Purpose
This flow enables the message delivery only during working hours. The off-hours messages will be delayed until the start of the next business day.
You can easily set the company business hours modifying the recurring appointment "Working Hours" in the dedicated shared mailbox "DelayOutOfHoursEmails".
You can use the Exchange online transport rule "DelayOutOfHoursEmails" to select which messages will be processed.
The product is a Power Automate (MS Flow) template.
Current version: 1.0.2
Installation
-
Create the shared mailbox "DelayOutOfHoursEmails". Make sure the account you will use to run the flow has "Full access" and "Send as" permissions on this shared mailbox.
- Run Outlook, navigate to the shared mailbox "DelayOutOfHoursEmails" and create the recurring appointment "Working Hours".
- Create the transport rule. To do that:
- Run Exchange admin center and navigate to "mail flow" > "rules".
- Click the plus sign icon to add a new rule and name it "DelayOutOfHoursEmails". Create the rule like the one shown below and save it. Note that this rule is just an example. You can change the conditions according to your needs.
- Run Office 365 PowerAutomate and import the DelayOutOfHoursEmails1002.zip file to your flows list as described here.
Place the address of the shared mailbox to the "Original Mailbox Address" field of "When a new email arrives in a shared mailbox (V2)" trigger. Select "Inbox" in the "Folder" field. Save the flow.
- Place your local time zone name to the strTimeZone field (see the list of time zones here). Save the flow.
- Turn on the flow.
Testing
- At any time during non-business hours run Outlook and send a message. Navigate to the "DelayOutOfHoursEmails" shared mailbox and make sure there is an approval request in Inbox. Wait a couple of minutes and navigate to the Drafts folder of the "DelayOutOfHoursEmails" shared mailbox.
Make sure there is an approval response. Enable "Defer Until" column in Drafts. Note that "Defer Until" is set to the start of the next business day.
If you want to send the delayed message right now, do the following:
- (Outlook for Windows)
- (OWA)
- At any time during business hours run Outlook and send a message. Make sure the message is delivered immediately.
Warning
We do not provide a demo version of the DelayOutOfHoursEmails flow. Instead, we provide a 30-day money-back guarantee.
Purchase the product, and if you do not like it, return it for a full refund.
If you receive a refund for your purchase, you are obligated to uninstall the software.
Limitations
- The messages cannot be delayed more than 48 hours. It is a limitation of Microsoft's message approval process.
What you get after purchase
You will get a link to the file named DelayOutOfHoursEmails1002.zip. You must download this file and then import it to your flows list as described here.
Prices
Licensing policy: the product is licensed based on the number of shared mailboxes where it will run. If you wish to set the flow on 3 shared mailboxes you have to buy 3 licenses.
License type
Price per unit
