Some simple rules come to mind when you are sending emails.
- Never send an email when you are mad or upset.
- Never send a text drunk.
- Never hit REPLY ALL when you mean it to go to one person.
If you find yourself violating one of these rules, OR, you just hit send a little too soon, you can get that email back before it gets to where it was sent if you are using Gmail. When you send an email, it is possible to take it back. This is probably unknown to most people, but Gmail has a setting that allows for just this feature. You can unsend emails by following these simple steps:
Click the gear icon on your main inbox screen and select See all settings from the dropdown menu.
– In the General tab of your settings page, scroll down until you see “Undo Send:” and click on it.
– You can set the time to be able to retrieve / recall / unsend an email by either 5, 10, 20, or 30 seconds.
You will now how the ability to unsend an email within the number of seconds you have selected. Each time you send an email, you will get the following message pop-up in the lower-left corner of your computer screen.
What Email tips do YOU have to share? Have you used this before? Leave a comment and let me know.
Great rules for emailing! I would add: don’t send a wall of text in your email. Please break apart your commentary into paragraphs or no one will read your missive!!!
Soo true. If an email contains TOO much text or information, studies have shown that people tend NOT to read them.
Fortunately, I haven’t had to “unsend” one of my own emails, but I certainly love the “undo” feature when I accidentally delete an email that I didn’t mean to!
Good for you, Angie! NOT having the need is admirable!
This is great information. I have tried to unsend from other email platforms without success!
Yes – not all platforms allow this.
I didn’t know you could adjust the amount of time you have to make this decision. I have “undo” set up, on my Gmail and I just thought that 10 seconds was the standard amount of time.
Thank you for this!
Sure thing, Dominique! Feel free to change the duration if you want.
Well I didn’t know that Paul, thanks for the tip. My email tip is if you are sending an attachment, don’t forget to attach it to the email. I’ve received many emails saying “see the attachment” but it’s not there. When I send the email back asking about it, it’s usually the same reply, “I forgot to click attach!” So double check that you have actually attached something.
He he he… Gmail will ask you if you forgot to attach a file if you do not attach something when it thinks you should!
Thanks, Paul. Very surprising and new info!
You are welcome, Victoria!
Wow, I didn’t even know you could do this and also able to pick a certain amount of time to be able to unsend. What a great tip! I don’t have any other email tips to share. I wish they had this option for text messages though, I have mistakenly sent a few of those to the wrong people.
Oh! Yes – text messages would be nice to recall sometimes!
Paul, I did not know this! Now and then, yes, I want to recall an email b/c I did not add the attachment! (Life can be distracting.) Also, your general advice about when not to send an email is sound, and more people should be seeing that list and heeding it. Thanks!
Glad I can help!