We’ve all experienced it. That moment after hitting send when you realise your email has been sent to the wrong person or contains a very noticeable typo. In the past, this meant resigning yourself to fate, but thankfully, Gmail offers a built-in safety net – the ‘undo send’ feature.
What is the ‘undo send’ feature?
Gmail’s ‘undo send’ feature isn’t quite a “recall” in the traditional sense. You’re not able to retrieve an email from somebody else’s inbox before they open it.
The feature is more of a window of opportunity that gives you the chance to prevent a very regrettable email from reaching an unintended destination.
‘Undo send’ is a grace period that allows you to prevent your message from being fully sent. A simple feature that’s easily accessible and easy to use.
How does Gmail’s undo send feature work?
When you’re ready to send an email and you click the send button, you’ll immediately get a small notification that pops up at the bottom of your Gmail tab.
This ‘Message sent’ notification is worth paying attention to because it also includes the ‘undo’ button.
Once you see that undo button, that’s your chance to effectively “recall”. Clicking that button will unsend the email before it reaches the sender’s inbox.
The beauty of this tool is that it’s customisable. Everybody’s reaction time varies, and most people won’t notice their mistake immediately. To combat this, Google allows you to choose from a range of durations in which you can ‘undo send’ an email.
This doesn’t mean you can recall an email in Gmail after as long as an hour. Unfortunately, those emails can’t be recalled, but it gives you a little more time to realise any mistakes you may have made.
How to extend your ‘undo send’ feature in Gmail
It’s fairly simple to extend the undo send notification if you’re familiar with Gmail.
Click into your Gmail settings (the gear icon in the top right corner of your Gmail) and then select ‘see all settings’.
You’ll automatically be on the general tab, so scroll down until you see the section ‘undo send’. You have the option to change the send cancellation period to 5, 10, 20, or 30 seconds.
The more time you give yourself, the more likely you are to catch those mistakes before they are sent out permanently.
Once you’ve made your selection, remember to click ‘save changes’ at the bottom of the page.
It’s worth noting, however, that when it comes to the Gmail mobile app, the default delay is 5 seconds, and there isn’t an option to increase the delay time. If you plan to send an email via the app, make sure you give yourself extra time to review it.
A final thought
To get a true understanding of Gmail’s recall tool, you need to be aware that it’s not the same as other tools you may have used previously.
It’s not a magic tool that will bring back your email from another person’s inbox before they’ve had a chance to see it.
Gmail’s ‘undo send’ feature gives you a precious few seconds before disaster. By hitting that incredibly important undo button, you get to alter your email, however you need, before sending it on its way again. If you found this article useful, you might also enjoy Google Workspace vs Microsoft 365.
