Undo send with Gmail for avoiding sending emails you might regret!

Here is a scenario. You had a argument with your boss and you really lost your cool. You went home had a couple of beers and wrote down an email to your boss telling him exactly what you felt about him in a very colorful language. Now after clicking on ‘Send’ you get this sinking feeling. You wish you could go back 10 seconds and avoid sending that email.

Here is a scenario. You have an argument with your boss and you really lost your cool. You went home had a couple of beers and wrote down an email to your boss telling him exactly what you felt about him in a very colorful language. Now after clicking on ‘Send’ you get this sinking feeling. You wish you could go back 10 seconds and avoid sending that email.

I bet some developers at Gmail did this quite often and hence decided to create ‘Undo Send’. 🙂 It is one of my favorite now since Gmail allowed multiple account sign-in.

How to get Undo Send with Gmail?

  • This option still a beta feature with Gmail and hence is available with Gmail Labs. Just click on Settings on the right hand top corner and then look up the Labs tab.
  • Here look up Undo Send and select Enable. Save the changes at the bottom of the Labs page.
  • Visit the General tabs settings and define the amount of time you want before which you can cancel an email. The most time allowed is 30 seconds.

How to Undo a mail?

Okay, once you have sent a mail there is an option to undo it highlighted in red at the top. Click on it immediately and then mail is not send. 😉

Use this feature to avoid sending emails which to wrong recipients or incase you have written something you wish you had not. But Undo Send should be used as absolute last resort. From a professional point of view think before you click on send. 🙂

13 Comments

Anshul August 25, 2010

It is these innovative ideas that keeps Google a class apart from others. Though I hate them for being a Big Brother, I love them for coming up with these small but wonderful ideas.

But as you said, it is always better to think before sending a mail at first place

Aditya Kane August 25, 2010

Yes thinking before a action is always the best. 😀

Anshul Dixit August 25, 2010

I wish Gmail also comes up with a feature of retrieving mail. This is present in Outlook, and it retrieves back the mail from recipient’s mail box if he has not already opened it. A very useful feature!!

Aditya Kane August 26, 2010

Cannot really compare Gmail and Outlook. Outlook is a licensed software which is quite expensive especially if you are comparing form a office solutions point of view.

Prasad August 25, 2010

Hummmm..! A real life scenario and really helpful.
Aditya is there any solution to retrieve the mails deleted from trash?

Aditya Kane August 25, 2010

No. Not come across such a feature on Gmail and no help on Gmail forums either. But just like ‘undo send’, “undo delete forever” can be quite handy. 😉

JKM August 25, 2010

Nice buddy

Avinash August 25, 2010

Cool thanks for the update.

2start-training.com August 26, 2010

Thank you for sharing the great information.

Vishal August 28, 2010

Its great that g-mail constantly keeps improving its services with its new features to make it more innovative and user friendly …..all hail google…

Customer Care Rep August 30, 2010

Thanks for the update too! Been looking for emails that has this update. For example sending wrong info, I made that mistake once but I just sent an email again.

Aditya Kane August 31, 2010

Glad to know you liked it and found it useful. Just a tip, try using a name instead of Customer Care Rep. Thanks. 🙂

nic September 28, 2010

really helpful…thanks for sharing:)