Expire your email messages

Like fruit, communication is best when it's fresh. While you can't quite add a 'best before date' to your emails you can set a date after which they will expire (kind of like telling your words how long they have to live). This is handy if, for example, you really need a response to your email by a certain date/time. If the recipient hasn't responded by your deadline then the email will expire saving them the inconvenience of subsequently responding to an out of date request.

To do this click the Options... button on the toolbar while composing your email and tick the Expires after: box then set a date and time for the expiry:

The date/time you chose will then be displayed in the email recipient's Info Bar when they read the message.

Sadly there's no easy way to have Outlook read out a "This message will self-destruct at 12:35" warning with some onerous music in the background but those with a penchant for HTML will no doubt already know how to do this.