In­ad­vert­ently sent emails have caused some good laughs across many offices. Anyone who ac­ci­dent­ally clicks on “Reply to all” when sharing their comments about the boss’ latest mo­tiv­a­tion­al email meant for some eyes only, can quickly get into hot water when the email ends up in the boss’ inbox. In a busy office en­vir­on­ment, it’s easy to send messages to the wrong re­cip­i­ents.

To keep sensitive in­form­a­tion or ill-con­sidered state­ments in mis­takenly sent emails from causing you some serious trouble, emails can be unsent with Gmail. In this article, we’ll show you how to recall an email with Gmail and which pre­requis­ites are necessary to stop the delivery of emails that have already been sent.

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Recalling Gmail messages: What do you have to do?

With Gmail, you always have the pos­sib­il­ity of recalling emails. It makes no dif­fer­ence whether the recipient of the message also uses Gmail or another email program. The only decisive factor for recalling Gmail messages that have been sent is time. Google allows a certain time window following the sending of an email during which the message can still be recalled. This is like a grace period: even though you’ve clicked on “Send,” Gmail still holds on to the message for a short while, during which you have the option of recalling a Gmail email or even stopping its pending delivery.

The default time window for Gmail email recalling is five seconds. Ad­mit­tedly, that’s a very short window for recalling emails. Sometimes, it might take a little while before you even realise that you’ve forgotten an important at­tach­ment to an email or that you forgot to CC someone. Luckily, it’s easy to extend the can­cel­la­tion period. Here’s how to configure the can­cel­la­tion period in Gmail:

Step 1: Open the options menu in Gmail by clicking on the gear icon.

Image: Gmail dashboard with settings gear icon
The gear icon for Gmail options is found in the upper right-hand corner.

Step 2: Open the “Settings” page by clicking on the menu item of the same name.

Image: Gmail settings option
Click on Gmail “Settings.”

Step 3: In the “Undo Send” section, choose your desired time window (“Send can­cel­la­tion period”) for recalling Gmail messages.

Image: Gmail cancellation period options
The can­cel­la­tion period can be increased from 5 up to 30 seconds using the drop-down menu.

By extending the can­cel­la­tion period, you widen the time window during which you can recall Gmail emails. It couldn’t be any easier.

How to recall an email with Gmail – web version

Let’s say that you’ve extended the undo send time window to 30 seconds. You’re now in the office, writing an email to a client using Gmail as usual. After you hit “Send,” you realise that you’ve forgotten to include the at­tach­ment that you mentioned in the message. Instead of resorting to a follow-up email to excuse yourself for the mishap, you can simply unsend the message with Gmail. Here’s how:

Step 1: The message has been sent after clicking “Send.”

Image: Sending an email with Gmail
You send an email as usual by hitting “Send.”

Step 2: The message lingers for a short while in the can­cel­la­tion period. Click on the option “Undo” which appears after sending:

Image: Gmail information about the delivery status of a message
The delivery status of a message is auto­mat­ic­ally displayed in Gmail. Click on “Undo” to recall the email.

Step 3: The email will be recalled. Gmail will notify you im­me­di­ately and the message will be reopened for editing.

Image: Gmail information about the recall
In­form­a­tion about the recall will be displayed auto­mat­ic­ally and the recalled email will also be reopened for editing.

How to recall an email with Gmail: in­struc­tions for Android

Of course, you can also unsend your Gmail emails when using the Android app. If you’ve written a message using the Gmail app and hit “Send,” you can recall it by taking the following steps:

Step 1: Tap the option “Undo” that appears after sending.

Image: Gmail Android app: Display after sending an email
The delivery status of a sent message appears auto­mat­ic­ally towards the bottom of a smart­phone or tablet screen in the Gmail app.

Step 2: Gmail will auto­mat­ic­ally recall the message.

Image: Gmail app display after recalling an email
The status display appears auto­mat­ic­ally towards the bottom of a smart­phone screen after a message has been recalled.

How to unsend an email with Gmail: in­struc­tions for iPhone

Much like on Android devices, you can download the Gmail app from the Apple App Store and use it on an iPhone. The app will look exactly the same on your iPhone as it does on an Android device. There are no dif­fer­ences at all in the func­tion­al­it­ies or the various features of the app. That means you can follow the exact same steps described above to recall a Gmail email. After clicking “Send,” a su­per­im­posed status display will appear auto­mat­ic­ally, and will also include the “Undo” option. The Gmail app on your iPhone will then recall the Gmail message that you sent, per your request.

Tip

If you want to use Gmail and other Google Workspace services like Google Drive, Google Docs, or Google Calendar for your business, IONOS offers highly-efficient office solutions.

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