A Step-by-step Guide on How to Schedule an Email in Outlook

Email scheduling has become increasingly important in corporate professionals’ day-to-day tasks, especially for sales representatives and marketers who have a truckload of tasks that needs to be completed daily, from making cold calls to sending out emails, networking, and a host of other tasks to nurture and convert the prospects into customers.

If you have ever struggled with sending emails at the stipulated time, you are about to have the best experience of your life with email scheduling. So now if you have an important email you need to send later but don’t want to forget about it, it will interest you to know that Microsoft Outlook has a scheduling option.

With this option, you can set up your email at a later date and time, and the email will be delivered at the time you selected. In this guide, we will discuss and show you how to schedule an email in Outlook on Windows and other platforms

Table of Contents

• What is Email Scheduling?
• What are the Benefits of Scheduling Emails in Outlook?
• How to Schedule an Email in Outlook on the Web Version?
• How to Schedule an Email in Outlook for Windows?
• How to Schedule an Email in Outlook for Mac?
• How to Schedule an email in Outlook on the iOS App?
• How to Schedule an email in Outlook on the Android App?
• How To Delay Emails in Outlook?

What is Email Scheduling?

Email scheduling refers to setting pre-designed emails to be delivered automatically at a stipulated time and date. This way, you can schedule your emails to be sent in bulk at a pre-determined time to reach your target audience when they are most likely to see and open the email.

It works well even when you want to schedule your emails in different batches for audiences in different time zones, allowing you to reach those audiences at optimal times.

What are the Benefits of Scheduling Emails in Outlook?

Generally, email scheduling can significantly help alert people on time, manage your workflow, and increase your email open rates. However, when you do this in Microsoft Outlook, you stand to gain the following benefits:

1. It saves you time

Scheduling emails in Outlook saves you the time you’d spend manually sending emails every time. You can set up an email in Outlook and have it send out the email for you.

2. It helps you send important emails at the right time

Microsoft Outlook scheduling option not only helps you save time and energy, but it also ensures that your emails are sent out to your target audience at the right time without a miss.

3. It helps you stay organized

Another interesting benefit of scheduling email in Outlook is that it helps you keep your tasks organized and help you prioritize your tasks well.

4. You can send the email at regular intervals

Email scheduling in Outlook enables you to set up email schedules and have them send out the emails at regular intervals, ensuring that you stay on top of your emails.

5. It helps increase your productivity

Scheduling emails in Outlook can help you manage email outreach while giving you enough time to focus on other important tasks that can increase productivity.

6. It Improves visibility and customer interaction

Email scheduling helps to send the emails at the optimal time when your target audience will most likely open and engage with your email.

How to Schedule an Email in Outlook on the Web Version?

Outlook web (for work and school accounts) and Outlook.com allow users to schedule emails on the web. Both web apps use the same UI, and the following are the steps that you need to follow to schedule emails:

Step 1 – Open Outlook on the web, click on the message options to start writing your email, then add a recipient.

Step 2 – Click on the drop-down arrow right next to the Send button, then click on Send later

Step 3 – Set a custom time and date, then click the Send button

After clicking on send to schedule the email, you can still find it in your Drafts folder and make changes before sending it to your recipients.

How to Schedule an Email in Outlook for Windows?

Email scheduling in Outlook can be done two ways via a desktop app. The first is on Windows Pc, while the other is on Mac. Scheduling email in Outlook for Windows Scheduling is pretty simple and can be done just a few clicks. All you have to do is follow these steps:

Step 1 – Open Outlook

Step 2 – Compose the email in the message window

Step 3 –Open the Options tab from the Tags group.

Step 4 – Select “Delay Delivery” option.

Step 5 – Mark the checkbox next to select the option “Do not deliver before.”

Step 6 – In the email window, specify the delivery date and time when you want the composed email to be sent.

Step 7 – Finally, tap Close and then tap Send.

After you have done this, the email will be sent at the time you specified. Until this time, the email will remain in Outlook

How to Schedule an Email in Outlook for Mac?

Unlike scheduling via Windows, scheduling emails in Outlook for Mac is a lot easier. The scheduling option on Mac works just with a simple drop-down menu. Here are the simple steps to schedule an email in Outlook:

Step 1 – Firstly, start writing your new message in Outlook ribbon for Mac and add a recipient

Step 2 – Click on the Down arrow next to the Send Button at the top left corner. Then right from the drop-down menu, select Send Later.

