Schedule Emails
How to schedule mail merged emails from Google Sheets
This article describes how to send mail merged emails on a schedule date and time from Google Sheets using the Mail Merge add-on.
Available in Google Sheets
Video tutorial
Watch this quick tutorial or follow the step-by-step instructions below to find out how to schedule emails in Google Sheets using the Mail Merge add-on.
(Comming Soon)
Step 1: Create the Scheduled column
In Google Sheets, create a new column and name it Scheduled or any other name you wish.
Step 2: Enter the date and time in Scheduled column
Type the date and time you want the emails to be sent in the Scheduled column.
NOTE:
The time zone for the email schedule process is based on the time zone set in Google Sheets through File > Settings > General > Time zone.
Dates can be interpreted differently based on the region. For example, 01/09/2024 means January 9, 2024 in the USA, and 1 September 2024 in the UK. To avoid this ambigiuty, and to also make sure the values are not misinterpreted as plain text, do the following:
Firstly, enter the date/time in a numerical format, for example, 02/03/2024 7:15 pm.
Secondly, highlight the Scheduled column, click on Format > Number > Custom date and time (see screenshot below), and then change the date/time format so that the month's name is shown. In this example, the date/time changes to Feb 3, 2024 7:15 pm.
Step 3: Start Mail Merge
In Google Sheets, click on Extensions > Mail Merge > Start from the menu.
Step 4: Open the 'Email Schedule Process' dialog
Click the Schedule link button.
Step 5: Start the scheduling process
Select the Scheduled column and click Start. You can now close the Email Schedule Process dialog and the main dialog. The email schedule process starts running in the background and hence there is no need to leave the Google Sheets file open or your computer on.
To stop email scheduling click the Stop button and close the dialog boxes.
NOTE:
The email schedule process start running an hour after it is started. Hence the Last run will be N/A for an hour after you start the process.
The email schedule process is then triggered hourly and not every minute. This means your emails are sent within an hour of the scheduled time, and the time the email is sent is logged in the Filter Rows to Merge column.
The email schedule process only queues emails that contain a valid date and time value in the Scheduled column. If a row is empty then the row is ignored. If you add or delete rows in your sheet with a valid scheduled date/time, this is automatically detected by the email schedule process, so you do not need to restart the process to update the queue.
Only one sheet tab can have Scheduling running at one point in time.
The schedule process will process a maximum of 50 emails every hour. That is a total of 1,200 emails a day.
