How to "Schedule Send" or Delay Emails in Outlook

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Learn how to delay sending your emails in Microsoft Outlook

Written by Hannah Dillon

Last Updated: July 31, 2026 Fact Checked

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• Schedule an Email (New Outlook/Web)
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• Undo Send (New Outlook/Web)
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• Delay One Email (Classic Outlook)
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• Delay All Email (Classic Outlook)
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• Disable Send & Receive (Classic Outlook)
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• FAQ
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• Video

|Show more |Show less

If you want to delay sending an email in Microsoft Outlook, you have a few options. If you're using the new Outlook or Outlook on the web, you can schedule emails to be sent at a later date, or you can enable the "undo send" feature to pull back an email if you accidentally sent it too quickly. If you're using classic Outlook, you can also schedule a single email to be sent later, but you can also set up an email rule to delay all emails, and you can disable automatic sending and receiving to stop your emails from being sent right away. In this article, we'll cover all of these methods for sending a delayed email in Microsoft Outlook.

How do you delay sending emails in Outlook?

• In the new Outlook and Outlook on the web, you can schedule an email to send later by clicking the arrow next to "Send" and selecting Schedule send.
• You can't delay sending emails in new Outlook or on the web, but you can enable "undo send" to have a few seconds to recall an email before it is sent out.
• In classic Outlook, you can delay a single email, set up a rule to delay all emails, or disable sending and receiving to stop emails from being sent automatically.

Steps

Method 1

Method 1 of 6:

Scheduling an Email (New Outlook & Web)

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1. 1
   Compose a new message. This method will work with the new Outlook and Outlook on the web on both Windows and macOS. Click the New button in the upper-left corner to open a blank email, then compose your email.

   • Remember to include any attachments you'd like to send.
2. 2
   Click the arrow next to the Send button. The Send button is in the upper-left corner of the email pane. Make sure you don't click the Send button, as this will send your email right away.
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3. 3
   Click Schedule send. It's the second option on the list.
4. 4
   Choose when you want to send your email. Outlook will give you a few options. If you like those options, click one; otherwise, click the Custom time button and enter the date and time you'd like your email sent.
5. 5
   Click Send. Once you do so, the email will be moved to your Drafts folder. If you click Drafts in the sidebar, you'll see the email you just wrote with a red [Scheduled] tag.

   • If you want to edit the email, click Cancel send on the right-hand side of the screen, then make your changes. You can then schedule-send the email again.
   • If you want to send the email before the scheduled time, click Cancel send on the right-hand side of the screen, then click the blue Send button.
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Method 2

Method 2 of 6:

Undoing Send (New Outlook & Web)

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1. 1
   Open your Outlook settings. There's no way to set up an email rule to delay all emails automatically, but you can enable the "undo send" feature in the new Outlook and Outlook on the web as a workaround.

   • To open Outlook's settings, click File in the upper-left corner, then click Settings.
   • These steps work for both personal and Exchange accounts.
2. 2
   Enable undo send. Here's how to do it:

   • Click Mail in the left-hand sidebar.
   • Click Compose.
   • Scroll down to the "Undo send" header.
   • Choose how many seconds you have to click "Undo send." Outlook recommends going up to 10 seconds, but you can select up to 30 seconds.
   • Close the settings window once you've set your undo send settings. Your settings save automatically.
3. 3
   Click Undo in the bottom-left corner after sending an email. If you accidentally send an email or forget to attach something, click Undo in the bottom-left corner of Outlook. You'll only have a few seconds to click this button, so you'll need to click fast to stop it from being sent.

   • When you use "undo send," the email will stay in your drafts. You can continue to edit the email before sending it for real.
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Method 3

Method 3 of 6:

Delaying an Email (Classic Outlook)

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1. 
   1
   Compose a message in Microsoft Outlook. This method delays the delivery of a single email message on both Windows and macOS when using classic Outlook (or legacy Outlook on Mac). Click New Email and fill out the details of your email message, including recipients, subject, and body.

   • Remember to include any attachments you'd like to send.
   • Did you know you can also unsend emails in Outlook? This is a great feature to try alongside delaying emails.
2. 
   2
   Make sure you're looking at the "Classic View" of the ribbon. You should now see several icons in groups at the top of the new message window. The groups are called Undo, Clipboard, Basic Text, Names, Include, Tags, and a few others. If you only see some simple icons and not these menu groups, click the down arrow on the far-right side of the toolbar and select Classic Ribbon.
3. 
   3
   Click the More Options icon in the "Tags" section of the ribbon. This is the arrow pointing downward and to the right in the "Tags" panel of the ribbon. A Properties window will expand.
4. 
   4
   Check the "Do not deliver before" box. This is in the "Delivery options" section of the window. You'll find the option to delay an email here.
5. 
   5
   Select the date and time you want the email to send. You can change the date and time in the drop-down boxes next to the "Do not deliver before."
6. 
   6
   Click Close. Your delivery preferences for this email will be saved.
7. 
   7
   Click Send in the email composition window. This will place the email in your "Outbox" folder. Your message is now delayed and won't be sent until the scheduled date and time.

