Readers’ Tips

Delay sending emails

I often forget to wish friends and relatives a happy birthday, even though I have all the dates written down in a diary. My cousin pointed me towards a handy Chrome extension called ‘Gmelius for Gmail’ that lets me schedule emails to be sent at a time of my choice. To install it, make sure you’re logged into your Gmail account and go to www. snipca.com/24336. Click Add To Chrome, then click ‘Add extension’.

Your Gmail account will open and you’ll be prompted to log into Gmelius using it. Once you’ve done that, click Allow, then click Open My Dashboard to see a list of all the actions Gmelius can perform. These include scheduling emails, receiving reminders, tracking when people have opened your messages and adding notes to your emails.

Clicking the Settings tab at the top left lets you see how many times you can use each feature for free. In most cases, you can perform each action five times for free per month, which is more than enough for my needs. To schedule an email, return to Gmail, click the Compose button and click the clock-shaped Send Later icon at the bottom left. Here you have a choice of options for when your email will be sent (see screenshot).

As a bonus, the service automatically stops companies tracking the links you click in their emails (see www. snipca.com/24376) and adds useful Unsubscribe buttons to newsletters and promotional emails. Both these features are completely free.