Step 3 – Enter the desired date and time.

Step 4 – Click Send in a pop-up window. After this, the message will be saved in the draft folder and delivered at the chosen date and time.

After this, you can rest assured that the email will be sent out automatically at the set time and date in outlook 365 on Mac. To view, edit or cancel a scheduled email, got the Outbox folder

How to Schedule an email in Outlook on the iOS App?

Although, it’s not possible to schedule an email in Outlook using the iPhone iOS app. However, you can do this using third-party apps such as Spark or Gmail. If you wish to schedule an email on iPhone using outlook, you should consider downloading and installing either Spark or Gmail

If you are going to be using Spark, here are the essential steps to follow:

Step 1 – Download Spark from the App Store.

Step 2 – Enter your Outlook ID and password.

Step 3 – After this, create your account by following the instructions and compose a new email.

Step 4 – Tap the airplane icon with a clock on the right side of the keyboard.

Step 5 – Choose between the available default options – Later Today, This Evening, Tomorrow, Tomorrow Morning, Weekend, or Select a date.

Step 6 – If you wish to select a particular date and time, then tap Pick date

Step 7 – Finally, after selecting the date and time, click on set to prepare it.

Follow the steps below if you want to use Gmail:

Step 1 – Download the Gmail App from the App store.

Step 2 – Sign in by inserting your email address and password (or follow the on-screen instruction to set up a new account)

Step 3 – Compose a new email

Step 4 – Check the top right corner of the screen and click on Tap the three dots to access email scheduling option tab

Step 5 – Select the Schedule Send option

Step 6 – Choose between the four default options – Tomorrow morning, Tomorrow afternoon, the next available Monday morning, or tap Pick date & time to select a different date and time

Step 7 – After choosing your desired date and time, select Save

How to Schedule an email in Outlook on the Android App?

Just like on iOS, you also cant schedule email using Outlook on your Android phone. You can use third-party apps such as Spark or Gmail to schedule your emails later.

If you want to use Spark, here are the steps to follow:

Step 1 – Download Spark from the Play Store.

Step 2 – Sign up using your Outlook ID and password and follow the instructions to set up your account.

Step 3 – Compose a new email

Step 4 – Tap the airplane icon with a clock in the bottom option

Step 5 – Choose among several default options to schedule your email: Later today, This evening, Tomorrow, Weekend, or Next Week, or Pick a date to choose your delivery time.

Step 6 – If you select “pick date,” choose your preferred date and time and select “Ok“.

Follow the steps below if you want to use Gmail:

Step 1 – Open the Gmail app on your phone

Step 2 – Compose a new email

Follow the same steps for iPhone to schedule your email via Gmail.

How To Delay Emails in Outlook?

Follow these steps to delay sending emails in Outlook:

Step 1– Open Outlook and go to the File tab and open the Manage Rules & Alerts section

Step 2 – Select the “New Rule” box to set a new rule

Step 3 – Click the Apply Rule on Messages I Send option under the Start from a Blank Rule section in the template box and click next.

Step 4 – Set conditions using the Select Conditions list per your requirements. If you don’t set any conditions, the rules will automatically be applied to all your emails by default, then click Next.

Step 5 – Check the Defer Delivery by a Number of Minutes option in the Select Actions list.

Step 6 – Choose the option ‘A number of’ in the Edit the Rule Description box. 

Step 7‘- Enter the number of minutes you want your email to be delayed. (Keep in mind that this can be up to two hours or 120 minutes.

Step 8 – Click OK in the check box. and confirm by pressing Next twice.

Step 9 – Set a name for the rule in the Specify a Name for this rule box and check the Turn on this Rule option. Click on Finish to apply the rule.

Click on Ok if prompted. Finally, click on the Apply button and click Ok. After all this, the email will automatically be delayed after you click the Send button.

Conclusion

Email scheduling makes life easier for many sales professionals and marketers with a massive list of prospects and clients they need to reach out to. Irrespective of the platform you choose to create scheduled emails, ensure that your internet connection is secure and available at the scheduled time. Also, check out the detailed guide about how to add an email signature in Gmail.