XCLN: Deferred Delivery Options for Exchange/Outlook Clients

• Microsoft Exchange Windows 95/98 client, versions 4.0, 5.0
• Microsoft Exchange Windows NT client, versions 4.0, 5.0
• Microsoft Outlook Windows 95/98 client, versions 8.0, 8.01, 8.02, 8.03, 8.5
• Microsoft Outlook Windows NT client, versions 8.0, 8.01, 8.02, 8.03, 8.5

SUMMARY

When you use an Exchange or Outlook client to send a new message, you may want to delay or defer the delivery of the message to a later time. Depending upon the selections made in the options or properties, the message may be held in the user's Outbox (on the Exchange Server computer) or in the message transfer agent (MTA) queue until the appropriate delivery time.

MORE INFORMATION

Option 1 - Deferred Submission:
By selecting File, Properties from the menu bar of a new message, you can access the Send Options button, which allows you to defer delivery of the message. Select the Microsoft Exchange Server tab to access the send time options. "Send This Item" sends the message after the amount of time you specify. Type a number in the first box, and then select a time increment in the second box. Delayed messages are immediately sent to your Outbox in your Exchange Server mailbox, which stores them for the specified time before sending. This option is not an X.400 standard and is specific to Exchange Server.

If you are using a personal folder (PST) for storage of your e-mail locally, the message immediately leaves your Outbox and shows in the Sent Items folder. This is because the client does not control the deferred delivery time. The message is moved from the local Outbox to the Exchange Server mailbox Outbox, where it awaits the specified time. This allows the message to be sent after the client logs off the Exchange Server computer.

An advantage to using Deferred Submission is that if you decide to cancel or withdraw the message, you can manually remove it from your Outbox on the Exchange Server computer and delete it or move to another folder before it is submitted for delivery.

Option 2 - Deferred Delivery:
The second option for deferring delivery of a message may be accessed by opening a new message and selecting View, Options. From this window, you can specify options in "Do Not Deliver Before" to have a message delivered on or after a certain date and time. The drop-down menu displays a calendar that allows you to select a specific date. The default time that is returned in this window is the Day End Time that is specified in your Calendar preferences. For example, if you select December 1st from the drop- down menu, the date and time displayed in the selection box is displayed as "Wed 12/1/98 5:00PM". The Day End Time can be changed in the Calendar Options button on the General tab by selecting Tools, Options from the Outlook menu bar.

Instead of typing numbers for a date or time, or selecting a date from the menu, you can type a description of the date or time in words. Outlook then converts the description to a number format. This conversion is called AutoDate. For example, if you type [ASCII 147]one week from today[ASCII 148] in a date field, Outlook displays the numbers that represent the correct month, day, and year exactly one week from today.

After you set a message for deferred delivery by selecting "Do Not Deliver Before" and clicking Send, the message appears to leave the Outbox and is displayed in the Sent Items folder. The message has not actually been delivered at this point. Because this characteristic is an X.400 specification, a flag is set in the message header to denote this option, and the Exchange Server MTA queue holds the message until the specified time.

When you use this method of Deferred Delivery, you cannot cancel or withdraw the message, because it is no longer available in your Exchange Server Outbox.

Keywords : XCLN
Version : WINDOWS:4.0,5.0,8.0,8.01,8.02,8.03,8.5
Platform : WINDOWS
Issue type : kbhowto