Every one of us has experienced an email
blunder at some point whether it was accidentally hitting reply to all, sending
a message to the wrong person or forgetting to attach a file. For example, I
sent a cover letter to the wrong recruiter back when I was in college – which
is likely one of the reasons why I did not hear back from that company. Now
Gmail has rolled out a feature that lets you recall a message within 30 seconds
of it being sent. Gmail originally launched the “Undo Send” feature in March
2009, but it was hidden as an experimental “Labs” feature.
“Previously a popular feature in Gmail
Labs, and recently added to Inbox by Gmail, today we’re adding ‘Undo Send’ as a
formal setting in Gmail on the web,” said Google in an announcement. Inbox is a
mobile app for iOS and Android that keeps your email organized by highlighting
important information and bundling similar messages.
In the web-based version of Gmail, you
can activate the “Undo Send” option by tapping on the gear icon at the top
right and selecting “Settings” from the drop-down menu. Under the general
settings, make sure that ”Enable Undo Send” is check-marked. You will notice
that the number of seconds can be changed between 5, 10, 20 or 30. I recommend
setting up “Undo Send” for 30 seconds because 5 seconds does not seem like
enough time. The “Undo Send” feature will remain activated for your account if
you switched it on while it was still an experiment.
Unfortunately, “Undo Send” is not
available for the Gmail mobile app. But Mashable reported Gmail is planning to
roll out the “Undo Send” feature for the mobile app eventually.
