A comprehensive guide to recalling emails on Gmail

Gmail is one of the most popular email services globally today, with over two billion active users. The reason behind this popularity is not only the sheer ease of use with its clean interface, or the cloud storage it offers for free – but also the speed with which emails are sent.

Now, while being able to send emails quickly is all well and good, there can be occasions where you may have accidentally sent one and forgotten to add an attachment, or perhaps have made a typo. What do you then?

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Well, in 2018, Google introduced a feature to “unsend” emails on its mailing platform. And here’s how to use, both on your smartphones as well as laptops and desktops.

How to recall mail on Gmail on the web

You can recall your sent email using Gmail on the web or the app. Let’s first look at how to recall mail on Gmail on your laptop or desktop.

1. Head to Gmail.com and log in with your credentials.

2. Click on the Compose button at the top left corner.

3. Type your email and click on Send.

4. When you click on send, Gmail will offer you the first chance to recall your email. Once you send a mail, you will get a notification at the bottom of your screen that says “Sending…” and has a “Cancel” button at the far right to immediately cancel sending the email.

5. If you miss that opportunity, Google allows you to recall your email after it is sent with the Undo option. Once the email is sent, you will see a button called Undo which is a nifty way to recall an email. Tap on it, and you’re all set!

How to recall an email on the Gmail app for smartphones

1. Open the Gmail app on your smartphone.

2. Click on the Compose button at the bottom right corner.

3. Write an email and click on Send.

4. When you send an email, you will see a notification at the bottom of your screen that says “Sending…” and is accompanied by the Cancel button. Click on Cancel to unsend your email.

5. If you have sent the email already, then Gmail will send you a second notification that says Sent and it will be accompanied by the Undo button. Hit Undo to call back your email on Gmail.

While the ability to recall an email on Gmail involves just two very simple steps, it does come with a limitation. The limitation is that you get a short window – only a few seconds – to recall your email. If you don’t recall your email within this period, then your email will be sent permanently, with no way to recall it.

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 However, if you think the time offered by Gmail to recall your sent email is too short, then you can extend that time. Here’s how.

How to extend the time to undo emails

1. Go to Gmail.

2. Click the gear icon in the top right corner to access Settings.

3. Select ‘See all settings.’

4. Under the ‘General’ tab, find the ‘Undo Send’ section.

5. Click on the drop-down menu next to it to select ‘Send cancellation period.’ By default, this value is 5 seconds. However, under this menu, you can extend it up to 30 seconds.

With the above steps, you will now be able to cancel your sent email within 30 seconds of sending the email. Now, the Undo Send feature has such a short window that calling it a true recall feature would be far-fetched, especially when email service providers like Outlook allow users to recall or modify their email even after it was sent. Gmail addresses this too however, with the help of its confidential email option.

How to send a confidential email on Gmail

With confidential email on Gmail, users can set an expiration date and passcode for their email. They can also remove access to it, which works similarly to recalling an email. Here’s how to send a confidential email on Gmail.

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1. Go to Gmail and start composing your email.

2. At the bottom part of your email window, you will see a lock icon with a timer. Click on this to toggle confidential mode. 

3. Now, set an expiration date and passcode.

4. Click Save and send the email.

5. To recall the email or remove access to the confidential email, go to the Sent section on Gmail.

6. Open the email and select Remove access.

How to remove access to a confidential email on Gmail

1. Open the Gmail app and compose your email.

2. Click the three-dot menu button.

3. Select ‘Confidential mode.’

4. Set an expiration date and passcode.

5. Hit Save and send the email.

6. Go to the ‘Sent’ section on Gmail to remove access to the confidential email.

7. Open the email and tap on ‘Remove access.’

The above steps serve as a way to not only recall your email, but also control who has access to it in the first place. It is not a true recall feature, but Gmail’s implementation to unsend your email is simple, quick, and nifty.