Gmail Can Undo Your Mistakes
Google has heard our prayers (and probably other things along the way), and has officially added an “undo send” button to Gmail. Now, the times of hateful emails being accidentally sent to the wrong person is behind us.
According to Geek Wire, to get this function to pop up on your Gmail, you need to enable the undo send button under the general tab in Gmail settings. Google also allows this feature to be customizable, giving yourself a 30 second grace period.
How does the feature exactly work, you ask? Google will have your email sent on a delay for a set time, which you can determine, and after you hit send, your message won’t necessarily send off into email land. During the small delayed period, you will have the option to “undo send” and get the email back before anyone else can lay eyes on it.
Now, this concept isn’t completely new to Google or Gmail. The “undo send” option has always been there, just buried in the Gmail Labs, and you couldn’t actually activate it because, it seems, Google liked to watch you suffer. Google made the “undo send” feature back in 2009 and was using it as an experiment before it officially went live — it just took them six years or so to make that happen. Fans of the new Gmail feature took to Twitter to express their gratitude to Google and Gmail, because if you’ve been on the bad side of one of those emails, you know this can save you.
THIS IS A BIG DEAL. #gmail #gmailunsend https://t.co/TgasrwYle7
— Baylee Pulliam (@BayleePulliam) June 23, 2015
“@theSTASHED: Finally! Gmail lets you “Undo Send” emails you wish you didn’t send ?? pic.twitter.com/munzpSZ2xd” God is great.
— bandz smith (@am9ri) June 23, 2015
#Gmail now allows an “undo send” option within the first thirty seconds! YEESSS!!! Turn it on right now everyone!! — Kennedy Tran (@xSasuke11x) June 23, 2015
Awesome! Gmail Formally Adds ‘Undo Send’ Option http://t.co/qfDIahsbDZ
— Helen Schrader (@HelenSchrader19) June 23, 2015
Some Gmail fans are mad though, stating that the “undo send” actually isn’t an undo at all, rather just a set delay time that will help you if you realize in that exact moment what you did. As for emails sent 20 minutes or later, you’re out of luck — Gmail can’t get those back for you. The other issue: if you leave the page after sending the email, Gmail can’t get it back to you regardless of the grace period you set, so don’t exit Gmail unless you are absolutely sure the email was sent to the correct person.
How do you feel about the new Gmail tool? Did you use the “undo send” button before Google made it official, or is it just a waste of time? How do you feel about the given grace period they allow you to have?
[Photo by Adam Berry/ Getty Images]
