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If you've ever felt that blush of panic rise because you sent an email out you wanted to take back, Jack Wallen shows you how to gain that functionality with your Gmail account on Android.
By Jack Wallen July 1, 2015, 8:52 AM PST
How many times have you sent an email and immediately wished you could take it back? Everyone has felt this at least once or twice in their lives.
Google's Gmail has offered an Undo Send feature for a while on the desktop. Truth be told, it's actually a delay send that allows you to set a delay period (up to 30 seconds) before an email is actually sent. Recently, that feature has made its way into the Android Inbox app (unfortunately, it hasn't found its way to the standard Gmail app yet).
If you prefer Gmail over Inbox, and you want to gain that Undo Send functionality, it's time you give Inbox another try. The good news is that you don't have to bother configuring Inbox to handle Undo Send—it does it automatically (in fact, there are no settings for this option at all in Inbox).
What happens is this:
Recall a sent email on a Verizon-branded Nexus 6.
This delay in sending could, if the planets are perfectly aligned, save you from making a mistake that might cost you your job (or worse). And even though this doesn't truly undo a sent email (the email isn't actually sent... just delayed), it's worked for me on a few occasions. One time, I immediately changed my mind when replying to an email to accept an offer. With a single tap of Undo, the email wasn't sent, and all was well. It's a mistake we could all easily make.
If you haven't installed Inbox, the process is simple. Just follow these steps:
You might also notice the ability to specify the delay period for sending email in your desktop Gmail account setting (Figure B).
Figure B
The Undo Send setting on Google's Gmail.
The setting within Gmail has zero bearing on Inbox (neither the desktop site or the Android app).
Hopefully, at some point in the near future, Google will see to it to add the Undo Send feature in the Gmail Android app. Until then, if you want the ability to give yourself a bit of delay in sending emails on your mobile device, you'll have to use Inbox.
By Jack Wallen July 1, 2015, 8:52 AM PST
How many times have you sent an email and immediately wished you could take it back? Everyone has felt this at least once or twice in their lives.
Google's Gmail has offered an Undo Send feature for a while on the desktop. Truth be told, it's actually a delay send that allows you to set a delay period (up to 30 seconds) before an email is actually sent. Recently, that feature has made its way into the Android Inbox app (unfortunately, it hasn't found its way to the standard Gmail app yet).
If you prefer Gmail over Inbox, and you want to gain that Undo Send functionality, it's time you give Inbox another try. The good news is that you don't have to bother configuring Inbox to handle Undo Send—it does it automatically (in fact, there are no settings for this option at all in Inbox).
What happens is this:
- You compose an email
- You hit Send
- You realize you've made a grievous error and want to undo that send
- You tap the Undo button that appears in the bottom right of the Inbox window (Figure A)
Recall a sent email on a Verizon-branded Nexus 6.
This delay in sending could, if the planets are perfectly aligned, save you from making a mistake that might cost you your job (or worse). And even though this doesn't truly undo a sent email (the email isn't actually sent... just delayed), it's worked for me on a few occasions. One time, I immediately changed my mind when replying to an email to accept an offer. With a single tap of Undo, the email wasn't sent, and all was well. It's a mistake we could all easily make.
If you haven't installed Inbox, the process is simple. Just follow these steps:
- Open the Google Play Store on your Android device
- Search for Inbox
- Locate and tap the entry by Google
- Tap Install
- Read the permissions listing
- If the permissions listing is acceptable, tap Accept
- Allow the installation to complete
You might also notice the ability to specify the delay period for sending email in your desktop Gmail account setting (Figure B).
Figure B
The Undo Send setting on Google's Gmail.
The setting within Gmail has zero bearing on Inbox (neither the desktop site or the Android app).
Hopefully, at some point in the near future, Google will see to it to add the Undo Send feature in the Gmail Android app. Until then, if you want the ability to give yourself a bit of delay in sending emails on your mobile device, you'll have to use Inbox.
