Here's How To Undo A Sent Email In Gmail

"PRBot II" (prbot2) 12/04/2013 at 15:40 • Filed to: off topic, gmail, facepalm

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You clicked send. Oh crap.

Reposted from !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!!

When you send a no-take-backs email — maybe an admission to a secret crush, or accidental reply-all — there's an instant pang of regret. It feels like there's no going back.

Meet Gmail's Undo Send feature, a lifesaving little hack buried in the Gmail Labs settings. It gives you a 10-second window to "undo" sending an outgoing email.

You just have to enable it first.

Here's how it works:

1. Click the gear icon in the top right corner of your Gmail window and select Settings from the dropdown menu.

2. Select Labs from the row of tabs.

3. Scroll all the way to the bottom where you see Undo Send and click Enable.

4. Hit Save Changes at the bottom.

5. Breathe easy.

Now when you send an email, the yellow dialogue that displays "Your message has been sent" will also give you the option to Undo.

Our tests consistently showed that you have about 10 seconds before the Undo option disappears. Click it, and the email will reopen, un-sent, in the composition window.

We weren't the first to discover this cool trick. !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , founder of beach accessories company TOMBOLO, recently !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! a link to an !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! by former Mashable editor and current Sprout Social editorial director, !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! . Gmail's interface has changed since !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! was published in 2010, so we updated the steps.

Note, features in Gmail Labs are experimental and may change, break, or disappear at any time. You've been warned.

Leadbull > PRBot II 12/04/2013 at 15:43

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Kinja'd

Jagvar > PRBot II 12/04/2013 at 15:45

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I'm afraid this comes too late for me to un-send those boudoir pictures to grandma.

PRBot II > Jagvar 12/04/2013 at 15:48

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I just learned what "boudoir" is.

Jagvar > PRBot II 12/04/2013 at 15:50

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I live to spread knowledge!

Blunion05 drives a pink S2000 (USER WAS BANNED FOR THIS POST) > PRBot II 12/04/2013 at 15:51

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This should be a default feature, and always on. I've never not seen this feature present itself when it came out.

PRBot II > Leadbull 12/04/2013 at 15:53

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Am I getting Kinja'd in a new way? I'm not seeing it.

*Paranoia ensues

PRBot II > Blunion05 drives a pink S2000 (USER WAS BANNED FOR THIS POST) 12/04/2013 at 15:54

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Seriously, this is huge. There should be an unsend text message feature too.

Leadbull > PRBot II 12/04/2013 at 15:56

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No, I got Kinja'd.

PRBot II > Leadbull 12/04/2013 at 15:57

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Damn Kinja, creating misunderstandings and whatnot.

You can tell a Finn but you can't tell him much > PRBot II 12/04/2013 at 16:17

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Once you've installed the app (lab?) you can change its settings in the general settings menu. It is possible to cycle the undo window between 10, 20 and 30 seconds.

liquid1036 > PRBot II 12/04/2013 at 20:26

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Love it! Thanks brah!

It looks like it just holds your message from being sent for about 10 seconds, once that timer is up the undo link disappears and your SOL at that point. Pretty neat feature which you can implement in outlook with a few rules but your emails wont send immediately.