Gmail Undo Send

  • It is not unusual to click on send button in Gmail, then realize you want to recall the message.

  • Gmail offers a feature called “Gmail Undo Send” which allows you to undo your send email action within 30 seconds.

  • With the recently updated Gmail App, now you can use Undo Send on your mobile device too.

  • I show you how to setup undo send to recall message within 30 seconds AND a way around to undo send gmail after 30 seconds (works with Google Workspace subscription too)

1. Go to Gmail Setting

  • Once you're logged in, click on the settings icon on the top-right corner of the page.
  • Then click on 'Settings' option from the drop-down list of items.
go to gmail settings

2. Enable 'Undo Send'

  • Enable undo send by checking the box if it's not. then choose cancellation period from 5, 10, 20 or 30 seconds.
  • Side note: The way 'Undo send' works is not by sending the message to your recipient then withdrawing it. No, it basically delays the sending of the message.
  • After choosing cancellation period, scroll down and click save.
enable send undo in gmail settings

3. Undoing Send

  • Now when you compose and send a new message, you are able to undo the send action before the seconds chosen in previous step expire.
  • So now when you get a second thought about that email you were about to send, you can quickly stop it from going even after clicking send button.
gmail undo action after send

4. How about more than 30 seconds?

  • Sometimes you're sending something confidential and maybe would want your recipient to access it for hours or days after which they shouldn't.
  • There is no way to do this directly in Gmail however, we can still achieve this with Google Docs.
Gmail undo send for more than 30 seconds

5. Type message in Google Docs

  • Use Google Docs to type your message instead of typing it directly in the compose form.
  • Remember your can as well use Google sheet, slides, whatever suites your purpose.
use google docs to type your message

6. Go to 'Share'

  • Go to 'File' then click on 'Share' option.
go to share this file in google docs

7. Click on 'Advanced'

  • Next, click on 'Advanced' link at the bottom of the popup window.
click advanced link - google docs

8. Click on clock icon

  • To set document expiration time, click on the clock icon.
click on clock icon to set expiration time

9. Set expiration period

  • You choose from predefined dates, or choose a cutom date from a calendar.
  • After you've set your preferred time of expiration click 'Save' button.
choose date or create custom date

10. Click on 'Drive' icon

  • Now compose new email then click 'Drive' icon to include the document you just created in previous steps.
click drive icon while composing new message - gmail

11. Insert file

  • Choose the file then click insert.
click drive icon while composing new message - gmail

12. Send message

  • Now your email is ready to be sent.
  • So what happens when you send this message is that your recipient will be able to access and read the document with any document.
  • But when the set time expires, they will not have access to the document anymore.
you can now send message in gmail

That is all.

  • So that is all to it. It's not a straight forward way of doing it however, it's a way around recalling your message even after 30 seconds.
  • I hope you found this helpful, for questions and comments, don't hesitate to leave them below and I will be more than happy to respond.
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