Google Mail: Recall or Retract Messages with the “Undo Send” Lab
Google does not have an option to recall or retract a sent message, but you can give yourself a few seconds to stop an email that you weren’t quite ready to send by enabling the “Undo Send” lab.
Labs are experimental features. It is very possible that some labs are so well liked and work so well that they become regular features in Google Mail; however, is also possible that labs may break or disappear. Keep this in mind as you enable labs. If you enjoy a lab, giving feedback within the [Labs] tab in “Settings” can help make improvements and increase its chances of becoming a regular feature.
- Navigate to Cedarville.edu/Google.
- Click the “Mail” link and log in to your account.
- From the Mail window, click the gear-shaped [Settings] icon and then choose “Settings” from the resulting list.
- Click the [Labs] tab.
- Next to the “Undo Send” lab, click the “Enable” radio button.
- Click [Save Changes] when you are finished.
When you send an email, you will receive a banner notification at the top of the screen (“Sending…”). You will have a few moments to click “Cancel” or “Undo.”
Once you enable the lab, you can adjust the length of the cancelation period from your settings:
- Click the gear-shaped [Settings] icon and choose "Settings" from the resulting list.
- In the [General] tab, scroll to the "Undo Send" section.
- Lengthen the cancelation period (it can be either 5, 10, 20, or 30 seconds) by choosing a number from the drop down list.
- Click [Save Changes] when you are done.
Keywords: undo, recall, retract, unsend, email, google, e-mail, gmail
