Avoid sending embarrassing emails by mistake with Gmails Undo Send

| Technology

Avoid sending embarrassing emails by mistake with Gmails Undo Send

Everyone has sent an email by mistake to the wrong person or saying the wrong thing that they wished they could take back.

However, the embarrassment of sending out unwanted emails by mistake may be a thing of the past now that Google has added an ‘Undo Send’ feature to Gmail.

According to Google, "undo send" allows Gmail users to "cancel a sent mail if they have second thoughts immediately after sending."

This new feature will delay sending out emails for a few seconds after you click Send, allowing you to cancel a sent email if you have second thoughts immediately after sending it.

This feature has been around for quite some time but only found in Gmail Labs, where Google tests new features and experimental functions for its email service. The ‘Undo Send’ feature has been available on Gmail Labs for several years, however due to its popularity, in the next two weeks or so, this new feature will be available for all Gmail users.  

Although, the ‘Undo Send’ will not be available on mobile, so you won’t be able to retract emails you’ve sent via your mobile just yet but Google has said that they will be rolling out this feature for mobile in the near future. However they didn’t specify date.

The new ‘Undo Send’ feature is switched off by default, but can be activated under the ‘General’ tab in Gmail settings. You are also able to set a length of time between when you hit send and when you can undo the send and cancel your email.

The options for this are 5, 10, 20 or 30 seconds to cancel before the email is sent out permanently. So we would strongly recommend 30 seconds to avoid any embarrassment in the future! 

Luke Stanley