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Google's 'undo-send' can recall that email you didn't really want to send

After six years of experimenting, Google formally introduces a way to recall email five to 30 seconds after sending.

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Shontee Pant/CS Monitor
Google now features an option to retrieve emails that have already been sent through the 'undo-send' feature.

While technically available since 2009, Google is now officially incorporating the ‘undo-send' feature as part of its "Gmail" electronic mail system for the public. The ‘undo-send’ option will allow users to recall an email for between five and 30 seconds, depending on the user preferences set.  

"Undo-send" actually has been available through Gmail for the past five years but only to users who had enabled Google Labs in their your account settings. Google Labs is the section of the search engine that allows users to enable functions that are still being tested. Google warns users however that features in the Labs section may break or be temporarily or permanently disabled at any time.

The news of the official enabling of email recall comes less than a month from the last big news from the search engine giant, the launch of Inbox. This Among other new features, Inbox allows users to bundle emails based on categories such as Travel, Social, Purchases, and other user-created groups. The app was available earlier as well, in 2014, but was offered through invitation only. Inbox now supports the ‘undo-send’ feature as well.

How to enable undo-send:

  1. Click the gear in the top right of your Gmail web browser screen.
  2. Select "Settings."
  3. Find the "Undo Send" lab and check the "Enable Undo Send" option.
  4. Select the time frame you wish to be able to recall emails for. 
  5. Click "Save Changes" at the bottom of the page.
  6. Select the amount of time you have to undo sending a message by clicking the gear icon (top right of browser) and finding the "Undo Send" section in the "General" tab of your Settings.

So what’s next for Google? The company's secret lab, Google X, is located in two unpretentious brick buildings about half a mile from the Google main campus in Mountain View, Calif. Scientists outside the lab and the public have been kept guessing as to what futuristic innovation Google X director Astro Teller and his team is currently pursuing.

“Anything which is a huge problem for humanity we’ll sign up for, if we can find a way to fix it,” Teller told Bloomberg Business in 2013.

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