Gmail's scheduling tool for sending emails later keeps you from being a big jerk – CNET

Gmail’s new scheduling feature should have arrived in your account by now, and if you haven’t been using it, you’re missing out. This new tool is going to keep you from being the jerk who sends emails on a Saturday night. Instead, you’ll just look like you’ve had a seriously productive, Venti latte-fueled Monday morning.

The new Schedule Send tools can schedule emails to send on a specific day and time, so you don’t have to save the message as a draft and try to remember to send it later. It’s very similar to Boomerang, if you’ve used that browser extension, except that it’s built right into Gmail, which makes it a million times more convenient. You can schedule emails up to 49 years in advance (a great way to say happy birthday every year).

Scheduling your emails to send later is useful when you:

• Don’t want your email to get lost in the hundreds of emails your boss receives
• Don’t want to be the jerk sending a work assignment on a Saturday
• Want to look thoughtful (by remembering a friend’s birthday) or productive (by blasting out emails at 8 a.m. on a Monday morning) 

Scheduling Gmail messages now works from your personal and corporate accounts. Look for the arrow by the send button in the browser or the stacked three dots in the app.

Here’s how to get started.

From Gmail in your browser

When you’re done composing your email and you’re ready to schedule it:

1. Locate the dropdown arrow near the send button.

2. Click the arrow and then click Schedule send.

3. A menu will appear that lets you choose the date and time you would like the email to be sent.

4. Select the time and click Schedule send. A message box will appear in the bottom left corner that says “Send scheduled for…” where you can hit undo if you’ve made a mistake or view the message.

From the Gmail app on your phone or tablet

1. If you’re using the Gmail app to send an email, locate the stacked three dots in the upper-right-hand side.

2. Tap the dots and select Schedule send.

3. From there, a menu will appear and you can add the date and time of your send.

4. Click Schedule send. A message box will appear in the bottom-left corner that says “Send scheduled for…” You can undo the action or view your message.

What if I need to update or delete the email?

If you decide you don’t want to send the email after all, you can still delete it as long as you get to it before the scheduled time. 

Simply click on Scheduled on the main menu, choose the email you would like to delete, and select Cancel send.

If you need to update the time or date that the email is scheduled to send, cancel the email. A draft will appear where you can edit the content of the email and repeat the steps listed above.

Originally published April 11 at 4 a.m. PT.