How to undo sending a message in the gmail app for ios

That’s it. After you sent an email, an Undo option will be shown at the top of the Inbox, which will automatically disappear after the send cancellation period ended. If you undo the sent message, the email won’t be sent and Gmail gives you the option to delete or edit it instead.

We’ve all sent messages meant for someone else. Let’s just stop that.

By David Nield | Published Dec 16, 2019 5:23 PM

Our emails aren’t always as well thought out, as accurately typed, or as succinct as we would like them to be—and that’s before you consider problems like sending emails without a required attachment, or typing the wrong person’s address altogether. If this happens to you often, you must know the “undo send” feature is heaven-sent.

This feature is easy to find on some platforms, but on others you may need to take some extra steps to set it up. Here’s how you can save yourself some embarrassment and enable it in all of your inboxes.

Gmail

A feature called Undo Send is built right into Gmail, and it works without you having to turn it on. Whenever you send a message, you’ll see an Undo link at the bottom left corner of the screen. If you tap on it, you’ll be able to bring your email back as a draft.

You can set the amount of time you’ve got before the email can’t be recovered anymore. On Gmail’s web interface, click the cog icon (top right), then choose Settings. Go to the General tab and you’ll see an Undo Send drop-down. There, you can choose from a time period of five (the default), 10, 20, or 30 seconds. Gmail will apply this choice across the web and mobile.

Emails you bring back from the digital ether pop back in the compose window and appear as if you’d never sent them. You can save them as drafts while you mull over your response, send them again, or delete them completely.

Outlook

The Mail app that comes preinstalled with Windows doesn’t have an undo send feature, but one is available in the free Outlook.com web client. You can set up a similar feature in the paid-for Outlook desktop app too, but it’s a bit more involved.

On the web platform of Outlook, click the cog icon (top right), choose View all Outlook settings, then Compose and reply. Use the Undo send slider to set up the window of time you’ve got for bringing the message back—from zero to 10 seconds (zero effectively disables the feature).

After you’ve sent a message on the web, click Undo at the bottom. This stops the message from being sent and returns it to draft status.

The desktop version of Outlook doesn’t have a simple undo send feature, but you can set a rule to delay every message you send. From the File tab, click Manage Rules & Alerts, then New Rule. Choose Apply rule on messages I send, then click Next twice, and Yes to confirm. You’ll reach a dialog box where you can click Defer delivery by a number of minutes. Check the box next to this rule, then click the link underneath to set how many minutes the delay should be—you can go from one to 120. Click through the wizard’s remaining screens to set the rule.

Any emails you send from Outlook from then on will sit in the Outbox folder for the specified number of minutes. If you want to cancel a sent message before the delay runs out, you’ll need to drag it back into the Drafts folder.

Unfortunately, there’s no way to undo the sending of emails in the Outlook apps for Android and iOS—if you want to be able to bring back your messages, you’ll need to use the website or the desktop application.

Third-party clients

If you use anything besides Gmail or Outlook—including Apple Mail or Yahoo—you unfortunately don’t have a native undo send feature built in. If you think you’ll find a feature like this useful, you’ll need to set up a third-party client to access your messages.

Mailbird for Windows will set you back $20 per year or $40 for a lifetime purchase, though you can try it out for free for three days. If you click the menu button (three lines, top left), then Settings and Composing, and head to the Sending heading, you’ll be able to adjust the Undo send period from zero (disabled) to 30 seconds. Once you’ve enabled the undo send feature, you can click Undo at the bottom of the screen right after sending a message to bring it back.

Spark covers macOS, iOS, and Android, and is free for personal use (if you need team features, it’s $8 a month). The Undo option appears in the desktop and mobile apps as soon as you send a message, and you’ve got five seconds to change your mind—you can’t alter that time limit or disable the feature. If you undo a send, the message reverts to a draft.

Airmail for macOS and iOS is another option, yours for $27 for desktop but free on iOS. In the Mac app, open the Airmail menu and choose Preferences, Composing, and Sending Delay—you can pick from five to 120 seconds. While emails are waiting to be sent, you’ll find them in the Drafts folder, where you can click Cancel to stop them from being dispatched.

On iOS, tap the menu button (three lines, top left), then choose Settings, Undo Send, and either a five or 10-second time delay. For the specified time period, you’ll be able to tap Undo Send at the bottom of the screen right after sending an email.

Another option is Mailbutler, an extension that runs on top of Apple Mail on the Mac. You can pay for extra features, like support for teams, but the free version already includes the undo send feature. After installing it on your Mac, head to the web dashboard to set the undo send delay under Preferences and General from the web menu (the Mailbutler icon). With that done, you’ll see an Undo send pop-up appear whenever you send a message through Apple Mail.

