Gmail is one of the most extensive email services we bring into use in our daily lives. You can do everything on a mail that a chat messenger can do- from sending photos to documents.
Gmail allows us to send photos or documents and text messages without any limit, making it one of the most popular email services around the world.
It also has many features that other email services don't; one of them is recalling an email.
What Is Recalling A Mail and How Is It Beneficial?
Over a million emails are sent daily using Gmail, and there are chances of sending a mail to a wrong email address.
Maybe you have sent a confidential email to an unwanted email address, or have made a mistake in your CV while sending it on the mail. Nobody would want such an email to be delivered. This is where the recalling feature of Gmail comes useful.
Recalling a mail will allow you to undo the mail you have sent. After undoing your action, you can make changes to it before sending it again.
How Can You Undo A Sent Mail?
Gmail, by default, allows you to undo a sent mail within 5 seconds. When you send a mail, you will see a message with the option to undo. Within 5 seconds, you can click on the undo button, and your mail will not be sent.
Five seconds isn't too much to realize that you have committed a mistake. Gmail allows you to increase the period of the undo button to appear for a longer period.
How to Increase the Period of The Undo Button?
Given below are the steps to increase the time of the undo button-
- 1To increase the period of the undo button, you first need to login to your Gmail account. Once you have successfully logged in to your account, bring your cursor to the gear icon, which appears on your screen's top right corner.
- 2Clicking on the gear icon will open the quick settings menu. The very first option will be to view all the settings. Click on it.
- 3After you have clicked on view all settings, you will be directed to the settings page. There you will see a lot of options and settings configuration.
- 4Go to the general tab and click on it. There you will search for the option stating “undo send”. Click on it.
- 5There you will see a drop-down list with options- 5,10, 20, and 30 seconds. By default, the option will be set to 5 seconds; you can click on any options to increase the time of the undo option.
- 6Once you have selected the time, click on save changes. You have successfully increased the time for the undo button to appear.
It's time to check the settings you have saved. Head over to Gmail's home page and click on the plus icon, which appears at the bottom right on your screen. After a new window opens, you will be asked to write an email along with the sender's ID.
Fill it and click on send. After you click on send, you will see a message stating mail sent, and besides that, there will be a button to undo. Click on it, and your mail will not be sent.
How to Undo/Recall an E-mail already sent in Gmail
Recalling A Mail from Your Phone
Whether you are using an android phone or iPhone, Gmail is available on both of them. The option to undo the sent mail is the same on phones as well. You can easily cancel a sent mail from your phone via the Gmail app.
To undo the sent mail, visit the Gmail app and log in to your Gmail account. Then send an email from your Gmail. Once your mail is sent, you will see an option to undo, below your screen. Click on the undo button, and your mail will be recalled.
Bottom Line
Recalling features of Gmail can be a lifesaver in most of the cases, and this can be helpful in undoing what you have done by mistake. Know that the undo button will appear for a certain period as per your saved settings. You can have the undo button for a maximum of 30 seconds.
The mail will, however, be delivered to the recipient. Clicking on the undo button will only delete that mail from the recipient's inbox. If the recipient has already opened the mail before you unsend it, nothing can be done.
If you forget to click on that undo button within 30 seconds, then you won't be seeing that option again.
