Oops! Did you just send an email by accident? To err is human and Gmail clearly understands that. Whether you forgot to add an attachment, write a captivating subject, left out an individual in the CC section, or just a typo, you can always unsend emails in Gmail as long as you spot the mistake within 30 seconds.
In this guide, we will show you how to unsend an email in your Gmail account and how to adjust Undo send time in Gmail.
How to UnSend Emails in Gmail
Upon sending an Email in Gmail, a notification will pop at the bottom left side of the screen confirming that the email has been sent, and in the same popup notification, you will be presented with the UNDO button. If you regret or realize that something was missing in the email that you just sent, you have a short time to consider “unsending” that email. To retract that email from the recipient’s Gmail inbox, tap on the UNDO button in the bottom left. Alternatively, you can tap on “View Message” and then click UNDO. A new pop will show “message undoing” and in a few seconds a new pop will show that the message has been “unsent.”
After retracting, the email will be opened in the Draft folder on your Gmail account. Hereafter, you can make the decision to edit the email and send it again or just delete it from the folder by tapping the cancel icon (x).
How to Adjust the Undo Send Time in Gmail
You must have realized that the UNDO button disappears quickly from the screen and once it disappears, there is no possible way of unsending accidental emails in Gmail. By default, the Undo Send time is only 5 seconds and that is not enough time to figure out that you have erred and consider retracting the email. To adjust the Undo Send time in Gmail, follow the step-by-step guide below;
- Open Gmail in your browser, then click the Settings gear icon at the top-right. Click See all settings from the menu that appears.
- Under the General tab, find the Undo Send and click on the dropdown box. From the displayed options you will be prompted to select the display time to 5, 10, 20, or 30 seconds. For maximum safety, it’s a good idea to choose 30 seconds. This will delay all messages by half a minute, but that’s worth the grace period when you need to recall an email.
- Once you have adjusted the Undo Send time, scroll to the bottom and tap the “Save” button to save the new settings. That’s it!