This Hidden Gmail Feature Will Save You From This Horrible Email Mistake
One horrible email mistake can be slightly embarrassing at best to possibly career-ending at worst.
If you used to panic in that situation, don’t. Let this little-known Gmail feature do the damage control.
Whether it’s an angry email you knew you shouldn’t have sent or an email sent to the wrong person, some email screwups do happen from time to time.
But those inevitable email mistakes happen, thankfully, Gmail extends grace for up to 30 seconds to undo your acts.
Yes, you’ve read it right. Gmail has a feature where you can ‘un-send’ your emails for up to 30 seconds.
If you wait for hours and days, or even minutes, you will lose the ability to cancel the email.
The trick is to catch your mistake quickly and act fast. My Gmail setting was initially set to 5 seconds to undo my mistake, but you can extend the grace period up to 30 seconds if desired.
Here is how to cancel your emails sent on Gmail and get up to 30 seconds to do it.
Cancel an email with Undo Send
If you sent an email in Gmail and decide you don’t want to send the email, you have a short window of time to actually cancel send.
Yes, you can retract the message and your receiver will never see the email.
The trick is to ‘undo’ send right away.
- Right after you send a message, see the black ‘Message Sent’ popup.
- Click ‘Undo’.
- You’ll now see ‘Message Undone’ as a confirmation that your message got unsent.
Set how many seconds you to recall a message
By default, your cancellation period is set to 5 seconds. But you can extend that to 30 seconds max. Here is how.
- Go to Gmail.
- Log in and click ‘See all sessings’ in the top right corner.
- Go down the list and find ‘Undo Send’.
- Choose a cancellation period from the drop-down options (5, 10, 20, or 30 seconds).
- Go to the end of the settings, and click ‘Save changes’.