It simply puts your mail into a 5 second queue before it is sent out. There's no undo whatsoever...
So if you send an email to your boss and race back to your computer to undo it later, you are out of luck.
Google needs to change the name and not call it Undo.
Chaun
· 8 months ago
what other email let's you do that?
Miguel Alvarez
· 8 months ago
I actually just tested this and it does send the email, when you undo it pulls it out of the other person's inbox.
Facebook User
· 8 months ago
God, I less than three Google.
carokann
· 8 months ago
when I send "I love you" to my boss instead of my wife I have 5 seconds to reconsider... :-)
olivia
· 8 months ago
Ha, yes! I once called my boss "girlie," As in "hey, girlie!" My boss is definitely a man and the message was not intended to go to him. It could have been much much worse. I say there should be no time limit. If I want to take back something I said, I should be allowed to. Of course, there should also be an option for the receiver to block the unsend function of particular messages or users so that if he really wants or needs to keep that email than he/she can. An all out war game over email.
carokann
· 8 months ago
I think the easy way is until the receiver opens the post. After that it is to late anyway...
markharrison04
· 8 months ago
Perhaps its me but it seems like a whole lot of fuss about nothing. 5 seconds? I have sent plenty of emails in error and 5 seconds just simply isn't enough time.
GoEverywhere Team
· 8 months ago
I agree Mark. I wish Google would allow you to set the amount of time. I'd even be fine with it hanging in my outbox for a period of time before sending, if I got to choose that time frame!
chicachiflada
· 8 months ago
nice to hear about this! might prove useful at some point! though I agree with stoweboyd
Karen McAdams
· 8 months ago
i wish it worked with pop mail.
Adam Ostrow
· 8 months ago
some fair points about it not being a "real" unsend like Outlook, but in the age of Blackberries, not so sure a "real" unsend exists, since emails that make it out are instantly pushed to mobiles, even if the user doesn't check them in Outlook, Gmail, etc.
Drew
· 8 months ago
I remember the AOL days where you could take back an e-mail before it had been read.
GrandmasterB
· 8 months ago
It's kind of like a secondary check, in case you pass the drunk email add-on.
Nathan
· 8 months ago
Of course, if you're really worried about, say, drunk-emailing people, you can always enable the Mail Goggles feature (http://sn.im/e6c22).
Mircea @ MyTestBox.com
· 8 months ago
It's a good feature. Sometime you hit send by mistake...at least you have now a second chance.
admanic
· 8 months ago
Haste makes waste!
I've sent many emails that I wish I had not. This is a good idea.
Although Gmail shouldn't set a time on it. It should be retractable until the recipient opens it.
Bill Leonard
· 8 months ago
You can't do that due to protocols and server technologies as they currently exist. You'll never be able to do that with internet email, just workgroup mail.
Bill Leonard
· 8 months ago
To be clear, this is a no-brainer feature you will see turn up in the next rev of Apple's mail, Outlook, etc. It's simply a neat idea to put a wait-queue before sending a message... it's kind of like the reverse of empty trash, but same reasoning.
Good idea, simple thinking, one of those "why didn't we do this sooner" items for sure... but no tech breakthru here.
PolytheneLucy
· 8 months ago
Needed this...and now it's here. thank you, Gmail, reader of thoughts!!!!
Jane
· 8 months ago
well i use http://www.sendn.com for my email marketing, but this is still a nice feature to have on gmail
Michael Dumas
· 8 months ago
For gmail cool yes. www.bigstring.com has been doing that for a while for all email.
Adam Pieniazek
· 8 months ago
Well, it's better than nothing but five seconds is about what it takes for you to realize you messed something up...and then it's still too late.
Cool idea but not super practicable.
workingman
· 8 months ago
I love this Idea, I always wanted this option, why no one thought of this before... Google is a true innovator. competitors just cant keep up with google
adiaha
· 8 months ago
What a god send! Thanks for posting!
Cyberactive Marketing
· 8 months ago
It would be nice if there was a feature on all email services that would hold your email in an outbox for 30 seconds to a minute, that way you could edit or add accidentally forgotten items before they get sent. This is a good step in the right direction to prevent from having to send that second "Oops, I forgot to attach.." email.
