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Delay or schedule sending email messages. Outlook for Office 365, Outlook 2019, Outlook 2016, Outlook 2013, Outlook 2010. You can delay the delivery of an individual email message or you can use rules to delay the delivery of all messages by having them held in the Outbox for a specified time after you click Send. If you've been attempting to install your email signature in Outlook for Mac 2016 only to notice that you keep experiencing formatting issues, don't worry because you're not alone. Installing your email signature with our app takes just seconds. Microsoft has never played by the rules when it comes to email clients.
The New Mail Desktop Alert is a handy pop-up alert for new emails. However, an often heard complaint is that it goes away too quickly.
Another often heard complaint is that it only works for the Inbox folder.
This guide explains how you can configure to display a New Mail Desktop Alert for all your mail and/or for it to remain visible for longer than 30 seconds or even not to let it go away at all until you dismiss it.
- Configure the duration of the Mail Alert; even permanent!
The New Mail Desktop Alerts throughout the versions
Below is an overview of how the New Mail Desktop Alerts look throughout the versions of Outlook and Windows.
Old New Mail Alert for Outlook 2002 and previous.
New Mail Desktop Alert for Outlook 2003, 2007, 2010 and 2013.
New Mail Desktop Alert for Outlook 2013 on Windows 8.
Outlook’s New Mail Notification on Windows 10.
Configure the duration of the Mail Alert; even permanent!
How to configure the display duration of the New Mail Alert depends on the version of Outlook you are using and also on which version of Windows you are using it. Select your version or version combination from the list below;
When using Outlook 2007 or Outlook 2010
Technically, you can’t actually set it to display “permanent” but how does 50 days sound? By a simple Registry edit you can set the New Mail Desktop Alert as long as 4,294,967,295 milliseconds ≈ 50 days.
Just a little math first to clarify the working of the Registry key;
![Outlook For Mac Rule To Hold Emails 60 Seconds Outlook For Mac Rule To Hold Emails 60 Seconds](/uploads/1/2/6/2/126259011/148363378.png)
- The value is defined in milliseconds.
- When the registry key is set to 0 the New Mail Alert still shows for 3 seconds so this is hard coded in the program thus 3,000 milliseconds.
- 4,294,967,295 is the maximum value you can set a 32bit DWORD value to in the Registry.
- As the object that controls the time of the New Mail Desktop Alert is also defined as a DWORD and is 3000 already we cannot give the TimeOn registry key a higher value than;
4,294,967,295 – 3000 = 4,294,964,295 - To convert from milliseconds to days, we must divide the milliseconds through; 1000 to convert to seconds, then 60 to convert to minutes, then 60 to convert to hours, then 24 to convert to days
(4,294,964,295 + 3,000) / (1000 * 60 * 60 *24) ≈ 50
After all this math it’s time to tell which Registry value controls all this:
Key:
Value name:
Value type:
Value:
HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwareMicrosoftOffice<version>CommonDesktopAlerts
Value name:
TimeOn
Value type:
REG_DWORD
Value:
0 - 4294964295
If this key isn’t available choose Edit-> New-> DWORD Value and name it
TimeOn
(case sensitive!).Double click the key to give it a decimal value between
0
and 4294964295
(in Hexadecimal value this will be fffff447
).Setting the maximum decimal TimeOn value in the Registry.
Tip!
To easily set the New Mail Alert without going into the registry you can use OutlookTools (free!)
To easily set the New Mail Alert without going into the registry you can use OutlookTools (free!)
When using Outlook 2013, 2016 or Office 365 on Windows 7
This combination of Outlook and Windows uses the same New Mail Alert settings as previous versions of Outlook.
There are significant changes to the looks and behavior of the New Mail Alert when you are upgrading to Windows 8 or Windows 10 in the future.
When using Outlook 2013, 2016, 2019 or Office 365 on Windows 8 or Windows 10
Windows 8 introduced a new notification mechanism. In Windows 10 this notification mechanism got extended with the Action Center. Outlook 2013 and later all take advantage of this notification mechanism and don’t use the New Mail Alert that is being shown when you have it installed on Windows 7.
As Windows 10 collects all displayed Notifications in the Action Center, there is no direct need to adjust the New Mail duration anymore; Simply open the Notification Area to see any missed Notifications from Outlook or any other applications.