David Nieldis a tech journalist from the UK who has been writing about gadgets and apps since way before the iPhone and Twitter were invented. When he’s not busy doing that, he usually takes breaks from all things tech with long walks in the countryside.

Google has released a redesigned Gmail app for iPhone and iPad that’s “a lot faster.” Photo: Gmail

Google has released a redesigned Gmail app for iPhone and iPad that’s “a lot faster.” Google’s new application received some key upgrades for version 5.0.3, which includes a revamped UI that makes it look just like the Android version of the app. The new look also brings in a new color scheme, new icons and will make the performance just as fast as its Android app.

While the new look is one of the first things you’ll notice, the app is much quicker than it used to be. Though the basic features remain the same, you’ll still have access to all of your Gmail labels and the new search feature. You can easily add multiple accounts, and the app shows the style you’ve picked for your Inbox. The new colors are bright, emails have an avatar showing you the sender and you can easily switch between accounts.

Google also added another update to the Calendar app for the iPhone app Monday. Not much has changed with the Calendar app, but Google did add some cool features: Events and reminders are now integrated into the iPhone search. That means if you’re looking to make Google Calendar your main option, it should be much smoother for you.

In addition to the redesign, Gmail’s iPhone app features the ability to swipe on a message to archive or delete it, depending on which you select. Search also gives you better suggestions if you spell something wrong.

The biggest feature for the Gmail iOS app update is the ability to Undo Send, a feature that prevents you from making some pretty stupid mistakes.

How to use Gmail’s Undo Send Feature on Your iPhone:

From your computer, sign into your Gmail account. In the top right, click on Settings. In the “Undo Send” section, simply check the box next to the “Enable Undo Send.” You’ll then be able to set the amount of time you want to unsound an email. The Undo Send feature on the mobile app can be set to 5 seconds, while the Undo Send feature on the web can be set to 5, 10, 20 or 30 second-delay.

The newly redesigned Gmail app for iOS is available on the App Store.

Easily reverse moving, labeling, or even sending messages

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What to Know

• Undo action: Quickly select the Undo button in the lower-right corner of Gmail. The Undo button disappears after 10 seconds.
• Change Undo timing: Go to Settings >See all settings >General. Next to Undo Send, choose 5, 10, 20, or 30 seconds.

You can undo most actions in Gmail, including deleting a message, moving a message to a different folder, marking a message as read, adding a label to a conversation, and sending a message. Here are instructions for how to undo some common actions using the desktop or web version of Gmail.

Undo Actions in Gmail

Selecting the Undo link at the bottom of the screen takes back a variety of actions. You have about 10 seconds before it disappears. There are some variations on this method, so see below for specific instructions on each action.

If you enabled shortcuts in Gmail, pressing Z on the keyboard will also undo the last action. This method only works for the same period that the Undo link is visible.

Undo Deleting a Message

Use the following steps to undo moving a message to the Trash folder (deleting a message).

If you delete a message from the Trash folder or the Spam folder, you can’t undo that action. The message is gone forever.

After you delete an email, it’s sent to the Trash folder, and a Gmail message appears: Conversation moved to Trash. The message is followed by a link: Undo.

To retrieve the email you deleted, select Undo.

The message is removed from the Trash and restored to the folder where you initially deleted it.

Messages in the Trash and Spam folders are automatically deleted after 30 days. If there is something in one of those folders that you want to keep, move it to another folder before 30 days pass.

Change Undo Timing

Adjusting a setting enables you to customize the amount of time the Undo option appears.

In the upper-right corner of the Gmail screen, select the Settings (gear) icon and choose See all settings.

Go to the General tab.

Next to Undo Send, use the drop-down menu to select the number of seconds you’d like to have to undo a sent email. You can choose 5, 10, 20, or 30. Scroll to the bottom of the page and select Save Changes.

So, you just tapped “Send” on an important e-mail message with your favorite email app—and the moment you did, you realized you sent the message to the wrong person, or forgot to attach a critical file, or CC’d the entire planet, or you simply want a do-over.

Unfortunately, there are no mulligans with the standard email app for iOS. Once you tap “Send,” your email is on its way, for better or worse.

The good news is that there are several alternative iOS email apps with an “undo send” feature. The way it works is simple: once you tap the “Send” button, you’ll get anywhere between five and 10 seconds to change your mind, perfect for saving yourself from e-mail embarrassment.

Read on for four top iOS mail apps that’ll let you undo a sent message, starting with:

Gmail (free) | Download

Google’s top-notch email app just got a big update for iOS, adding features like instant search results and swipe-to-archive and swipe-to-delete gestures. You can also do nifty things like “mute” annoying e-mail threads, create custom notifications for specific message labels, and set up an out-of-office message directly from your iPhone or iPad.

