If you want to schedule an email on your Mac, you have several ways to do so. Unfortunately, none of them use the Apple Mail app – it doesn’t have any native scheduling functionality. But there are other ways to schedule emails on your Mac.
You can either use a separate email app entirely, an Apple Mail plug-in, or the often-overlooked Mac app, Automator. We’ll show you how to use these methods to schedule an email in macOS below.
How to schedule an email with Automator
Automator is an Apple app that comes pre-installed on all Mac computers. It allows you to automate a wide range of tasks and actions by creating workflows and scripts.
If you’d like to explore some great ways you can use Automator, check out our list of time-saving Automator workflows. However, today we are only interested in how to use the application in conjunction with the calendar to schedule an email in Mail. You just have to follow these steps to do it.
1. Create an email workflow
To get started, open the Automator app. You will find it in Services folder, or you can easily bring it up by searching in Spotlight with cmd + distance.
When the app opens, select new document. The application will prompt you to select a file type for your document. Choose Application From the list of options, then press Choose.
Expand the list of options below library In the left menu and click Mail. Locate a file New mail option in the list that appears in the adjacent panel and drag it to the main window.
2. Write your email message
use the New mail Dashboard to create the email you want to automate. As with regular email, you can add multiple recipients, in addition to CC and BCC anyone you want.
If you have multiple email accounts linked to the Mail app, you can also select which account you want to send the message from.
3. Create email automation
Once you’re satisfied with your message, it’s time to set up Automator to send the email at a specific time.
Go back to the mail actions menu in the middle panel and find the option titled Send outgoing messages. Again, you need to drag and drop it into the main window. Make sure it goes down New mail The procedure you just prepared.
When you’re ready, go to File > Save. make sure that File Format The dropdown is set to Application before you press Memorizes button.
4. Use the calendar to set the time and date to send the email
To actually schedule the email, you’ll need to open a file Calendar app and scroll to the date you want to send the email.
Create a new event in history by Click and hold And the choice new event. In the window that appears, set File Started To the time you want to send your email.
Click on Add alert, repeat or travel time line to reach Warning drop down menu and select custom in it. Designation voice message drop down to Open the file.
The Calendar A dropdown menu will appear. Click on it and choose else. In the Finder window that appears, go to the Application Workflow you created in Automator and click Choose.
Designation a few minutes ago Dropdown menu in the New event window to At the time of the event before hitting Yes.
5. Leave your Mac turned on
As long as you set up the calendar entry correctly, your email is now scheduled and should come out at the right time.
There is only one condition. For scheduled email to work as expected, you need to make sure that your Mac is turned on and wakes up on time. If not, your scheduled email will not be sent.
So it’s best to schedule emails to go out at times when you know you’ll be using your Mac if you use this method. To schedule an email for a while your Mac can’t be on and wake up, take a look at the next section.
Other ways to schedule an email on Mac
If you need to schedule emails to go out during off hours, or just don’t want to write your emails in Automator, you might want to try getting a Mail app plugin, or using a different email app.
There are some great native features that make Mail incredibly productive for professionals, but plugins can add more features to the app, such as email scheduling. There are also other Mac compatible email apps that have an email scheduler built in.
Below you’ll find plugins and apps that we especially recommend for scheduling your emails on your Mac.
1. Mailbutler
Mailbutler is one of the best email productivity suites on the market. In addition to Apple Mail, it also works with Gmail and Microsoft Outlook.
The tool integrates with your Mail app and offers message templates, email snooze functionality, reminders, task management, signature templates, email tracking, and much more.
More importantly, Mailbutler also allows you to use Apple Mail to schedule an email. The tool is easy to use. It just adds send it later Button to Apple Mail new message Window.
Send Later is a feature on the Basic Mailbutler plan, and it’s free to use. However, using this your emails will be sent with a Mailbutler watermark on them.
To avoid the watermark, you can upgrade to the Mailbutler Professional plan for $11 per month or $110 per year. There are also more expensive Professional + and Business plans.
You can try out the free 14-day trial of Mailbutler to decide if you want premium features. If you don’t, the experience will switch over to the Basic plan, which still lets you schedule emails.
download: Mailbutler (Free, subscription available)
2. MailSuite
MailSuite is a plug-in for the Apple Mail app. It consists of four components:
- Mail To mark your messages by keywords, projects, importance, color, and due dates.
- Activate mail: Email automation tool for creating workflows that includes email scheduling feature.
- Postal views: To customize how you navigate your email messages.
- SigPro: Email signature creation tool.
Since it’s a plug-in, MailSuite allows you to schedule emails from right within the Apple Mail app.
MailSuite costs $80 for its initial purchase, which is pricey, but probably worth it if you have to schedule a lot of emails. Annual app upgrades will cost you $45 per year, but you can always skip it and keep using the version you purchased.
If you’re on the fence, MailSuite has a 30-day free trial. Try the plugin and see if you like it enough to buy it for yourself and your Mac for quick and easy email scheduling.
download: MailSuite ($80 plus $45 per year)
3. Air Mail
Airmail is a third-party email app designed for Mac, iPhone, and iPad that has an email scheduler built into it.
The app supports multiple email accounts at once, and lets you view them all in one mailbox. It has iCloud sync, a plethora of themes, email snooze options, touch bar support, create a quick email sorting workflow, and send later functionality for scheduling.
Airmail is technically free to download, but the app itself doesn’t work without an Airmail Pro subscription, unless you’re on the 3-day free trial. An Airmail Pro subscription is $2.99 a month, or $9.99 a year.
It’s a powerful app, and we find it worth the cost of the features it offers as well as the email scheduling. But try the 3-day free trial to see if it’s really right for you.
download: airmail (subscription required)
4. Spark
If you prefer a free email app that allows email scheduling, we recommend giving Spark a try.
In addition to the Send Later feature, Spark lets you set reminders, perform smart searches in your inbox, snooze emails, and share email drafts with other Spark users.
Spark is already pushing its Smart Inbox setting, which automatically requests your email by what it sees as more and less important. The feature can be useful, but it’s also inaccurate at times.
It’s still a free email app that lets you schedule emails on your Mac, so we can overlook some Smart Inbox errors.
download: spark (free)
The best ways to schedule email on your Mac
So what’s the best way to schedule email on macOS? It depends on your requirements.
As mentioned earlier, sometimes people who just need to schedule emails can come to grips with Automator. If you need to perform the operation regularly, a third-party tool or application may be more suitable.
You also need to decide if you want to continue using Apple Mail or if you are happy to switch to a third-party email client. Whatever it is you want, we hope our advice here will help you find the right option for you!
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