Gmail’s still one of the most productivity-focused webmail apps on the ‘net, and its strong ecosystem of 3rd party add-ons and native Labs extras let it morph into exactly the online email tool you need. One popular feature that Gmail doesn’t include is email scheduling, and there’s several tools that have cropped up to do just that. When you need an email to arrive in your colleague’s inbox at a certain time, you can schedule it and make it seem like you sent it right then.

Right Inbox is a new tool for Gmail that makes scheduling emails absolutely seamless in your Gmail experience. It integrates so nicely, in fact, that it’s hard to remember it’s not just a built in feature. Keep reading to see more about it, and why it might be the email scheduling tool you’ve been looking for.

Adding on to Gmail

Right Inbox enters into the email space with a new way to schedule emails. You can use it to schedule when you want an email to send, down to the minute, and then just forget it. It’s simple and easy, and best of all, it integrates better with Gmail than any other Gmail add-on we’ve ever seen. In fact, you’ll likely forget it’s just not another native Gmail feature.

Installing Right Inbox is simple. Just head to their download site and install the extension as normal in Google Chrome or Firefox. Next time you login to Gmail, you’ll see a Gmail-style pop-over to activate Right Inbox. You’ll need to authorize it to access your Gmail account, and choose the account you want if you’re using Gmail multi-login. Then, if you use multiple browsers, you’ll need to install the extension in all your browsers, but you’ll only have to authorize it once.

Adding Right Inbox to Gmail only takes seconds

Scheduling emails the easy way

Right Inbox major purpose is : Sending emails on your own schedule, while looking perfectly built-in to Gmail. Now, when you open the Compose screen in Gmail, you’ll see a Send Now button, and a Send Later button. The red button looks just like the standard Send button, and the Send Later button and menu are styled exactly like the rest of Gmail. It looks just like it was built in, and works just as good. You can choose to send the email in 1, 2, or 4 hours from now, or tomorrow morning or afternoon, or at a specific time. That’s it. Once you click your selection, the email Compose screen is closed and you’ll be back in your inbox just like you sent an email normally.

Quickly send your messages on your own schedule with integrated buttons

For the most part, the existing options will cover most of the reasons you’d need to send something later. Say you want to tell someone something is completed, but you’re currently working on it. The built-in hour options would likely be perfect for that. Or, if you want someone to receive an email in the morning or afternoon, times they’re more likely to be reading their email, then those options are built in as well. For everything else, you can enter the specific date, time, and the timezone of the recipient (in GMT format) for the email to arrive. This way, you can make sure your boss in Australia or the President of the US receive your emails at exactly the right times.

Pick specific dates, times, and time zones to send the message

In my tests, Right Inbox sent the emails perfectly. The only problems I had were with an account that had the timezone set incorrectly. If your emails don’t seem to be sending at the times you picked, you’ll need to login and change your Gmail timezone settings, and Right Inbox will then automatically change. Or, if you don’t worry about your emails timezone looking odd otherwise, you could set your inbox to the timezone of the people you need to schedule emails to the most, so you won’t have to pick a timezone each time.

To Clean Up Your Google Accounts

One thing that can be confusing with Gmail add-ons is getting them removed. With Right Inbox, and honestly most other 3rd party Gmail add ons, just uninstall the browser extension. Then, login into your Google account, and open the Authorized Access page. Here, you can remove access rights of Right Inbox if you decide you don’t want to use it again. While you’re at it, you might want to remove some other apps you’re not using at the same time. But hopefully, you’ll decide you like Right Inbox and want to keep it around.

Removing any account you want from your Google account

Finally

Scheduling email is admittedly a somewhat odd thing. We’re so used to realtime communications that delaying sending an email seems like madness to many. But there’s many reasons it can come in handy. You can schedule emailed updates to your team right when you’re thinking about it, but only have it send when it’s time for the message. You could schedule emails to family and friends for special occasions, and have them arrive right on the special day automatically.

If you do want to schedule emails, Right Inbox is just about the easiest possible way to do it. It’s right now free in beta, and worked flawlessly. The Right Inbox team is also working on adding more features, including response tracking and tools for handling larger attachments. If they keep adding features that integrate directly with Gmail as smoothly as their email scheduling, they’ll definitely have a good chance at becoming a very popular Gmail add-on.

Give it a try and share your thoughts on how it worked for you, and how email scheduling fits in your workflow.

Posted By: Bibin