There's Gotta be a Way to send Email on a Delay

March 8, 2010 5:31 AM

How can I send email on a delay, on my MacBook?

Life would be so much better if I could send email on a delay. Is it possible?

I use gmail, and the mail program on my Mac. This task seems like it should be simple and straightforward, yet searching it on The Google helps me not at all.

Metafilter, how can I send emails written at 3am at 9am?

posted by airguitar2 to Computers & Internet (6 answers total)

Apple script tied to iCal

Since my flat is on dynamic IP, I've been using the following script for years to bounce the current IP address to me via email. This lets me SSH if I have to back to my flat when I'm on the road.

with timeout of 120 seconds
tell application "Mail"
activate
set theSender to "Mutant "
set theName to "Mutant"
set theAddress to "[e-mail]"
set theSubject to "HeartBeat"

set theBody to do shell script "hostname;uptime;/Users/Mutant/Documents/GrabIP"
set theAttachment to "t.tmp"
set newMessage to make new outgoing message with properties {subject:theSubject, content:theBody & return & return}
tell newMessage
-- Default is false. Determines whether the compose window will
-- show on the screen or whether it will happen in the background.
set visible to true
set sender to theSender
make new to recipient at end of to recipients with properties {name:theName, address:theAddress}
tell content
make new attachment with properties {file name:theAttachment} at after the last paragraph
end tell
end tell
send newMessage
end tell
end timeout

Tie to this to an appointment in iCal, and have it run the script at the appropriate time.

Change the shell script to the command of your choise, or just populate the body with static text you've created.

Schedule for 9AM and you can sleep well.
posted by Mutant at 5:50 AM on March 8, 2010

Can you save emails as drafts until 9 am and send them then?

If you're going be asleep at 9 am, you could write and queue the emails while offline, then set your computer to automatically wake at 8.59, at which point it should send the message. I don't think Apple Mail understands the notion of queueing, though, so you might have to use another mail program.
posted by Grinder at 5:54 AM on March 8, 2010

Try Mail Scripts. This works for me and is similar to what Mutant mentioned above, except it also takes care of tying it to an ical event and contains a graphical interface to select the messages and times you want to send.


When you install the scripts it suggests turning on your scripts in the menubar, but you don't really need to do that. You can just click on the schedule script icon from finder or via your dock (if you place the script there) when needed.
posted by travis08 at 9:18 AM on March 8, 2010

Best answer: Probably the easiest way which doesn't require messing around with scripts or having to have your computer automatically boot up and log in is to use the Send Later extension with Thunderbird. It's got a simple and intuitive interface and Thunderbird is a great mail application.
posted by turkeyphant at 10:10 AM on March 8, 2010

Seconding Send Later w/Thunderbird. It works very well and is a snap.
posted by yoyoceramic at 10:59 AM on March 8, 2010

Just to clarify, the mail scripts I linked to above is dead simple. The only messing around with it you have to do is double clicking on the script to launch it.
posted by travis08 at 11:32 AM on March 8, 2010