How to Prevent Email Heartache — Establishing An Automatic Delay

Have you ever sent an email you regretted? Have you ever realized, immediately after hitting “Send”, that you have just sent an email to the wrong person?

Radio Advertising Salesperson horrified at computer

Photo by Flashgun/dpc

A while back, I wrote an email expressing significant concerns about a particular person – and, due to my own inattention, entered that person’s name as the recipient of the email. I caught my mistake and corrected it before the email went out.

The very close call shook me up, and prompted me to go to Google.

I wondered if there was a way to delay outgoing emails for a few minutes… just to buy myself a little time and prevent some heartache.

It turned out that Outlook, the program I use, offers a “delay” mechanism as an option. Id known that there was a way to delay individual emails, and was delighted to learn you can create a rule that delays all of your outgoing email.

You can find written instructions for delaying your email messages here. The instructions can be a little tough to follow.  A few years ago I put together a short video, and this method still works for the most recent versions of Outlook.

I made the video using Outlook 2013 a few years ago — but the method works the same way on the most versions of Microsoft Office, including Office 365. Direct link to the video is here.  

Instant gratification has a significant downside. There are many reasons why we might want to add a short delay to our outgoing emails:

  • We’re about to send it to the wrong person by mistake.
  • We’re about to Reply All by mistake.
  • We’ve written a message in anger, or without thinking things through.

Making things just a little less instant by adding a short delay to each of our emails can prevent significant heartache.

Three Ways to Apply This Information Now

  1. If you have Outlook  2013 or 2016, or Office 365, watch the video and then set your own delay rule.
  2. If you use a different email service, Google “How to delay outgoing emails in [name of your service]”.
  3. Share this article on your favorite social media site.

Question: What’s the worst email you ever sent — or stopped at the last minute? You can leave a comment by clicking here.

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Categories: Phil Bernstein, Tech Tool Tuesday
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