   • If you decide you don't want to send a delayed email, you can follow these steps to send the message immediately:
     • Go to the "Outbox" folder in the left panel and open the message.
     • Click the More Options icon (the arrow) in the "Tags" section.
     • Uncheck the "Do not deliver before" check box.
     • Click Close to close the "Properties" window.
     • Click Send in the email composition window to send the message.
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Method 4

Method 4 of 6:

Delaying All Emails (Classic Outlook)

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1. 
   1
   Click the File menu in Outlook. If you want to delay all email messages for a specific period of time, use this method.

   • There is no way to delay all emails in new Outlook or Outlook on the web.
2. 
   2
   Click Manage Rules & Alerts. This is the icon with a gear and a bell on the right panel. This opens the Rules and Alerts panel.

   • If you have any existing rules to filter inbound or outbound email messages, they'll appear here.
3. 
   3
   Click the New Rule… button. It's at the top of the "Email Rules" tab.
4. 
   4
   Select "Apply rule on messages I send" and click Next. This option is under the "Start from a blank rule" section.
5. 
   5
   Select the conditions and click Next. For example, selecting "sent to people or public group" will allow you to delay emails sent to individuals and groups.

   • You can also select no conditions to have the delay rule apply to all sent emails.
6. 
   6
   Click defer delivery by a number of minutes.
7. 
   7
   Click a number of under Step 2. This is in the second box labeled "Step 2: Edit the rule description (click an underlined value)." A small window will appear.
8. 
   8
   Type in how long you want emails to be delayed by, and then click OK. You can enter anywhere from 1 to 120 minutes.
9. 
   9
   Click Next.
10. 
    10
    Select exceptions and then click Next. Adding exceptions is optional.
11. 
    11
    Type in a name for the rule. This could be something like "sent email delay rule."
12. 
    12
    Check the "Turn on this rule" check box and then click Finish. You're done! All emails sent will be placed in the "Outbox" folder and delayed until the specified time goes by.

    • Now that you've automated delayed emails, you can also check out how to add a signature.
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Method 5

Method 5 of 6:

Turning off Sending & Receiving (Classic Outlook)

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1. 
   1
   Click the File tab in Microsoft Outlook. This will open a new page with various options.

   • This method allows you to create an Outlook rule that delays all sent emails by up to 2 hours.
   • Note that this method won't work if you don't control your Outlook server (e.g., you're using a work account).
   • There is no way to disable sending and receiving in the new Outlook or Outlook on the web.
2. 
   2
   Click Options at the bottom-left corner.
3. 
   3
   Click Advanced in the left panel.
4. 
   4
   Uncheck the "Send immediately when connected" box. This is under the "Send and receive" section.
5. 
   5
   Click the Send/Receive… button. It's under the "Send and receive" section.
6. 
   6
   Uncheck the 2 "automatic send/receive" boxes. Remove the checkmarks from the boxes next to "Schedule an automatic send/receive every 30 minutes" and "Perform an automatic send/receive when exiting."
7. 
   7
   Click Close and then OK. This will confirm the sending and receiving settings. Now, Outlook will only send and receive emails when you manually request it to.

   • Now that your email will not be sent as soon as you click the Send button, you'll need to send your emails manually. No messages will be sent or received until you complete these steps:
   • Go to the Send/Receive tab.
   • Click the Send/Receive All Folders button.
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Method 6

Method 6 of 6:

FAQ

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1. 1
   Can I delay all emails in the new Outlook? No, this feature is missing from the new Outlook and Outlook on the web. You'll have to manually schedule all of your emails, or you can enable the "undo send" feature in Outlook's settings to give you a short window to stop an email from being sent.

   • If you want to provide feedback to Microsoft about this missing feature, open the new Outlook and go to Help > Feedback. You can write your feedback here and submit it.
2. 2
   Can I disable sending and receiving in the new Outlook? No, you cannot. If you want to stop your emails from being sent immediately, you'll either need to schedule them manually or disconnect your computer from the internet.
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