Have you ever regretted sending an email right after you sent it and wished you could retrieve it from the ether before it reached your intended recipients? We’ve all done it. The good news is that you can.
You may unsend an email for a limited amount of time in both Gmail and Outlook, but you must first activate the function. Once activated, “Undo Send” will provide you with a short window of opportunity to effectively retract your message before it reaches its intended recipient. The “Undo Send” function does not recover your email from other people’s inboxes; rather, it just delays the sending of your email, allowing you to change your mind before it’s too late.
In Gmail, how do you unsubscribe from an email?
The “Undo Send” function in Gmail is set on by default, but you may change the duration that emails are held from the default of five seconds (too short, in my opinion) to 30 seconds. My timer is set at 10 seconds, but you may choose whatever works best for you.
1. Go to: to change your timeframe.
2. Select the General tab from Gmail Settings (cogwheel symbol) > Settings >.
3. “Undo Send” is located at the bottom of the page.
4. Set the “Send cancellation period” to 5, 10, 20, or 30 seconds, depending on what works best for you.
5. When you wish to undo an email, go to the “Message Sent” box and select “Undo.” The email you just sent will be reopened and saved to your “Drafts” folder.
6. “Undo Send” is also available in the Gmail apps for Android and iOS. Find and click the “Cancel” button at the bottom of the screen.
On Outlook.com, how do you unsubscribe from an email?
Outlook.com, like Gmail, stores emails for a period of time before sending them, providing you the option to resend an email you’ve already sent. However, “Undo Send” is not enabled by default in Outlook.com. This is how you enable “Undo Send.”
1. Select “Settings” from the drop-down menu (the cogwheel icon).
2. Select “View all Outlook Settings” from the drop-down menu.
3. To send an email, choose “Mail.”
4. Select “Undo Send” from the drop-down menu.
5. From 0 to 10 seconds, move the slider.
6. When you wish to undo an email, go to the “Sending” box at the bottom of the Outlook.com window and click the “Undo” box. The email you just sent will be reopened and saved to your “Drafts” folder.
In Outlook, how do you remember a message?
Outlook includes a function called “Recall Message” that allows you to remove an email from the recipient’s inbox. It only works if you’re sending a message to someone who uses the same Microsoft Exchange server as you (i.e., someone in your business) or who has a Microsoft 365 account. As a result, you’ll need to set up “Undo Send” for all of your other emails as well. The instructions may be found in the following section, “.”
In Outlook, to remember a message, type:
1. To begin, make sure your message is still in your “Outbox.” If you just sent a message, it’s probable that it’s still in your “Outbox.” If that’s the case, you may either move the mail to your “Drafts” folder or delete it.
2. Your email will appear in your “Sent” folder if it has been sent.
3. To open the message you wish to remember, double-click on it.
4. Select “Recall This Message” from the Messages > Move > Actions menu.
5. Click OK after selecting either “Delete unread copies of this message” or “Delete unread copies and replace with fresh message.” If you choose to replace the message, the original message will open for editing and resending.
How to configure Outlook to deliver unsent emails
Unsending an email on the desktop version of Outlook works differently than in Gmail or Outlook.com. There is no option to “Undo Send.” Instead, create a rule that prevents all of your emails from being sent so that you may transfer emails from your “Outbox” to your “Drafts” folder. To set up delayed delivery, follow these steps:
1. Activate the Rules & Alerts dialog box. Go to Tools > Rules & Alerts in Outlook 2007. Go to File > Manage Rules & Alerts in Outlook 2010 and later.
2. Choose “New Rule.”
3. Choose “Apply rule to communications I send” from the drop-down menu.
4. “Next” should be selected.
5. To accept the warning about the rule being applied to every message you send, click “Next” once again and then “Yes.”
6. Choose the option to “defer delivery for a certain number of minutes.”
7. Choose a delay of 1 to 120 minutes by clicking on “a number of minutes” (yes minutes, not seconds).
8. “Next” should be selected.
9. You have the option of adding exceptions to the delivery delay or just selecting “Next.”
10. Click “Finish” after giving your rule a name and making sure the “Turn on this rule” box is ticked.
11. Select “Finish” from the drop-down menu.
12. If you wish to delete an email, search for it in your “Outbox” folder and drag it to your “Drafts” folder.
Final Words
It may be time to switch to Gmail or Outlook.com if your email service doesn’t offer the option to unsend emails (both are free).
