Last Update: Apr 14, 2023 | Published: Sep 14, 2022
In this guide, we’ll show you how to schedule an email in Outlook for Windows and other platforms. This is a really handy feature that gives you the flexibility to send emails at a specific time. Instead of creating reminders to send some of your emails, Outlook can schedule them for you at the time you want, and this feature works across almost all platforms.
Scheduling emails with Outlook also enables you to better communicate with people across different time zones. It’s usually best to send emails when people are likely to read them, as this can prevent your messages from getting lost in the void. This is especially important if you happen to work in marketing or communication.
The process for scheduling emails with Outlook on the desktop is quite straightforward. However, there are a couple of differences between Outlook for Windows and Outlook for Mac.
Scheduling an email in Outlook for Windows can be done in just a few clicks. Here are the steps you need to follow:
Once your email is scheduled, you can still edit it by going to your Outbox folder. You can also disable the scheduling by going back to the Properties window and clearing the Do not deliver before check box.
Once your email is scheduled, you can still edit it by going to your Outbox folder. You can also disable the scheduling by going back to the Properties window and clearing the Do not deliver before check box.
Please note that Outlook for Windows will need to be running and connected to the Internet for your scheduled emails to be sent at the time you specified.
The process for scheduling emails in Outlook for Mac is slightly easier compared to Outlook for Windows. The scheduling option is available from a simple drop-down menu, but let’s go through the different steps to access it:
Once your email is scheduled with Outlook for Mac, you’ll still be able to find it in the Drafts folder and make changes to it. Compared to Outlook for Windows, Outlook for Mac will be able to send your scheduled email even if the app isn’t running on your device.
Both Outlook on the web (for work and school accounts) and Outlook.com (for personal MSA accounts) allow you to schedule emails. Both web apps also use the same UI, and the different steps you need to follow to schedule emails are similar:
Now that your email is scheduled, you can still find it in your Drafts folder and make changes to it before it’s sent to your recipient.
Unfortunately, it’s currently not possible to schedule emails with the Outlook apps for iOS and Android. The main alternative you have is to use Outlook on the web on your web browser, and we’ll explain how to do so below.
Another alternative is to use third-party apps such as Gmail or Apple Mail on iOS 16, which both support email scheduling. However, that’s out of the scope of this article.
The mobile version of the Outlook web app doesn’t support email scheduling as of today. You’ll have to switch to the desktop version of the Outlook web app to access the feature. Once you’ve done that, the steps for scheduling an email in the desktop Outlook web app on iOS and Android are the same.
If you’re using Microsoft Edge on iOS and Android, you can access the desktop version of the Outlook web app by tapping on the ellipsis (…) menu at the bottom, and then by tapping on the View Desktop site button.
To schedule an email, you can just follow the steps we mentioned above for scheduling an email in the Outlook web app. After adding a recipient, tap on the dropdown arrow next to the send button, then tap on Send Later.
Next, choose the date and time you want to send your email, and you’re done! Using a desktop web app on mobile isn’t exactly convenient, but it works well enough if you don’t want to use a third-party app.
Scheduling emails in Outlook is quite easy to do, though the feature isn’t implemented the same way on all platforms. Outlook for Windows does it quite differently, and the desktop app also needs to be running and connected to the Internet otherwise your scheduled emails won’t be sent.
The Outlook mobile apps also don’t have native support for email scheduling yet, so users currently need to use the desktop version of the Outlook web app or third-party email clients. It’s a surprising omission that Microsoft will hopefully address soon.
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