Whether you are working late at night and don’t want to disturb a colleague, or you want to ensure a birthday greeting arrives exactly at midnight, scheduling emails is a crucial productivity feature. In the past, Mac users had to rely on third-party plugins or webmail interfaces to delay sending messages. However, Apple recently integrated a native “Send Later” feature directly into the macOS Mail app.
How to Schedule Your Message
Scheduling an email is incredibly simple and requires only one extra click during your normal workflow.
- Open the Mail app on your Mac.
- Click the Compose New Message button (the square with a pencil icon) to draft your email.
- Fill out the recipient, subject line, and the body of your message exactly as you normally would.
- Instead of clicking the standard Send button (the paper aeroplane icon), look for the small dropdown arrow located immediately to its right.
- Click this dropdown arrow to reveal the scheduling options.
Choosing a Delivery Time
Apple Mail will provide you with a few intelligent suggestions, as well as a custom option.
- Send Now: Sends the email immediately.
- Send at 9:00 PM tonight: (or a similar time based on your current clock).
- Send at 8:00 AM tomorrow: Perfect for holding late-night drafts until business hours.
- Send Later…: Selecting this option opens a custom calendar and clock interface. You can pick any specific date and exact minute for your email to be dispatched.
Once scheduled, the email will move to a new, temporary folder in your sidebar called Send Later. You can open this folder at any time to edit the email, change the scheduled time, or delete the message entirely before it goes out. Note: Your Mac must be turned on and connected to the internet at the scheduled time for the email to successfully send.