Windows 8 and Windows 10 will by default show the Notifications for 5 seconds. You can change this to 7, 15 or 30 seconds or 1 or 5 minutes by going to;
- Windows 8.1
Charms-> Settings (keyboard shortcut Windows + I) -> Change PC Settings-> Ease of Access-> Other options-> Show notifications for x seconds/minutes - Windows 10
Start-> Settings-> Ease of Access-> Display (or “Other options” in earlier Windows 10 releases) -> Show notifications for x seconds/minutes
You can set the duration to a custom value via the MessageDuration Registry value;
Key:
Value name:
Value type:
HKEY_CURRENT_USERControl PanelAccessibility
Value name:
MessageDuration
Value type:
REG_DWORD
![Cast Cast](/uploads/1/2/6/2/126259011/157259245.png)
As the value you must enter the duration in seconds. Set the base from Hexadecimal to Decimal to more easily set the value.
Any setting longer than 300 will end up displaying the alert for 5 minutes. Any non-predefined duration will display the option in Settings being configured to display the alert for 5 minutes even though it will actually display it for the duration configured in the Registry. This means, you can also set the alert to display for 45 seconds or 2 minutes.
Note: After modifying the setting via the Registry, you must log off and then log on again for the setting to take affect.
Via the Registry you can set a non-default value for how long the Windows Notifications should show.
Configure the Mail Alert to monitor al folders; not just the Inbox
By default the new New Mail Desktop Alert will only show when the mail is delivered to the Inbox. This means that when you have a rule configured to move your mail to a different folder the Notification won’t show.
To workaround this, you can add the action “display a Desktop Alert” to each and every rule. Besides the fact that it is very tiresome, the real downside of this is that when you are in an Exchange organization the rule will become a local rule so that it will only execute when Outlook is running. This means that when you have added extra actions to the rule, like forwarding it to another address, those actions won’t be executed either.
A better solution is to create a generic rule with no conditions and just the action to display the Desktop Alert.
- Open the Rules and Alerts dialog;
- Outlook 2007
Tools-> Rules and Alerts… - Outlook 2010 / 2013 / 2016 / 2019 / Office 365
File-> button: Manage Rules & Alerts
- Outlook 2007
- Button New Rule…
- Select “Start from a blank rule” and verify that “Check messages when they arrive” or “Apply rule on message I receive” is selected.
- Press Next to go to the Conditions screen.
- Verify that no condition is selected and press Next.
- A warning will pop-up stating that this rule will apply to all messages. Press “Yes” to indicate that that is correct.
- Select the action “display a Desktop Alert”.
- Press Finish to complete the rule.
- If needed move the “display a Desktop Alert” rule all the way to the top.
You can create a rule to show the New Mail Desktop Alert for each message that you receive.
Show a Mail Alert with a list of all newly received e-mails
The New Mail Desktop Alert only shows for the last e-mail received so when you’ve received multiple new e-mails across folders it still might be a bit hard to immediately locate them. This has actually always been the case with any version of Outlook. To solve this, you can use the action rule; display a specific message in the New Item Alert window.
As an example, we are again going to create a generic rule with no conditions and just the action to display the New Item Alert window. You can of course set conditions and exceptions as desired and note that, Outlook rules get executed after Junk E-mail filtering so the New Item Alert window won’t get polluted with Junk E-mail.
- Open the Rules and Alerts dialog;
- Outlook 2007
Tools-> Rules and Alerts… - Outlook 2010 / 2013 / 2016 / 2019 / Office 365
File-> button: Manage Rules & Alerts
- Outlook 2007
- Button New Rule…
- Select “Start from a blank rule” and verify that “Check messages when they arrive” or “Apply rule on message I receive” is selected.
- Press Next to go to the Conditions screen.
- Verify that no condition is selected and press Next.
- A warning will pop-up stating that this rule will apply to all messages. Press “Yes” to indicate that that is correct.
- Select the action: display a specific message in the New Item Alert window.
- Type your specific message (this is handy when you create more than one rule that displays the New Item Alert window so that you can easily distinguish between them).
- Press Finish to complete the rule.
- If needed move the “display a Desktop Alert” rule all the way to the top
Get your newly received e-mails in a handy overview.
