In our current situation, there are only two options for sending emails. Those options are you either send that email now, or you save it as a draft and hope that you remember to send it later (and you forget as usual). Now, what if you wanted to schedule that email to be sent whenever you choose? Well, there are some third-party tools that help you do that, but in my experience, for Gmail users Boomerang is the best bet. So, with this tool, instead of forgetting your Mother’s birthday and having to deal with the consequences, you can write a loving birthday email when you do remember her birthday and schedule it to be sent on her actual birthday. Suddenly you are the model son/daughter that all your siblings are compared to. Feels good, right? Or may be you are a forgetful person in general, so you can schedule all your emails for the week in one night and you can breath easy throughout your work week! But wait, there is more! Boomerang also offers scheduling options for received emails ( also check out our post on follow up email reminders ). Emails can pile up and become quite a time-consuming task. So if you have some in your inbox that are not immediately pressing, why not have them sent to you at a time that will be more convenient for you? Boomerang does that.
I’m Hooked, Now How Do I Get Started With Scheduling Emails?
Step 1: First things first, Boomerang only works with Firefox 3.6 (Read: Will not work with Beta 4) and Chrome 5.0, and up. It’s a browser extension in case you are still wondering. Once you have confirmed that you are running one of the previously mentioned browsers, navigate to Boomerang’s Official Site which has this wonderfully obvious, exceptionally large download button right on the homepage. Click on it. Step 2: You have successfully began the installation of Boomerang for Gmail! You will most likely receive a notification at the bottom of your screen asking you to confirm the download of Boomerang file. In Chrome it looks like the one below. Firefox will have a similar message. Step 3: Another little box will pop up to prompt yet again to confirm your desire to to install Boomerang. Reassure your browser that you know what you are doing.
Step 4: After the installation has finished (it only takes a moment), open up your Gmail account in another window or tab and you should see a new Boomerang button on the top right corner (shown below). Step 5: Now, when you Compose an email there is a new button at the top that says Send Later. Instead of clicking Send when you finish writing an email, you can click on Send Later to pick from a variety of different times you can send your email besides right now. Step 6: Conversely, there is also a Boomerang button available while you are reading a message. Clicking on it will reveal another drop-down menu with the same time options, only this time you are choosing a time at which to receive the message you are currently viewing. The message will be put back into your inbox and marked as unread for you to deal with at the time of your choosing.
Boomerang Wrap-up
What I love most about Boomerang is the way they put your emails back into your hands. You are in complete control of when you send and receive emails. Email has almost become the de facto way of communicating in today’s connected age, and hence using it productively is essential. Obviously, Boomerang works only for Gmail (and for Google Apps), so if you haven’t started with Gmail yet, and this tool has tempted you enough to make the switch, read our guides on integrating yahoo mail and hotmail with gmail, and also importing yahoo/hotmail contacts and emails to gmail. Hope that helps.
