Have you ever wanted to schedule an email, to be sent at a later date? Perhaps you want to make it look like you’re not at your desk. Or maybe you want the recipient to think you waited awhile to answer an email. Or you don’t want everyone to know that you’re up at 3 am answering emails.
Here are solutions for sending email later from your Mac.
If you use Apple Mail: SendLater
Cost: 9 Euros (just over $11)
This piece of software is installed on your computer and lets you schedule your emails in Apple Mail. Remember that for it to work, your Mac has to be on and Apple Mail must be running at the time you’ve scheduled the send.
If you use Apple Mail: Mail Act-On
Cost: Free 30-day trial; $30
This software does much, much more than just let you schedule emails for later. You can create powerful rules for inbox and sent mail; create templates for email replies; and set a ton of other workflow options. Again, for the send later function to work, your Mac must be on and Apple Mail must be running.
If you use Gmail or Google Apps: Boomerang’s Send Later
Cost: Free 30-day trial; $5/month for Gmail unlimited emails; $15/month for Google Apps unlimited emails
This service connects to your Google account and lets you schedule emails from within Gmail or Google Apps. (If you don’t know if you have Gmail or Google Apps: Is your email [email protected]? Then you have Gmail. Is your email [email protected] but you check it on Google? Then you have Google Apps.)
This only works if you write your mail inside a web browser, not if you use Apple Mail for reading and writing your Gmail/Google Apps email. It works with Chrome, Firefox, and Safari.
If you use Gmail or Google Apps: Right Inbox
Cost: Free for 10 emails/month. $60/year for unlimited emails and reminders, for both Gmail and Google Apps.
This is a service you use with Gmail or Google Apps. Note that the price is better than Boomerang if you use Google Apps. Again, this solution only works if you are writing email in a web browser. Works with Chrome, Firefox, and Safari. You can also use it to set up recurring emails, email reminders.
If you use Outlook for Mac: Nope. At this time there’s no way to schedule emails to be sent later (It’s a feature in Outlook for Windows only.)
iPhone and iPad: Nope. This feature doesn’t exist for iOS — yet.