How to Schedule an Email in Gmail

Have you ever needed to send an email to a coworker after work hours, but didn’t want to encroach on their personal time? Gmail allows users to schedule emails to send at a specific time and date of your choosing. You can also change the send time/date or cancel the scheduled email altogether, if necessary.

In this step-by-step guide, you will learn:

1. How to schedule a email to send later in Gmail (desktop)

Follow these simple steps to schedule an email to send at a later time and date on a desktop computer:

1. Log in to your Gmail account and click “Compose” (the pen icon) on the top left corner of the screen.

Click the pen icon, located on the top left corner of the screen, to compose a new email

2. In the pop-up window, draft your email.

3. When you’re finished typing your email, select the down caret next to the “Send” button.

Click the blue down-caret button next to the “Send” button to pull up the “Schedule send” button

3. Select “Schedule send.”

Select the “Schedule send” button to bring up the options for scheduling emails

4. In the pop-up window at the bottom of the screen, either choose a preset or custom email scheduling option.

There are three set options: “Tomorrow morning,” “This afternoon,” and “Monday morning.” If you would like to send your email at any of these times, select that option from the pop-up window and your email will move to the “Scheduled” section of your Gmail.

If you would like to send your email at a time and date suggested by Gmail, click one of the three options provided

If you would like to send your email at a custom time, select the “Pick date & time” option.

If you would like to send your email on a custom time and date, click “Pick date & time”

5. If you choose the “Pick date & time” option, in the next window, input the time and date you would like your email to be sent, and then press the “Schedule send” button.

Choose a date and type in the time for your scheduled email. Then press the blue “Schedule send” button at the bottom.

Your email will now move to the “Scheduled” section of your email.

The “Scheduled” folder in Gmail

2. How to schedule an email to send later in Gmail (mobile)

Follow these steps to schedule an email to send at a later time and date on an Android or iOS device.

1. Open the Gmail app on your device.

2. In the bottom right corner of the screen, tap the pen icon.

Tap the pen icon (the “Compose” button) to open a new email draft in Gmail

3. Compose your email.

4. At the top right corner of the screen, tap “More.” If you are on an iOS device, this is represented by three horizontal dots. If you are on an Android device, this is represented by three vertical dots.

Tap the three dots in the top right corner to open the “More” menu

5. Tap the “Schedule send” button and either select a preset or custom time and date option.

Tap “Schedule send” to bring up time and date options for the email you would like to schedule to send at a later date

If you want to use the preset scheduled send option, once clicked, your email will immediately be placed in the “Scheduled” section of your Gmail until the set send date.

If you would like to set a custom send time for your email, choose “Pick date & time.”

If one of the preset scheduled send options matches your desired email send time, tap it once to schedule the send; otherwise, choose “Pick date & time” to customize

6. If you choose “Pick date & time,” enter a custom time and date.

If you chose the custom scheduled send time option, use the calendar and clock pop-up at the bottom of the screen to input the date and time you would like your email sent

7. Click the “Send” button to schedule your email to send at a later time and date. Your email will move to the “Scheduled” section of your Gmail until the scheduled send time.

Your scheduled email will reside in the “Scheduled” section of your Gmail until its scheduled send time and date

3. How to change or cancel a scheduled email in Gmail

Have you ever scheduled an email in Gmail for the wrong time and didn’t know how to fix it? Follow these simple steps to quickly edit or cancel a previously scheduled email in Gmail on a desktop or mobile device.

3.1 How to cancel a scheduled email in Gmail

If you wish to cancel a scheduled email in Gmail, follow these simple instructions:

1. On your desktop or mobile device, open Gmail.

2. On a desktop, click the “Scheduled” section in the panell on the left side of the screen.

On a desktop, navigate to the panel on the side of the screen and click the “Scheduled” section

On a mobile device, tap the three lines icon in the top left corner and tap “Scheduled.”

On a mobile device, click the three horizontal lines to open the menu and click “Scheduled”

3. On your desktop or mobile device, select the email you want to change.

4. Once the email is selected, click or tap “Cancel send.” Remember, once you cancel a scheduled email, it becomes a draft.

On a mobile device, the “Cancel send” option is located in the email itself

On a desktop, the “Cancel send” option is located inside the email

3.2 How to change a scheduled email in Gmail

If you would like to change the date or time of a scheduled email in Gmail, follow these steps:

1. On your desktop or mobile device, open Gmail.

2. Follow steps two through four of the previous section, “How to cancel a scheduled email in Gmail,” to cancel the previously scheduled email send time.

3. On a desktop, click the down caret next to the “Send” button.

On a desktop, click the down caret next to the blue send button

On a mobile device, simply tap the three dots (also known as the “More” button).

On a mobile device, click the three dots in the upper right hand corner. For Android devices, the three dots will be vertical, not horizontal.

4. Click or tap “Schedule send,” then “Pick date & time.” Enter the date and time you want your email to be sent.

5. On a desktop, click the “Schedule send” button.

Once you have entered the new schedule send time, click the blue “Schedule send” button

On a mobile device, tap “Save.”

Tap “Save” on your mobile device to save the newly scheduled send time

Effective communication helps remote teams stay connected

Now that you know how to schedule emails in Gmail, use this skill to effectively communicate with coworkers who may be in different time zones. Effective communication helps team members stay on the same page, which boosts team morale. For more information on how to improve team communication and retain remote employees, check out this article on the causes of remote employee turnover.

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Disclaimer:

The steps to schedule an email in Gmail were researched in November 2021, and desktop and mobile platform screenshots reflect the app layout on a desktop computer and an iPhone. Applications and layouts are liable to change; see Google Help for additional information.