All of us have experienced email regret, the state of mind that immediately follows:
1. An impulsive and emotionally charged email
2. An email accidentally sent without actually finishing it
3. An email with many typos and grammatical mistakes
4. An email with which you have forgotten to include a file attachment
5. A very personal email or a sensitive work email sent to the wrong colleague.
In such situations, wouldn't it be great if it were possible to unsend an email even after it has been sent? This is where the Gmail Undo Send feature helps. Once enabled, the Undo Send feature allows you to unsend an email even after it has been sent. Think of it as Gmail's way of giving you a window of opportunity to fix your email sins of the recent past. Once you enable the Gmail Undo Send option, every time you send an email, Gmail will not send it instantly, as is the normal practice. Instead, it will hold back the email on its server for a few seconds, allowing you to change your mind, retrieve and modify the email if you wish. This window of a few seconds to unsend emails can be a big life saver. To enable the Undo Send option in Gmail, all you need to do is follow the following steps:
Once you are logged in to your Gmail account, look for the Settings button on the top right corner of the screen in your inbox and click on it. The Settings button allows you to change all the various options and features related to your Gmail account. Once you click on the Settings button, a drop-down menu list will pop up on the screen. Within the drop-down menu list, once again click on the Settings option.
Now click on the Labs tab to browse through all the Google Labs features available in your Gmail accoount. Google Labs basically contains experimental features that may still be under development. Undo Send is one of the features available as part of Google Labs in Gmail. Scroll down the Labs page and look for the Undo Send option and enable it. Now all the emails that you send will be temporarily saved for a few seconds and will not be immediately sent. Once you enable this option, make sure you scroll all the way down to the bottom of the Labs page and save the changes.
Now that the Undo Send option has been enabled, let us try it. Assume that it is your birthday and you re struck in the office later than usual, since your boss gave you a last minute project to finish within a ridiculous deadline. You are really frustrated with your boss and impulsively type an email expressing your displeasure. Although you intend to send this email to your friend, you are in a hurry and you accidentally send the email to you boss!
The moment you send the email, you realize what was happened. Under normal circumstances, once an email has been sent, there is nothing that can be done. Fortunately, you have enabled Undo Send and it allows you to change your mind about sending an email even after a few seconds of clicking the send button. Once you send an email, you will see the following message displayed on the screen. If you click on the Undo link in the message within the next few seconds, you will be able to prevent the email from being sent. As soon as you click on the Undo link, the email will be retrieved and will not get sent. You will see the following message displayed on the screen when the email has been successfully unsent:
It is possible to control the number of seconds for which the Undo Send option is available after sending an email. Click on Settings> General> Undo Send> Send Cancellation period and select the number of seconds that you wish to configure on your account. You can choose between 5,10.20 or 30 seconds.
If you want to unsend an email while using some other email account, then you can configure the Microsoft Outlook email client to delay any emails you send by a few minutes.
1. An impulsive and emotionally charged email
2. An email accidentally sent without actually finishing it
3. An email with many typos and grammatical mistakes
4. An email with which you have forgotten to include a file attachment
5. A very personal email or a sensitive work email sent to the wrong colleague.
In such situations, wouldn't it be great if it were possible to unsend an email even after it has been sent? This is where the Gmail Undo Send feature helps. Once enabled, the Undo Send feature allows you to unsend an email even after it has been sent. Think of it as Gmail's way of giving you a window of opportunity to fix your email sins of the recent past. Once you enable the Gmail Undo Send option, every time you send an email, Gmail will not send it instantly, as is the normal practice. Instead, it will hold back the email on its server for a few seconds, allowing you to change your mind, retrieve and modify the email if you wish. This window of a few seconds to unsend emails can be a big life saver. To enable the Undo Send option in Gmail, all you need to do is follow the following steps:
Once you are logged in to your Gmail account, look for the Settings button on the top right corner of the screen in your inbox and click on it. The Settings button allows you to change all the various options and features related to your Gmail account. Once you click on the Settings button, a drop-down menu list will pop up on the screen. Within the drop-down menu list, once again click on the Settings option.
Now click on the Labs tab to browse through all the Google Labs features available in your Gmail accoount. Google Labs basically contains experimental features that may still be under development. Undo Send is one of the features available as part of Google Labs in Gmail. Scroll down the Labs page and look for the Undo Send option and enable it. Now all the emails that you send will be temporarily saved for a few seconds and will not be immediately sent. Once you enable this option, make sure you scroll all the way down to the bottom of the Labs page and save the changes.
Now that the Undo Send option has been enabled, let us try it. Assume that it is your birthday and you re struck in the office later than usual, since your boss gave you a last minute project to finish within a ridiculous deadline. You are really frustrated with your boss and impulsively type an email expressing your displeasure. Although you intend to send this email to your friend, you are in a hurry and you accidentally send the email to you boss!
The moment you send the email, you realize what was happened. Under normal circumstances, once an email has been sent, there is nothing that can be done. Fortunately, you have enabled Undo Send and it allows you to change your mind about sending an email even after a few seconds of clicking the send button. Once you send an email, you will see the following message displayed on the screen. If you click on the Undo link in the message within the next few seconds, you will be able to prevent the email from being sent. As soon as you click on the Undo link, the email will be retrieved and will not get sent. You will see the following message displayed on the screen when the email has been successfully unsent:
It is possible to control the number of seconds for which the Undo Send option is available after sending an email. Click on Settings> General> Undo Send> Send Cancellation period and select the number of seconds that you wish to configure on your account. You can choose between 5,10.20 or 30 seconds.
If you want to unsend an email while using some other email account, then you can configure the Microsoft Outlook email client to delay any emails you send by a few minutes.
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