How To Unsend An Email

If you have been in a situation where you've sent an email to the wrong recipient or the wrong email to the correct recipient then this tip is for you. I have sent an unfinished attachment to my agency work just a moment ago. And there is nothing I can do but to send another email apologizing to my mistake. Well this is not really a major problem but it is embarrassing. The thing I did not know is there is a way of "unsending" an email, specially if you are using Gmail. This is a face saver and could save potential complications from miscommunication.

Here's how to do it.

How To Enable Undo Send

Whilst you are in your Gmail, click the cogwheel(1) at the top right corner then click settings(2). Go to labs(3) then at the search menu, type "undo send"(4) then enter. Be sure to type it with a space between the two words. Undo send will appear below then tick enable(5).

Set it up

Now that it is enabled, go back to general(6) and scroll down to Undo Send(7). From here you can set up the amount of time to undo sending after you have pressed the send button. You can choose from 5 to 30 seconds. (8)

How To Use It

 After clicking the send button(9) when emailing, a message pops up confirming the message has been sent(10). Additional menu of Undo, View Message, is also shown. Click undo(11) to unsend your message and a confirmation message(12) will pop  up!

This will stop your message from being sent. You do need to be quick as the unsending can be done only from 5 to 30 seconds depending on the  set up you used. It is advisable to use the longest 30 seconds to give you enough time to change your mind or rectify a mistake.