How to Schedule an Email in Outlook

The reply is written at eleven at night and sending it then says something nobody meant to say. Outlook can hold a finished message until a chosen time, and the control is not on the Send button itself but on the small arrow beside it.

Write the message

Compose the message as normal, with recipients, subject, body, and any attachments in place. Everything must be finished before scheduling, since the message is sent exactly as it stands.

Open the send options

Click the arrow next to Send and choose Schedule send.

Choose the time

Pick one of the suggested times, such as tomorrow morning, or choose Custom time and set an exact date and time. The time used is the one on the mailbox's own time zone setting, not the recipient's.

Confirm the schedule

Click Send. The message leaves the compose window and waits in Drafts, or in a Scheduled folder if the mailbox shows one.

Cancel or edit before it goes

Open the waiting message and click Cancel send. It returns to a normal draft that can be edited, rescheduled, or sent right away. A scheduled message cannot be changed in place; cancelling first is the only route.

In classic Outlook for Windows. The equivalent is on the Options tab of the compose window: click Delay Delivery, tick Do not deliver before, and set the date and time. The message then sits in the Outbox rather than in Drafts.

Where the message waits matters. In new Outlook and Outlook on the web, the scheduled message is held on the server, so it sends at the chosen time whether or not the computer is on. Classic Outlook with a POP or IMAP account holds the message locally, and it will not go out unless Outlook is running and connected at that moment; a laptop closed overnight sends it whenever the app next opens. Classic Outlook with an Exchange or Microsoft 365 account hands the message to the server, so it sends on schedule regardless.