We’ve all been there. Whether it’s been for a premature push of the ‘send’ button, or for an email that was typed out to vent but never supposed to have been sent, everybody has sent an email and wanted to un-send it shortly after.
But once 30 seconds have passed, is it possible to recall an email in Gmail? The good news, in short, is that the answer is ‘yes’. Here’s how.
Recall an email in Gmail with Undo Send
If you decide that you don’t want to send an email that has just been sent off, you can cancel it immediately by clicking ‘undo’ on the bottom left, where you’ll see ‘message sent’.
How much time do you have to recall an email?
How much time you have to recall an email depends on you and your settings. If you want to check, or change, how much time you are affording yourself to right your wrongs, you can go to Gmail, then settings, and ‘see all settings’. From there, you’ll see a ‘send cancellation period’ next to ‘undo send’ where you can choose from five, 10, 20, or 30 seconds.
There is unfortunately no way to recall an email once that time period has passed.
How to unsend an email in Gmail on iPhone and Android
On iPhone, you have to first open the Gmail app and be sure that you are logged in. Then, once an email has been composed and sent, you’ll see an ‘undo’ option in the bottom-right corner. You will have five seconds to recall the email.
Once recalled, the email will reopen as a draft and you can then edit or discard it.
Unfortunately, you cannot recall an email from Gmail on Android devices. You can, though, edit your ‘general settings’ so that you have to confirm an email before sending it.