Fulvio Minichini
· 8 months ago
5 seconds would have been fatal many times for me, believe me. Thanks Google :)
aimee
· 8 months ago
I would call that feature 'Cancel' rather than 'Undo' because 'undo' implies that it's been done and you can undo it. In reality it's more like a warning "You are definitely about to send this email in the next 5 seconds unless you cancel!"
Mark - Melbourne Web Design
· 8 months ago
It's being talked about a lot at the moment, but I'm finding it to be a bit of a meaningless addition. Is five seconds enough? Then again, how long would an appropriate delay be?
Now If they came out with a true unsend that would be valuable. How many of us wish we could have taken an email back within five MINUTES after sending?
Karl Foxley
· 8 months ago
This is a great addition to the already great Gmail service. Although it's important to proof-read emails before sending the odd one slips through, like you said, usually without that much needed attachment.
Regards,
Karl
web design
· 8 months ago
Yes it is really a fantastcis feature but the time of 5 seconds is too less.
so now i have 5 seconds to think. i mean better than nothing. sometimes 5 seconds are good enough to undo your mistake :)
netlatch
· 8 months ago
I wish you could "undo" the email after you cool off somewhat and begin regretting your angry replies.
Rachel Burkot
· 8 months ago
This is great. I'm wondering why Gmail didn't come up with it sooner because who has never sent an email that they immediately wish they could take back as soon as they hit send? From forgetting an attachment to making a giant typo, everyone wishes unsend was an option at one time or another. Often, no matter how many times you proofread something, there will be something you didn't catch. Also, because email is such a blase part of our technological lives now, we often compose and send emails quickly without catching the mistakes. This option will give us a second chance.
Mike
· 8 months ago
So why can't Google make this 5-second rule configurable? Let the user decide if he/she wants 10 seconds? Or a minute? Or a confirmation, "Are you sure you want to send?"
GoEverywhere Team
· 8 months ago
Exactly my thinking! Let it hang in your outbox for a specified amount of time (determined by each individual user) before sending.
Glenn B. Miller
· 8 months ago
I just installed this before reading your post here. I'm excited about it for those "Oh no!" moments.
TutorMeTV
· 8 months ago
good to know, I wish I had this function one time when I accidentally sent a nasty email to our VP which was intended to go to someone else
carokann
· 8 months ago
I tested it a few times and got less than 2 seconds!
Fuchsia
· 8 months ago
Also the Mail Goggles feature helps prevent the need to undo by making you do challenging math before sending questionable emails in the wee-hours!
Valerie Swanson Breslow
· 8 months ago
Great info, thanks. Hopefully the Labs technicians can figure out a way to add more than 5 seconds to get me out of a potential fix. I know, I know--we all want our emails delivered ASAP and then when we suddenly realize we've made a grievous error want our emails delayed indefinitely until we can solve the problem. The double-edged sword.
H.K.
· 8 months ago
I don't see why functionally it doesn't allow you to "unsend" or erase a message if it hasn't yet been opened. This capability certainly exists-it uses the same tech as the app that let's you know if your email has been opened or not yet. This digital security site has a lot of tips about secure email use.
Facebook User
· 8 months ago
interesting, good to know. thanks.
mike
· 8 months ago
Renaming the "Preview" button to "Undo Send" is not a high-tech advancement worthy of all this attention.
WillT
· 8 months ago
I've tested this undo send feature from my gmail account to my yahoo account, and it doesn't actually work. In all tests, my yahoo account received the message even though gmail reported otherwise.
senderok
· 6 months ago
May be good to allow the user to specify the time-limit if possible.
All Comments
It simply puts your mail into a 5 second queue before it is sent out. There's no undo whatsoever...
So if you send an email to your boss and race back to your computer to undo it later, you are out of luck.
Google needs to change the name and not call it Undo.
I've sent many emails that I wish I had not. This is a good idea.
Although Gmail shouldn't set a time on it. It should be retractable until the recipient opens it.
Good idea, simple thinking, one of those "why didn't we do this sooner" items for sure... but no tech breakthru here.
Cool idea but not super practicable.
Google is a true innovator.
competitors just cant keep up with google
Now If they came out with a true unsend that would be valuable. How many of us wish we could have taken an email back within five MINUTES after sending?
Regards,
Karl
Find out more at: http://thegreatsocialexperiment.chipin.com
sometimes 5 seconds are good enough to undo your mistake :)
i guess 15 secs would be better.
http://www.ShawnDrewry.com