How in the Tech

Preventing Email Foot-in-Mouth Disease in Outlook

By Adam Myers ⋅ May 1, 2008 ⋅ Tags: Microsoft Outlook

It happens to all of us, though some more than others. Acting on impulse we compose a scathing email to a friend, colleague, or boss because of some perceived wrong doing. Typing away furiously, a sense of satisfaction warms it’s way through you as you click Send and your eloquent words float out over the Internet. Most of us agree, it helps to vent – writing an email accomplishes that. But, it’s not long before that moment of regret overcomes your satisfaction and you are left with that sinking uh-oh feeling.

What if you could delay the sending of your emails in Outlook though? You’d still feed your impulse behavior while at the same time, save a future embarrassment or even your job. Well, you can do just that by using Outlook’s Rules, here’s how!

In Outlook (2003 or 2007) navigate to Tools-> Rules and Alerts -> New Rule from the Outlook menu bar. Select Check messages after sending and click Next.

You’ve got some flexibility here should you only want to delay the messages to certain people or from a specific account. As I’m an equal opportunity offender, I’m delaying everything. Click Next.

Select defer delivery by a number of minutes. Set the delivery delay in minutes by clicking a number of in the lower pane. 30 is a nice safe number, but it can go as high as 120 should you chose. Click OK and then Next.

Lastly, there may be times we just need to email to go out immediately – safe guards be damned. Select except if it is marked as importance in the list of exception options. Like above, click importance in the lower pane and chose high. Click OK and then Next.

Name the rule something appropriately and ensure that Turn on this rule is enabled before clicking Finish.

With a bit more recognition of potential email disaster on your part, you can defer email delivery on a case by case basis – without creating a Rule as above. From the email compose window, click the Options tab and select the Delay Delivery button in the More Options section of the ribbon. Select Do not deliver before and input your desired delay. Your email will sit in your Outlook outbox until time delay passes.

Now impress your boss by the flurry of emails he receives from you after hours; little does he know.