Weekly Computer Tip # 116
25 June 2005

Delay Delivery of an Outlook Message (Microsoft Outlook)

If you are responsible for sending out information on a regular basis (for example, weekly tips ;-), here is a way to do that even if you happen to be away from the office, relaxing on the beach in Thailand. (In my dreams!)

Here's how:

1. Create a message as normal.
2. Click the Options button on the toolbar.
3. Click on the down arrow to the right of the "Do not deliver before" check box. (This automatically selects the relevant check box.)
4. In the Date Navigator click on the date you want, or click on the left or right arrow on either side of the month to change the month.
5. Click the Close button.
6. Click the Send button to place the message in your Outbox.

The message won't be sent until the date and time you specified. If you want to change the message, you can easily retrieve it from the Outbox, or even delete it completely.

By the way, the "Date Sent" listed will be the date and time you sent it to the Outbox, not the date and time of delivery. So you cannot use this as a trick to pretend to be in the office!

Finally, with the Message Options dialog box back under your attention, you might want to have another look at tip # 16 (http://www.roem.co.uk/tip_16.html). With the holiday season and (if you believe the long-term weather forecast) a heat wave on the horizon, it's a great feature to automatically expire email messages that become irrelevant after a certain date. This way, for instance, the recipient won't have to wade through messages about meetings that have occurred during his or her holiday.

All that rests is to wish you a warm summer. Mind you, we all know it seems difficult enough to accurately predict the weather forecast for tomorrow, so perhaps it's best not to get your hopes up too high!

Until next week.

PS I’m committed to sharing the best of what I know with others so please don’t keep me a secret. If you enjoyed today’s tip, please forward it to anyone you feel may benefit. Alternatively, feel free to reprint it (with full copyright and subscription information) in your newsletters and message boards.

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