Tip!
As an alternative, you can also consider the “Today’s Unread Mail folder” Search Folder solution.
As an alternative, you can also consider the “Today’s Unread Mail folder” Search Folder solution.
Marketing manager Grier was just plain tired of colleagues playing the expert in her domain. When a designer sent her an e-mail questioning her choice of quotes for a new product brochure, she snapped.
“How about you do your job, and I’ll do mine!” she typed back rapidly and punched “send.” A split second later, she wished she hadn’t. Her better self knew that a dose of circumspection would have saved her from the now face-to-face damage control she had to do with an offended colleague.
When was the last time you sent an email that seconds later you wished you hadn’t? Maybe you forgot an attachment? Maybe you forgot to check spelling or to delete the e-trail below your message that had personal comments — too personal. Or just maybe, like the fictitious (but realistic) person I’m calling Grier, you were irritated, and you realized you should have slept on your response before firing it off?
You and Your Team
Business Writing
Don’t let poorly-crafted communications hold you back.
It’s for these sorts of reasons that several years ago I decided to put a two-minute delay on all of my office emails. It’s come to my rescue many a time, allowing me to pop into my outbox and fix inaccuracies; add the PowerPoint file I forgot to attach; or re-edit a sensitive message for nuance. I’d love to say it’s simple to get started, but if you use the version of Outlook that I use — Outlook 2013 — you’ll need to navigate a rabbit’s warren of clicks and commands. It’s worth it.
- Go to the “Home” tab and click on the “Rules” drop down
- Choose “Manage Rules and Alerts”
- Under “Email Rules” choose “New Rule” and under “Start from a blank rule” click on “Apply rule on messages I send.” Click “Next,” which will show conditions — you don’t need to choose any of these, just click “Next” again.
- On the final menu (the “Actions” page), check “Defer delivery by _ minutes” and fill in the blank. I choose two minutes, because it often takes me a minute to realize what I’ve forgotten!
- Click “Next,” and fill in any exceptions to your new rule. Then, click “Next,” and “Finish” (Don’t forget this last step, or all your clicks will be for naught.)
(For info on different versions of Outlook go to: support.office.com and search for “Delay or Schedule Sending Messages.” One caveat: users report that it doesn’t work on Outlook for Macs.)
If you use Gmail, you’re in luck, as Google just added an “undo send” feature, which is much simpler. To enable it:
- Go to the little cog icon in the upper right-hand corner and select “Settings.”
- Look a third of the way down the page for the “Undo Send” section.
- Check “Enable Undo Send” and then choose between 5, 10, 20 and 30 second windows of unsendability. Again, I’d go for longest interval to give your mental red flags a chance to flutter.
- Make sure you hit “Save Changes” at the bottom.
Three Common Saves
Preventing a pickle like Grier’s is one way that a delayed send can save you from yourself. But it’s likely not the most common. In my experience, the top three rescues are from crossed messages, forgotten credits, and ingratitude.
Crossed messages occur when one reads e-mails out of order, answering a question that a subsequent email has rendered obsolete. Or, when one efficiently answers screens full of email offline during a flight — only to synch up hours later and find the criteria changed when you were somewhere over Nebraska. Then there’s the group e-mail, where replies cross in the ether, one carrying info that affects the other.
Exclusion can happen, unwittingly, in messages acknowledging broad-based teams. Darn it if one doesn’t realize, seconds after clicking send, that she forgot to acknowledge the social media associate, or the company founder!
My favorite save is from sounding ungrateful. No matter how much we appreciate the shoulders we stand on, too often our emails cut directly to the task at hand. Just as they sail away, we realize that we meant to open with thanks, and close with appreciation. Mercifully, a two-minute delay gives us a second chance to do just that.
The Downside
No change lacks drawbacks, and there are at least two when it comes to delayed sends. For one, in a meeting or on a conference call, you can’t circulate a document right away away. In our age of instant gratification, people can get frustrated waiting for your email to clear your inbox (even if it’s just two minutes!). For another, when responding to email on planes right up until the flight attendant calls for shutting down electronics, you have to find ways to sneak an extra few minutes of power.
But these grievances pale in comparison to the upside. In a digital world, we still need to think before we speak, but with a delayed send, we can rethink after we email.