You Can Program Outlook to Delay the Transmission of an E-Mail Message
Q: There are times, especially when I’m handling a time-sensitive issue, that I would like to be able to delay the actual transmission of my e-mails. In other words, I’d like to write them now, but I don’t want them transmitted for, say, an hour, day or week. Oh, sure, I could just put the message in Draft and send it later. But more often than not, especially when I’m communicating across multiple time zones, the delayed transmission would be far more convenient. Is there a way to do that?
A: Both Outlook 2003 and 2007 can perform such a task.
To do it in Outlook 2003, create your e-mail and then click on Options, opening the Message Options screen (see screenshot below).
In Outlook 2007, click on Options and then on Delay Delivery (see screenshot below) to open the Message Options screen, which is identical to the 2003 version.
Be sure that the Do not deliver before box is checked, and then enter the date and time you want the mail transmitted. Finally, click Close and send the message.
Caveat: If you are using a POP3 account, you must keep the Outlook program open until the messages are dispatched.
Outlook also can delay all your e-mail messages, but only for a maximum of two hours. To do that, however, you must first create an Outlook Rule, which, while not difficult, involves many steps. For detailed instructions to do it in Outlook 2007, go to tinyurl.com/24zzv83. For Outlook 2003, go to tinyurl.com/ awdodo.
More from the JofA:
