[UPDATE: THIS DOES NOT WORK ANYMORE. However, Hans, one of the commenters below, has found a workaround:
Ok, there is a workaround for the issue I have described above.
You have to follow the relevant steps on the hard road here: https://joannalaforet.wordpress.com/2010/02/05/scheduled-mail-and-group-mail-with-individual-salutation-on-mac-for-free/
short:
1. creat a standard Workflow *not* an iCal event
2. save it as app and remember it’s location
3. crate a new event in iCal and select as notification the app you have just created via automatorSo you have all the time you need.
Hope this helps! And if you have other ways to make things easier, please feel free to leave a comment below.]
As OS X updates over time, some functions don’t work the same anymore. Some commenters have provided solutions in the comment section. Make sure you check them out if things don’t happen the way as described in the post.
Found an easier way to schedule mail on Mac to send it later at a specific time I want by using Automator iCal Alarm.
When you open Automator, it immediately asks you to choose what you’re trying to build:
Building an iCal Alarm will automatically set a new event in iCal with the alarm action set to be whatever you design in the Automator.
So I want to send an email at maybe 9am tomorrow morning, I can open Automator and build an iCal Alarm like this:
- Get Specified Finder Items
- New Mail Message (type your mail here – leave recipient blank if you’re sending group mail and add the two extra steps below)
- Send Outgoing Messages
- Save
You may skip step 1 if there’s NO attachment. You can also send group mail (with/without individual salutation) at a later time by adding these steps between steps 2 & 3 above:
- Find Address Book Items (find Groups)
- Group Mailer (check “add greetings" for individual salutation)


Then in iCal, you’ll see a new event set at the time you hit “save":
Then edit the date and time of the event and the alarm time to whenever you need it.
DONE!
However, from experience, attachment doesn’t work for Group Mailer. So, if you wish to send a mail with attachment to a big bunch of people, stick to the 4-step solution. The only drawback is it can’t take group name as recipient, i.e., all email addresses are disclosed. If you wish to keep mailing list confidential, you’ll need to add your group to Bcc list.
You may also set the alarm to be repeated periodically and have the same mail sent to the same recipient(s), say, every month. This would be really handy to someone who needs to send out reminders periodically.
I’m still working on getting Apple Mail to send all drafts at once so that I can incorporate Serial Mail and Apple Mail and Automator. The problem is Apple Mail seems to be incapable of sending more than one mail at the same time. It can send 100+ emails consecutively very quickly (like really immediately one after an other) but just not when you “select all" in drafts box then hit “send" in file menu (or shift+command+D).


32 留言
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二月 8, 2010 於 5:16 上午
Schedule mail on Mac – Automator iCal Alarm « Chicago Mac/PC Support
[…] mail on Mac – Automator iCal Alarm This is a good hint if you want to send email at a specific time. Its a good introduction to the power of […]
五月 31, 2010 於 11:33 上午
fred
www,schedulemail.net allows you to send mail at a specified time from any platform and you don’t even have to keep the computer on when the mail is to be sent!
五月 31, 2010 於 11:34 上午
fred
Opps I meant http://www.schedulemail.net of course!
二月 8, 2011 於 3:09 下午
John
Thanks for the tip! This works out perfectly for scheduling a monthly reminder email.
八月 2, 2011 於 6:06 上午
LMETR
This looks like what I am looking for, but your instructions are missing critical details. Please do not assume that everyone knows what/where you are looking. BE MORE SPECIFIC! I will try the schedulemail.net option as this is not helping.
八月 2, 2011 於 6:44 上午
joannalaforet
Well, not running a help desk business to tutorial website here. If you get it and it helps, great; If you don’ get it and need more help, ask nicely (no guarantee that I can help. I’m not even remotely related to IT in profession); if you give up and wanna go look somewhere else, do as you wish but do so quietly.
八月 8, 2011 於 7:54 下午
worldleader
it works flawlessly! you’re the first one that managed to tell me how to do scheduled mail… it’s idiot proof so to speak!
now i can send mails to people at the right time eg when they return from holiday or i can send out invitations for an opening at the right moment. super!!! thx a 1000 times!!!!
九月 15, 2011 於 4:48 下午
TT
@ LMETR, i’m no IT expert and manage to set this up in under 5 mins. If you can’t follow a few steps then that’s your issue…
九月 29, 2011 於 1:56 上午
Coral Arena
Hi! I’m trying but I don’t know where to find the Ical alarm. My automator only shows at opening “select a starting point to open a new workflow" and it only appears icons like (custom, Files & folders, music & audio, Photos & images and Text) I’m confused and this is the first time I open Automator, I don’t even know how it works!😦 but I need to send 10 different emails with different addresses, at different hours …and I don’t know how! Please if you can help me!🙂 I’ll appreciated.
九月 29, 2011 於 2:35 上午
joannalaforet
Which OS version are you using? I’m actually experiencing problems in Automator under Lion.
九月 29, 2011 於 3:29 上午
Coral Arena
MAC OS X 10.5.8
十月 4, 2011 於 4:55 下午
Bum
Works very well!! Awesome introduction to a very powerful capability that I haven’t been using so far. Thanks🙂
十一月 6, 2011 於 6:41 上午
colcustard
Note, there’s a bug in Lion’s Automator that can cause an iCal Alarm workflow to spontaneously switch to a regular workflow. In such cases, choose File -> Duplicate To and in the copy of the workflow that appears, choose iCal Alarm, press Choose, and then save the workflow.
http://www.macworld.com/article/161956/2011/08/automator_workflow_of_the_month_automatically_email_a_weekly_schedule.html
十一月 10, 2011 於 6:49 下午
chomper
There is a bug in Automator in OSX Lion which will convert an iCal Alarm Workflow to a regular workflow. If this happens, open the workflow in Automator and select file->duplicate to. In the pop-up window, choose iCal Alarm, select choose and then save your workflow again. This will place it in iCal at the time you save it.
三月 17, 2012 於 6:06 下午
Mark Smith
chomper and colcustard – thanks for your notification of the bug. I stupidly didn’t read ALL the comments. so I went a more circuitous route. I discovered that when you used the attachment, it reverted to a workflow, instead of ical event. To get around this:
1. Create an applescript that creates the email. (see below). save it somewhere.
2. create an event in ical on the date you want it.
3. set the event to have an alert of ‘run script’ and open the script you saved earlier.
4. set the time as ‘the same day’ for the event to fire.
it runs at that time and executes the apple script. the applescript creates the email with attachments and sends it.
applescript file – put the contents between (but not including the ==== ) into an applescript using the ‘applescript editor’ – use spotlight to find it.
================================================
set theAttachment to POSIX file “/Users/you/Desktop/attachment.pdf"
tell application “Mail"
set theMessage to make new outgoing message with properties {visible:true, subject:"My Subject", content:"My Body"}
tell theMessage to make new to recipient with properties {address:"anemail@aserver.com.au"}
tell content of theMessage
make new attachment with properties {file name:theAttachment} at after last paragraph
end tell
send theMessage
end tell
==============================================
Happy hunting
四月 29, 2012 於 6:48 下午
Michael J. Doyle DDS
Thank you, Mark for the applescript. It is much easier to use than an ical automator alert as it is easier to reproduce the process of creating a text alert running a script than re-creating an automator ical alert. Of course, you can always copy and paste the ical alert and edit the details…. if you can remember the date on which you placed it in the calendar!
九月 27, 2012 於 12:36 上午
Johan
Thank you John, your instructions were very clear to me. I want to add one little detail: sometimes when trying to save it doesn’t show the ICAL-save option (I am sorry, I don’t know why this is, I tried to find out but failed: I guess it is just another MAC-mystery…). If this happens, then try to do as follows:
In Archive
Select Duplicate to
Choose ICAL
It seemed to work for me!
Again, thanks for the time pal!
Johan – Belgium
十二月 3, 2012 於 6:16 上午
Joe
Is there a way that I could use this automator ical alarm to send a different attachment in the email every day? I have it set up how you explain and I can send an email with a specified file, but I’d like to send the next file in the folder each day. Could I add some other action in automator to select the next file in a folder every day? Thanks for any help.
一月 16, 2013 於 1:18 上午
joannalaforet
Not that I know of. It may require another script or Automator action to do that but I really have no idea. Sorry, can’t help you here.
一月 15, 2013 於 2:47 下午
JBS
will this still work if your computer is switched off at the time of scheduled delivery?
一月 16, 2013 於 1:24 上午
joannalaforet
No. The Mac needs to be on at that time. If you wish to do it without switching on the Mac, consider doing this on websites offering such service (I think someone provided a link somewhere above). For me, I am not relying on my Mac to do my work now. Since the company I work in is now using WordPress.org for their website, I now use a newsletter plugin for scheduled mails.
八月 29, 2013 於 1:40 上午
Kate Sinon
Need a little help!!!! This was great information and I was able to create everything fine, however, I want the email to send automatically, too. Right now, it generates the email and I still have to hit Send. Is there a way to get it to do that? Is it as easy as changing the alert to “email" instead of “open file"? If it’s more than that, can anyone provide easy step by step (I follow directions pretty well)? If it requires writing a script I am lost unless I get a step by step! All help is greatly appreciated.
九月 3, 2013 於 1:31 上午
Rick Lupert
ChungaSoft just realeased a plugin for Mail which does exactly this…provides a second “send" button right next to the main one which opens up a dialog box allowing you to specify the date and time for the email you have open to send. Then the message sites in your outbox and sends when you told it to. Much easier and slicker way to do this than using Automator. http://www.chungwasoft.com/sendlater/
九月 3, 2013 於 2:05 上午
joannalaforet
Thanks for the link. My only concern is that plugins may become incompatible if the Mail app gets an update in the future. Most of the plugins get updated pretty soon after Mail is updated but there’s almost always a gap.
But then, this is just the nature of software updates.
三月 7, 2014 於 8:38 上午
eiger3970
Thanks to the website author for getting the closest to the answer, however this reply by Rick Lupert is the answer…sendlater.
I tried the Automator for group emails in Bcc, with attachment, from account with a signature.
Error: “Email delivery" would like to access your contacts > Don’t Allow. OK.
Error: The action “Send Outgoing Messages" encountered an error. Check the action’s properties and try running the workflow again > OK.
P.S. I am currently using OS X 10.9.2.
P.P.S. Only problem now is I can’t use the Automator’s Group Mailer which writes Dear FirstName in the group Bcc list…any suggestions?
十二月 16, 2013 於 1:34 上午
JamesBond
Thanks for the information, everything works fine except the last part when you have to set the time and event in iCal. After pressing save, it somehow saves it as a workflow and not as an iCal event. It might be some sort of a bug in OSX 10.7.
Solution: Before pressing the save button, click File>>Duplicate to.. >> Then a menu similar to Figure 1 (above) will appear >> click iCal event>>>now save>>now you can check your iCal application again and you will see a new event>>>set the date and time>>>>And there you go its all done🙂
二月 13, 2014 於 5:47 上午
Craig Dobbin
When I create it, it sends RIGHT when I hit save! Kinda defeats the purpose no? Is there a way to avoid this?
二月 19, 2014 於 10:58 下午
Jack Keller
I followed the initial instructions, then the Duplicate tip from JamesBond, still automatically sends😦
Was hopeful that this would be a great way to do this but alas I’m seeing no workaround other than paid services.
五月 22, 2014 於 3:50 下午
Hans
Same Problem here in 10.7. it works fine but no on 10.9 I have no chance to edit the time because the mail is send instantly. Any idea?
五月 22, 2014 於 4:18 下午
Hans
Ok, there is a workaround for the issue I have described above.
You have to follow the relevant steps on the hard road here: https://joannalaforet.wordpress.com/2010/02/05/scheduled-mail-and-group-mail-with-individual-salutation-on-mac-for-free/
short:
1. creat a standard Workflow *not* an iCal event
2. save it as app and remember it’s location
3. crate a new event in iCal and select as notification the app you have just created via automator
So you have all the time you need.
五月 22, 2014 於 9:35 下午
joannalaforet
Thanks for your workaround. Let me put your comment on the top of this post and saves everyone’ time!
五月 22, 2014 於 9:51 下午
Hans
Sure! But I have to add something. Following these steps may lead to an error message, that iCal is not able to open your app. Then there is another workaround: Create an dummy-event.
1. create an iCal event with automator (and not an app) (as described in this post):
2. set the mail process as mail to yourself
3. save your process –> ical will instantly send your mail
4. change the event date as you wish in iCal
5. fire up automator again and open your saved process
6. write the intended mail text and address
Hope nobody is confused🙂