Apr 3, 2026

How to Delay Sending an Email in Outlook (2026)

Outlook How-to Email Delay Delivery Microsoft 365 Productivity

Outlook’s delay delivery feature holds your email in the Outbox for a set number of minutes after you click Send — giving you a window to catch typos, wrong recipients, or missing attachments before the message actually leaves. This is different from scheduling an email for a specific date and time, which is designed for timed communication rather than error prevention.

This guide covers how to delay a single email and how to set up a rule that delays all outgoing messages, across every current version of Outlook.

1. Delay Delivery for a Single Email (New Outlook & Outlook on the Web)

New Outlook for Windows and Mac and Outlook on the web share the same interface. You can defer an individual message using the message options.

Open New mail and compose your email as usual.
In the compose toolbar, click the three-dot menu (More options).
Select Schedule send (this is also how you access delay delivery in new Outlook — there is no separate “Delay Delivery” button).
Choose a Custom time and set the date and time to when you want the email delivered.
Click Send.

The email moves to your Drafts folder and sends server-side at the specified time. Since new Outlook and the web version don’t have a dedicated “defer by X minutes” option, you set a specific delivery time instead.

To cancel: Open Drafts, find the email (it shows the scheduled time), open it, and click Cancel send. You can then edit, delete, or reschedule.

Note: New Outlook and Outlook on the web do not support outgoing mail rules, so you cannot create an automatic delay rule for all messages in these versions. If you want a blanket delay on every email you send, use classic Outlook (see Section 3).

2. Create a Rule to Delay All Outgoing Emails (Classic Outlook for Windows)

This is the most popular use of delay delivery — a rule that automatically holds every email you send in your Outbox for a set number of minutes. It acts as an “undo send” safety net.

Open classic Outlook for Windows.
Go to File > Manage Rules & Alerts.
Click New Rule.
Under Start from a blank rule, select Apply rule on messages I send.
Click Next.
On the conditions screen, don’t check anything — you want this rule to apply to all outgoing messages. Click Next. Outlook will warn you that this applies to every message; click Yes.
Under actions, check defer delivery by a number of minutes.
In the rule description at the bottom, click the blue underlined a number of link.
Enter the number of minutes you want to delay (common choices: 1, 2, or 5 minutes).
Click OK, then Next.
Add any exceptions if needed (for example, you might exclude high-importance messages). Otherwise, click Next.
Name the rule (e.g., “Delay all sent emails by 2 minutes”).
Make sure Turn on this rule is checked.
Click Finish, then Apply > OK.

Now every email you send will sit in your Outbox for the specified number of minutes before Outlook delivers it.

To “undo” a sent email: During the delay window, go to your Outbox folder, double-click the message to open it, and either edit it, delete it, or move it back to Drafts. Once the delay expires and the email leaves the Outbox, it cannot be recalled this way.

Important: Classic Outlook must remain open and connected for the delay rule to work. If you close Outlook during the delay window, the email sends the next time Outlook opens.

3. Delay Delivery for a Single Email (Classic Outlook for Windows)

If you don’t want a blanket rule but need to delay one specific message, classic Outlook has a per-message option.

Create a new email (Ctrl+N or Home > New Email).
Compose your message — add recipients, subject, and body.
In the message window, go to the Options tab in the ribbon.
Click Delay Delivery.
In the Properties dialog, check the box next to Do not deliver before.
Set the date and time you want the email to be delivered.
Click Close to return to your message.
Click Send.

The email goes to your Outbox and stays there until the specified date and time.

To cancel: Open your Outbox, double-click the email, go to Options > Delay Delivery, uncheck Do not deliver before, and either send the email immediately or delete it.

Same caveat as the rule: Classic Outlook must be open and online at the delivery time. If it’s closed, the email sends the next time you open Outlook.

4. Delay Delivery vs. Schedule Send — What’s the Difference?

Outlook has two features that both hold emails before sending, but they serve different purposes.

Delay delivery (classic Outlook) holds an email in your local Outbox for a specified number of minutes after you click Send. The main use case is giving yourself a buffer to catch mistakes — like an “undo send” window. You typically set it to 1-5 minutes via an outgoing mail rule that applies to everything you send.

Schedule send (all versions) lets you pick a specific date and time for delivery. The main use case is timed communication — reaching someone at the start of their workday, timing a follow-up after a meeting, or batching email work without sending at odd hours. In new Outlook and the web version, scheduled emails are handled server-side and stored in Drafts, so they send even if the app is closed.

	Delay Delivery	Schedule Send
Purpose	Safety net to catch mistakes	Timed communication
How it works	Holds email in Outbox for X minutes	Sends at a specific date/time
Where it’s available	Classic Outlook only (as a rule)	All Outlook versions
Server-side?	No — requires Outlook to be open	Yes (except classic Outlook)
Stored in	Outbox	Drafts (web/new) or Outbox (classic)
Typical delay	1-5 minutes	Hours to days

If you want both — a safety buffer on every email plus the ability to schedule specific messages for later — set up the delay delivery rule in classic Outlook (Section 2) and use schedule send on individual emails when you need timed delivery.

Quick Reference

What you want to do	Version	How
Delay a single email	New Outlook / Web	Three-dot menu > Schedule send > set custom time
Delay a single email	Classic Outlook	Options tab > Delay Delivery > Do not deliver before
Delay all outgoing emails by X minutes	Classic Outlook	File > Manage Rules & Alerts > new outgoing rule > defer delivery by a number of minutes
Delay all outgoing emails by X minutes	New Outlook / Web	Not supported — no outgoing mail rules
Cancel a delayed email	Classic Outlook	Open Outbox > double-click email > edit or delete
Cancel a delayed email	New Outlook / Web	Open Drafts > open email > Cancel send

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More on Outlook: How to schedule an email in Outlook · How to create rules in Outlook · How to create a poll in Outlook · How to set up email forwarding in Outlook · How to create an email template in Outlook