I want this so bad. I've looked before, but I can't find this feature anywhere.
But rather than setting delays I'd like to just define a range (say 8am–6pm) during which mail is sent. Anything outside that range would be queued until the next period.
BTW, I thought about similar feature - setting a desired reply date/time on e-mails you send, so the recipients MUA can automatically schedule it in users calendar (and/or remind him of replying you).
As of many people replying they need a feature no one has - here's opportunity of creating a completely new web e-mail system :-).
1) How to build it? (server-based or client-based) and
2) Who's going to pay for it?
It sounds like one of those things that a small number of people talk passionately about but there's not actually any money in making their pain go away. Or maybe -- beats the heck out of me where the payback is.
Client-side this is less than a week on the Microsoft platform -- a month if you want to handle all email clients. Server-side? I think you'd have to pick just one mail host and stick to customizing it.
One of the issues would be turning it off -- you'd have to have some kind of neato keypad test thingy to prevent drunken farts from just clicking the button and sending anyway. That leads me to believe a better design might be client-side.
That's a nice one. Didn't think about that. It's a nice compromise between client and server solutions.
Store-and-forward has another big set of issues though. File sizes and bandwidth requirements are easily non-trivial. In addition, there could be legal issues with keeping the data around for awhile and then forwarding that wouldn't exist if you just piggy-backed on some other app. In a way, it kind of puts you in the league with GMail and the other guys, right?
But rather than setting delays I'd like to just define a range (say 8am–6pm) during which mail is sent. Anything outside that range would be queued until the next period.