Frequently Asked Question
Undo Send
Last Updated 8 years ago
If you’ve ever sent an email to the wrong address, or accidentally hit “Reply All” on a private email you know what I'm talking about. Usually the only thing you can do is send out another email apologizing for the send and asking users to ignore the previous message.
Because of the way email itself works, once a message has been sent there is no getting it back. Some sever/client configurations have proprietary options for deleting emails before they've been read but most standard email systems don't and if they do, it only works internally. Gmail is not one of those systems.
Luckily, Gmail and various email clients have built in options for allowing you to delay the sending of an email after you click the “send” button.
In this video I show you where to find the “Undo Send” setting and how to use it.
Google Undo Send Demo
Keep in mind that the Gmail “Undo Send” option only works when you send the email from your browser. If you’re using a third-party email client such as Windows Mail, Apple Mail, or Microsoft Outlook, these tools will have their own options and do not work directly with Gmail’s “Undo Send”.
Here are some basic options for the top four Email Clients we use on campus.
Gmail - https://support.google.com/mail/answer/1284885?hl=en
Outlook - http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/microsoft-office/use-outlook-rules-to-prevent-oh-no-after-sending-emails/
Thunderbird - Use the Send Later add-on
Apple Mail - Go offline. Messages won't send until you go back online so you can go into your outbox and delete messages you didn't mean to send.
No one is perfect, and we will make mistakes even with these options. So most of all, just be understanding when it does happen.
Because of the way email itself works, once a message has been sent there is no getting it back. Some sever/client configurations have proprietary options for deleting emails before they've been read but most standard email systems don't and if they do, it only works internally. Gmail is not one of those systems.
Luckily, Gmail and various email clients have built in options for allowing you to delay the sending of an email after you click the “send” button.
In this video I show you where to find the “Undo Send” setting and how to use it.
Google Undo Send Demo
Keep in mind that the Gmail “Undo Send” option only works when you send the email from your browser. If you’re using a third-party email client such as Windows Mail, Apple Mail, or Microsoft Outlook, these tools will have their own options and do not work directly with Gmail’s “Undo Send”.
Here are some basic options for the top four Email Clients we use on campus.
Gmail - https://support.google.com/mail/answer/1284885?hl=en
Outlook - http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/microsoft-office/use-outlook-rules-to-prevent-oh-no-after-sending-emails/
Thunderbird - Use the Send Later add-on
Apple Mail - Go offline. Messages won't send until you go back online so you can go into your outbox and delete messages you didn't mean to send.
No one is perfect, and we will make mistakes even with these options. So most of all, just be understanding when it does happen.