How to Unsend an Email in Gmail?

In the competitive, fast-paced business world of the twenty-first century, it is simple to lose client trust—or worse—by making a simple error in an email. If you’ve ever sent an email to the wrong recipient or realised a massive typo as soon as you hit the send button, you’ll enjoy Gmail’s undo send tool. Even though it is always preferable to check emails before sending them, mistakes will occur. Even the greatest Android phones still have cramped keyboards, which makes sending email messages while on the go even more difficult. If you’re using Gmail, you have access to features that can help you avoid making such errors in the first place.

How to Enable Undo Send in Gmail

When you compose a new message in Gmail and click the send button, unless you have enabled the undo send feature, Google will automatically send the message. The approach of a delayed transmission may appear cumbersome, but it makes more sense when the circumstances are considered. Although many people have a Gmail account, there are still a significant number of people that utilise alternative platforms. Due to the fact that Gmail does not control all email accounts in the globe, the delay ensures that you can erase sending regardless of the recipient, as the email never reached the recipient’s inbox.

Before you can unsend an email in Gmail, you must add a delay between selecting the Send button and when the email is really sent. Open your Gmail inbox in a web browser and proceed as follows:

  1. Click the Settings (cog icon) in the upper-right corner to open the Settings pop-up.
  2. In the Settings pop-up, click See all settings to open the full settings page.
    a gmail inbox with the settings cog and see all settings button in the settings pane highlighted
  3. On the settings page, in the General tab, find an option called Undo Send and use the drop-down menu to change the cancellation period. You can adjust the time frame to wait before sending Gmail messages from 5 to 30 seconds.
    gmail settings with the undo send option and dropdown highlighted
  4. After making the necessary changes to the Undo Send options, scroll down to the bottom of the Settings page and click Save Changes to save the new configuration.
    gmail settings page with the save changes button highlighted

Now that you’ve established a sending delay, you will be able to unsend emails if you make a mistake. The maximum delay is only 30 seconds, giving you little time to study an email, so you must continue to exercise caution. Still, you should be able to detect a missing attachment or a significant misspelling before the email is sent.

Also Read: How to Fix Sync Errors in Outlook Mac?

How to unsend a Gmail message from your web browser

Now that you’ve taken the time to set up the unsend option in Gmail, let’s examine how to use it. The feature is accessible on both the mobile and desktop versions of Gmail.

To undo the sending of a Gmail email from a desktop browser, perform these steps after clicking the Send button:

  1. After you click Send, the message sent pop-up will appear at the bottom of the page. You will also see View Message and Undo Send options as well.
  2. Click the Undo button in the pop-up to cancel the email and go back into the editor to correct your mistake.
    gmail inbox with a message sent box and the undo button highlighted

How to unsend an email from your mobile device

The Gmail app is available in the Google Play Store for Android smartphones and tablets. Moreover, there is an iOS version for iPhone and iPad users. If you frequently send emails while on the move, you are probably all too familiar with the fear of committing a language error. The act of unsending Gmail messages is as straightforward on a mobile device as it is in a web browser.

After completing an email and pressing the Send button, a confirmation message appears at the bottom of the screen. This banner features an Undo button on its right side. To cancel the email’s sending, tap the Undo button. The email is immediately cancelled and you are returned to the text editor to make modifications before resending.

Also Read: How To Download MovieBox Pro for Android?

Bonus Tip: Schedule an email in Gmail

If you’re using a desktop browser and wish to send an email at a specific time, instead of hitting Send, click the small up arrow to the right of the Send button to expand the Send menu, and then take the following steps:

  1. Click Schedule send to open the Schedule Send options pop-up in the Send menu.
    gmail text composer with the scheduled send flyout open and the schedule send button highlighted
  2. In the pop-up, you can choose from a few default options or click Select date and time to be more specific. Selecting a pre-defined time and date schedules your email immediately. If you opt for Select date and time, follow the prompts to schedule your email when you want to send it.
    the gmail scheduled send pop-up is open displaying dates and times to schedule sending an email and the box is highlighted in red
  3. Once you have selected a time and date to send your email, an option called Scheduled appears in the inbox sidebar. You can open the Scheduled outbox to view all your scheduled emails.
    a gmail inbox is open on the scheduled mail outbox with the scheduled button and a scheduled email highlighted
  4. To cancel your scheduled email—if you want to edit it before it sends—you can open the email and click Cancel send.
    a scheduled email is open in the gmail outbox and the cancel send button is highlighted
  5. After you click Cancel send, Gmail opens the email in the draft editor so that you can make any necessary changes.
  6. After you make your changes, you can resend your email or schedule it again for another time.

Instead of a drop-down menu, you may access the Schedule send choices on Android by touching the three vertical dots adjacent to the Send button and selecting Schedule send. The remaining steps are essentially identical to the desktop version.

Also Read: How to Fix “unfortunately App Has Stopped” Error on Android?

Make Gmail work for you

The benefits of unsending emails in Gmail are readily apparent. This feature exists for those instances in which you discover too late that you forgot to attach a file or unintentionally tapped Reply All rather than Reply. Unsending emails is one of our favourite Gmail tips for folks who are new to the platform or unaware with all the great features that Gmail accounts offer.

 

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