Problem
With everyone working different hours due to our ever-evolving work culture one that that gets me is when folks send emails at all hours. This is problematic as the intention behind an email is to notify or have someone read it. Now with everyone being connected via smart devices this disconnect can become harder.
I work the weekend sometimes and still want to respectful of my colleague’s time. Though when I think of something and I want to notify them I still want to be able to pull up an email to send them. This is where the send later feature in Outlook Web Access.
Previously to delay send an email in the traditional Outlook client was a pain! First Outlook needed to be running during the intended send window, second had to create are a confusing rule to not send an email before the specified time.
Solution
The team at OWA managed to accomplish this need in a much more simpler fashion that allows you to quickly send emails Later with OWA. If unfamiliar on how to access OWA navigate to outlook.com and log in with your credentials. Note: Not all employers have allowed for this functionality. One just needs to open up a new message or a reply and select the drop down next to the send button:
This will bring up a nifty calendar that let’s you choose when to send your email:
Once we have our date/time set and click send the message will appear in the Drafts folder with the information on what it is scheduled to send:
We can still edit it which is awesome as I sometimes go back and change my thought or discover new things while I am working.
Conclusion
All in All this is a most welcomed feature to be able to send emails on a delay when working non traditional hours and something I wish more folks knew about.