Have you ever finished drafting an email but realized now isn’t the ideal time to hit send? It’s possible to schedule emails in Gmail for exactly the date and time that you’d rather send the message.
Gmail accounts include a “Schedule send” feature, and you can also use Streak’s “Send later” feature and mail merge tool to schedule emails from your Gmail inbox.
Learn three different ways to schedule an email in Gmail and the benefits of each one below.
<a href="#why-would-you-schedule-an-email-to-send-later-in-gmail" class="anchor-link">Why would you schedule an email to send later in Gmail?</a>
<a href="#which-method-of-scheduling-emails-in-gmail-should-you-choose" class="anchor-link">Which method of scheduling emails in Gmail should you choose?</a>
<a href="#how-to-use-gmail-schedule-send-feature" class="anchor-link">How to use Gmail’s schedule send feature</a>
<a href="#using-streak-to-schedule-emails-in-gmail" class="anchor-link">Using Streak to schedule emails in Gmail</a>
<a href="#schedule-emails-in-gmail-to-reach-your-recipients-at-the-right-time" class="anchor-link">Schedule emails in Gmail to reach your recipients at the right time</a>
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Rather than sending your emails as soon as you finish writing them, scheduling an email in Gmail gives you more flexibility over when your emails appear in your recipients’ inboxes.
There are a few reasons why you might want to schedule emails in Gmail, including:
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We'll walk you through three methods of scheduling emails - and help you decide which one is best for you. They are:
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Gmail's schedule send feature is built into your Gmail account and allows you to schedule a new email or a response for a later time.
⬇️ Skip to <a href="#gmail-scehdule-send">How to use Gmail's schedule send feature</a> to learn more.
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Streak's send later feature is a free tool that gives you a bit more flexibility and ease of use, along with email tracking capabilities.
⬇️ Skip to <a href="#streak-send-later">How to use Streak to schedule emails in Gmail</a> to learn more.
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Streak's mail merge with automatic follow-up allows you to send personalized mass emails in Gmail and automatically follow-up to get more responses.
This allows you to:
⬇️ Skip to <a href="#streak-mail-merge">Scheduling mass emails</a> to learn more.
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The first method of scheduling an email in Gmail is Gmail’s own schedule send feature.
Gmail’s schedule send feature allows you to schedule an email on your desktop computer or from your mobile device using the Gmail app.
Anyone can schedule emails in Gmail without changing settings or using any additional software.
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1. Go to Gmail on your computer and click the compose button in the top left corner to begin drafting your email.
2. Once you’ve written your email, click the downward arrow to the right of the “Send” button. (Make sure not to click the regular send button—that will send your email to the recipient right away.)
3. Once you click this arrow, a button will appear that says “Schedule send.” Click this button.
4. A window will pop up with three automatically generated suggested times for you to schedule your email send. Choose from one of these three options or click “Pick date & time” to create your own option.
Note: Gmail will send your scheduled emails according to the timezone shown in this window, even if you change locations after you set the schedule. For example, in the image below, times are shown in Eastern Daylight Time.
5. If you choose “Pick date & time,” you’ll see a calendar on the left where you can select the day you want to send your email. You can also type in the day on the right above the line where you type in your desired send time. Once you’re happy with your selections, click the blue “Schedule send” button in the bottom right of the window.
6. After you click “Schedule send,” a notification will pop up in the lower left corner of your screen confirming your scheduled email. You’ll have the option to view the message or undo the scheduled email from this window.
7. That’s it! Your email will automatically go out to your recipient(s) on the day and time you selected. You don’t have to do anything else on that day.
Important: You’re limited to no more than 100 scheduled emails at once in Gmail.
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You can also schedule emails in the Gmail app on your mobile device. Here’s how to schedule an email in Gmail mobile:
1. Open the Gmail app on your mobile device and tap “Compose” in the bottom right.
2. Write your email as usual. When you’re done, tap the three dots at the top right.
3. A menu will pop up at the bottom of the screen. Select “Schedule send.”
4. Like on the computer, a new window will appear with three automatically generated date and time options. You can also pick a customized date and time.
5. If you want to pick a customized time, select “Pick date & time.” A new window will appear with a calendar to select the date and a box to choose the time. Once you make your selection, click “Save.”
6. You’ll return to your inbox and see a notification at the bottom of the screen confirming your scheduled date and time for your email.
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If you realize later that you need to make changes to an email you scheduled, don’t worry. You can still view or edit your scheduled emails at any time before Gmail sends them out. Here’s how:
In Gmail on the left-hand menu under “Inbox,” you’ll see a category called “Scheduled.”
Click on “Scheduled” to view all your scheduled emails in a list. Then click on one of these emails to see more details or make changes. You’ll see your email in full.
If you want to change anything about the email—including the scheduled send time—click “Cancel send.”
Once you do, you’ll return to the regular email drafting view where you can make changes. Then, send the email out immediately or schedule it for a new time using the steps above.
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You don’t necessarily have to use Gmail’s built-in feature to schedule your emails. Depending on your needs, you may be better off using a different tool like Streak to schedule emails in Gmail.
There are several benefits of using Streak to schedule emails in Gmail:
Streak’s send later feature is not available on mobile devices, but is a great free option for scheduling emails in Gmail from your desktop computer.
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1. With the free Streak browser extension installed, open up Gmail on your computer and begin drafting a new email. Once the email is ready, select the clock button from the menu at the bottom of the window.
If you don’t see the clock button, you may need to select the “More tools” button (which looks like 3x3 squares) to make it appear.
2. Using natural language (e.g. “three hours from now” or “Wednesday at 9am”), describe when you want Gmail to send your email. You can also choose from the list of suggestions or select your desired send date on a calendar.
3. Once you select a time, you’ll get a notification confirming you scheduled an email.
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To see emails you scheduled using Streak, you’ll have to head to the Gmail “Drafts” rather than “Scheduled.”
You’ll find the scheduled email in your drafts and can see the scheduled date to the right of the subject line.
If you want to edit or update the subject line or the email body, simply make your edits and close the draft window. Your changes will be saved and the message will remain in your drafts until the scheduled send time.
You can also click “Cancel Send Later” at the bottom of your draft if you no longer want to send the email. Canceling a Send Later will remove the scheduled time and leave the message in your drafts just like a normal email.
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But what if you want to schedule mass emails and follow-up messages instead of one-off emails? You can do that in Streak, too, using the free mail merge feature.
Mail merges allow you to send personalized mass emails to your contacts at the date and time of your choosing.
Once you finish setting up a mail merge, you can choose to send the first message in the mail merge immediately, or choose to send it later, just like Streak’s Send Later feature for regular emails.
You can also schedule automatic follow-ups to these messages after a set amount of time to stay engaged with your contacts.
For example, say you schedule your first message for the upcoming Monday. In Streak, you can set up an automatic follow-up message to go out to any contacts who don’t respond to that first email. Select the number of business days to wait and the time of day you want the follow-up to send. Keep adding automatic follow-up emails until you’re happy with the sequence.
In under 2 minutes using Streak, you can create an entire personalized mass email sequence that goes out automatically on your schedule.
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With three ways to schedule emails in Gmail, you have a few options for sending your emails later.
Gmail’s schedule send is the best option for scheduling emails from your mobile app, while Streak’s send later gives you more flexibility for scheduling and editing drafts, and allows you to track email views. If you need to send email sequences or perform mass outreach, Streak’s mail merge will help you get the job done.
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