmail in a browser

Gmail makes scheduling your emails super easy.

1. Open up Gmail in your browser of choice, hit the Compose button and draft your email
2. Instead of clicking on the Send button, click on the Up Arrow next to it, and choose Schedule send
   

   Image: KnowTechie

3. Pick from the preset scheduling options, or hit Pick date & time if you want a specific schedule you don’t see
   

   Image: KnowTechie

That’s it, now Gmail will send it on your behalf at that time.

Schedule emails in Gmail in the mobile app

Gmail makes it easy in the mobile app too, and it’s the same if you’re on Android or iOS

1. Write your email, then tap the three dots at the top-right
   

   Image: KnowTechie

2. Tap on Schedule send from the options (this will be at the bottom on iOS, and in a drop-down on Android)
   

   Image: KnowTechie

3. Choose one of the times Google suggests or pick your own time and date
   

   Image: KnowTechie

4. On iOS, you then tap on Save at the top right, or Schedule send at the bottom-right on Android

That’ll stick the email into your Scheduled box, and you can edit it at any time before your scheduled time by tapping on it and selecting Cancel send. You’ll have to do the full scheduling routine again if you don’t want to send it immediately.

Schedule emails in Outlook

You can schedule emails really easily in Outlook, but you need to use the desktop app

1. Start a new message and click on Delay Delivery up on the tools ribbon
   

   Image: KnowTechie

2. On the Delivery Options section, make sure Do not deliver before is checked, and set the time and date you want the email to be sent out. Click on Close when you’re done, not the X in the top-right
   

   Image: KnowTechie

3. The email will go into your Outbox once you hit send, and stay there until the time and date you set. You’ll be able to make changes before that sending time, including the sending time itself

Just remember that you’ll need to keep Outlook running for it to get sent as scheduled, otherwise Outlook will send it the first time you open the program again.

There you have it, a quick guide on how to schedule emails in the most popular email programs!

Plan on using these features to schedule your next email? Let us know down below in the comments or carry the discussion over to our Twitter or Facebook.

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Joe Rice-Jones

Maker, meme-r, and unabashed geek with nearly half a decade of blogging experience. If it runs on electricity (or even if it doesn't), Joe probably has one around his office somewhere. His hobbies include photography, animation, and hoarding Reddit gold.