Delay Sending a Message in Outlook

Have you ever sent off an email only to realize you forgot to add something, or that you shouldn't have sent it period? A way of preventing email errors is to create a rule that delays your email by 2 or 3 minutes, just enough time for you to realize that you've made a mistake. However, you need to have a Microsoft Exchange account for this rule to work.

If you have a Microsoft Exchange account, you can delay delivery of an individual message, or you can delay the delivery of all messages using Rules by having them held in the Outbox for a specified time after clicking Send. Here's how you do it:

Delay delivery of an individual message

1. In the message, click Options.
2. Under Delivery options, select the Do Not deliver before check box, and then click the delivery date and time you want.
   

Delay delivery of all messages (watch the video)

1. On the Tools menu, click Rules and Alerts, and then click New Rule.
2. Select Start from a blank rule.
3. In the Step 1: Select when messages should be checked box, click Check messages after sending, and the click Next.
4. In the Step1: Select condition(s) list, select any options you want, and then click Next. If you do not select any check boxes, a confirmation dialog box appears. Clicking Yes applies this rule to all messages you send.
5. In the Step 1: Select action(s) list, select defer delivery by a number of minutes. Delivery can be delayed up to two hours.
6. In the Step 2: Edit the rule description (click on an underlined value) box, click the underlined phrase a number of and enter the number of minutes you want messages held before sending.
7. Click OK, and then click Next.
8. Select any exceptions, and then click Next.
9. In the Step 1: Specify a name for this rule box, type a name for the rule.
10. Click Finish.