Gmail has a feature where you can recall a sent email message. I’ve needed this feature several times, but never knew it existed.
- Login to Gmail.
- Select the gear located toward the upper-right corner of the screen and select “Settings”.
Select the “General” tab. - In the “Undo Send” section, check the “Enable Undo Send” box.
- Set the “Send cancellation period” to the desired amount of seconds.
- Now an Undo link will appear at the top of the page after you send an email message. After the time you set elapses, the option will disappear and you will not be able to recall the message.
FAQ
I want to recall an email and I didn’t have this option enabled. What can I do?
I’m afraid the message has been sent and there is nothing you can do to get that message back.
h says
January 27, 2018 at 4:00 amcan i undo a messsage that has been sent a week ago
Ganesh K Thiagarajan says
April 27, 2017 at 7:15 amTheir should be an undo option adjacent to those mails which are delivered but not read.
Those mails that are with such options can be undo by the sender even after days..
All mail servers can do that..not a big deal
Amy Conway says
December 20, 2016 at 9:32 amWhy does every one on the internet say this can’t be done? Someone did it to me in gmail. I read the email and went back a couple of days later and it was gone. Every reference to it in every conversation was totally wiped out. I know it can be done but I can’t find out how to do it.
Jacob Binkin says
December 13, 2016 at 8:15 amIt just stopped working for me randomly. Anyone else had this problem?
Ashley says
October 21, 2016 at 5:59 pmThis is ridiculous. I sent an email 10 minutes ago and I am losing my mind trying to figure out how to unsend. it. It is very imperative I retract the email. The undo option should be the default, NOT one you have to find out after you make the mistake. What a horrible set up. Now there is NOTHING that can be done. And I am in quite a bind!
Barbara says
August 20, 2016 at 10:39 pmI agree with K Sharp that 30 seconds is not enough time.
Mangesh Rajhansa says
August 19, 2016 at 3:09 ammy gmail does not have facility of Undo in Setting / Lab / Undo setting tab,
Waht should I do, This option should be there like it is available in outlook.
K Sharp says
July 25, 2016 at 5:47 am30 seconds isn’t long enough. 5 minutes would be a better choice. I just sent an email and 2 minutes later realised it had the wrong attachment, Ive enabled the recall function but it seems like its too late. It will be at least 8 hours before the recipient reads it so a longer time to recall/retract would be good.
JMS says
June 22, 2016 at 9:00 amIf my “Cancellation period” is 30 second, is there a way to undo it if I sent the email then started reading a different email for 10 seconds, then wanted to cancel the email that I sent? If so, where do I go to undo it, if the “undo” has disappeared?