Email as a digital tickler

[olliesaunders]

It has come to my attention that I don't have a nice way of tickling things. What I'd really like is a service that I can send an email to that will send the same email back to me after a specific amount of time.

This way if I get an email and I want to tickle, then I can forward it to this service and add "3 days" at the top and then I'll get it come back to me in 3 days. Does anybody know of such a service?

Another thing I'd quite like—and related—is to be able to send an email to a service that would hold it for a while before sending on to the final recipient. I like to have email exchanges with friends but I've realized they dry up if I reply too quickly; daily replies are too much of a burden. So what I've been doing is writing the reply immediately but keeping it as a draft; not sending it. Trouble with this is I have to remember to then go in to drafts and send it after a few days, I'd like something to automate that.

[Oogiem]

What I'd really like is a service that I can send an email to that will send the same email back to me after a specific amount of time.
...Another thing I'd quite like—and related—is to be able to send an email to a service that would hold it for a while before sending on to the final recipient.

I did a google search on email tickler service and got a bunch of hits.

Here is one that was near the top, not affiliated, never used them (they are obviously cloud based) but does exactly what you ask for

http://www.itickleme.com/

And another option I found

http://www.lettermelater.com/

Some mail clients do it automatically, thunderbird can for sure. Perhaps others can as well.

[Picat]

If you're using Outlook, you can hack a view and do it yourself: http://www.trenholm.co.uk/?p=59

I use this method at the office and it works well. At home, on a Mac, I don't have many tickle-able emails so I just attach them to OmniFocus actions. I did use an applescript-driven electronic tickler file for a while but I can't find the link at the moment.

ETA: I think this is the applescript I was using: http://www.brynary.com/2007/4/25/applescript-gtd-tickler-file-for-mac
For emails, I would just drag-and-drop to the desktop and then tag it with the tickle date.

[olliesaunders]

Thanks Oogiem. Sometimes I just don't think of the right search terms. I'm using LetterMeLater and it seems to be working great so far.

Sorry Picat, I should have said: I'm using Gmail.

[Jeff West]

Just forward an email to tuesday@3mindme.com or 3days@3mindme.com or Jan5th@3mindme.com and the email will return to your inbox on the day you specified.

See http://lifemuncher.blogspot.com/2007/12/3mindme-reminder-service.html for a description. Also, of course, check out http://3mindme.com/ for instructions.

[olliesaunders]

Thanks Jeff, that's much nicer to use!

[Lilly]

Thanks a lot for that information. That is a very easy way to accomplish this, don't even need to download anything, or register anything which is nice. I could really use something like this, since I have the same problem. I will have the intention of sending out a certain email on a certain day, but I will often forget about it completely.
contact center (http://www.inin.com/ProductSolutions/Pages/Contact-Center.aspx)

[Paper Ninja]

Another option is Future Me (which has an interesting take on the subject!)

http://sellsmarternotharder.typepad.com/the-sell-smarter-not-hard/2011/05/future-me-is-a-website-created-by-matt-sly-and-jay-patrikios-that-allows-you-the-ability-to-create-an-email-for-yourself-toda.html