How do I force Outlook to send/receive on MY schedule?

May 8, 2012 9:35 AM

Outlook - How do I force a send without also refreshing the receive?

I'm adopting some GTD practices (or at least trying to) and would love to be able to refresh my Outlook 2007 inbox via manual (F9) control, however have sent email get processed by my outbox immediately (or within <60 seconds). Is this achievable?

I'm hooked to an exchange server and using cache mode. After doing my homework and messing with the groups settings, etc. I have a grudging suspicion that their is no send without receive (Is that an Eagles song?).

Would love to be wrong here. Also open to feedback along the lines of "You're whole approach is misguided. Process like X..." and other GTD/ productivity cult tips.

posted by Smarson to computers & internet (5 answers total)

fwiw, Outlook 2010 has this option.
posted by sarahnicolesays at 9:40 AM on May 8, 2012

Whelp, looks like it might be time to go convince IT to let me upgrade.

Thanks sarahnichole. Just so I know how to approach the issue (and because it's MSFT, so you never know) - is this handled through the traditional send/receive dialogues or is it more nitty-gritty?
posted by Smarson at 9:50 AM on May 8, 2012

Define a new Send/Receive Group, with the Outbox and Sent Items included, schedule an automatic send/receive every minute for that group.
posted by IanMorr at 9:53 AM on May 8, 2012

in the default, un-modified install of Outlook 2010, there is literally a button on the send/receive menu that says "Send All". I think it's become common practice to want to send your emails but not be automatically overwhelmed with new ones.

IanMorrs answer is great though. If you can add your custom group to the main bar that would be even better (I have forgotten outlook 07)
posted by sarahnicolesays at 11:07 AM on May 8, 2012

Resolution: I ended up configuring Outlook to start in offline mode and that is now what I work in primarily. I configured the Send/Receive action on my account to only send and set it to auto update in offline mode every 1 min. Effectively now my inbox only gets a fresh dump of useless crap fresh and engaging communications when I manually set it to work online. I then wait for the Exchange Server to give birth update my inbox and once it's done just flip it back to offline. I can still respond to emails and have them send out in near real-time.

I wasn't able to configure my Send/Receive Group the way that IanMorr suggested (but not for lack of trying) and I'm guessing it has something to do with the way my Org has Exchange setup (or that I ate a lot of paint chips as a kid).
posted by Smarson at 10:18 PM on May 8, 2012 [1 favorite]