Best of all, though, the new Gmail app for iOS adds an “undo send” feature. As soon as you tap the “Send” button, an “Undo” prompt will appear at the bottom of the screen, giving you a few seconds to yank the message from Gmail’s outbox.

Pretty nice, but there are downsides to Gmail, including the fact that the iOS version only works with Gmail accounts—meaning, for example, you can’t use it to check your iCloud account. The lack of a universal inbox is also a bummer.

Airmail ($4.99) | Download

No, it’s not free, but Airmail’s appealing email app boasts a series of features missing in Gmail for iOS, including a universal inbox, a ton of customization options, and the ability to juggle several different types of mail accounts (including iCloud). Also nice: a “snooze” feature for messages you’d rather deal with later.

And yes, there’s an “undo send” feature, just like the Gmail app for iOS, except with Airmail, you can decide how many seconds you get to tap “undo.”

Just tap the main menu button in the top-left corner of the screen, tap Settings, scroll down to the Composer heading, tap Undo Send, then make your pick—either five seconds, 10 seconds, or “off” altogether.

Spark (free) | Download

A relative newcomer when it comes to third-party iOS email apps, Spark comes to the table with a “smart” inbox that (if you let it) will sort through incoming messages and highlight only the important ones.

Like Airmail, Spark has a universal inbox and the ability to “snooze” a message, and it even has “quick reply” buttons that let you reply with a “thanks” or a “like” with a single tap.

Spark also lets you “undo” a sent message, giving you about five seconds to tap “undo” once you’ve hit “Send.”

Inbox by Gmail (free) | Download

Google’s nifty Gmail alternative comes with its own “smart” inbox similar to Spark’s, complete with filters that automatically sort low-priority messages into “bundles” like Promos, Purchases, Social, and Forums. As with Airmail and Spark email apps, you can snooze messages, as well as “pin” important ones and create reminders out of others.

Inbox’s “undo send” feature works exactly like Gmail’s: after you tap Send, you get about five seconds to tap Undo. Sadly, Inbox shares two of Gmail’s biggest downsides—namely, there’s no universal inbox, nor is there support for anything but Google accounts.

Bonus tip: Undo a deleted message

In addition to their respective “undo send” features, each of the iOS email apps listed here will let you “undo” a trashed message, handy for retrieving an e-mail you deleted by accident.

With the launch of the new Gmail last year, Undo Send is now turned on by default and you can’t deactivate it. But you can adjust how long you have to unsend an email. Here’s how.

You have email regrets. Everyone does. Perhaps you knew it was a bad idea or a “reply all” disaster the second you hit Send. But that’s life; you live, you learn.

Except if you have Gmail, that is. While Google can’t exactly invent a time machine, its “Undo Send” feature within Gmail can recall a mistakenly sent message.

Undo Send on the Desktop

“Undo Send” was added to Gmail Labs years ago, and became an official, opt-in Gmail feature in 2015. With the launch of the new Gmail last year, Undo Send is now turned on by default and you can’t deactivate it. But you can adjust how long you have to unsend an email.

Log into Gmail, and click the Gear icon ( ) on the upper-right and select Settings.

Under the General tab, scroll down to Undo Send. Click the drop-down menu and select whether you want the “Undo Send” option to appear for 5, 10, 20, or 30 seconds after you hit send.

Scroll to the bottom and click Save Changes. When you send an email, an Undo button will appear on the bottom left. Click Undo, and the email will return as a draft for you to continue editing.

Undo Send From the Gmail App

Once the feature is set up on desktop, Undo Send settings will apply to the Gmail mobile apps for iOS and Android. Now all you have to do is fire up the app, compose a new email, and send it on its merry way.

An Undo link will appear at the bottom of the screen and remain there for however many seconds you selected on the desktop. Tap Undo to be returned to your draft. The interface looks similar on iOS (left) and Android (right).

Confirm Before Sending on Android

Android users only recently received the ability to Undo Send from their phones. Previously, the best they could do was enable “Confirm before sending,” which—as its name suggests—produce a prompt that asks if you really want to send an email before it goes out.

For most of us, that’s probably overkill. But if you want to be extra cautious with your email, “Confirm before sending” is still available on Android (but not iOS).

To enable it in the Android Gmail app, click on the hamburger icon ( ), scroll to the bottom of the left pane, and tap Settings. At the Settings screen, tap General settings. Scroll to the bottom of the screen and tap on the checkmark next to “Confirm before sending” to enable the feature.

Now compose and try to send a new email. A message pops up asking if you want to send the message. Tap OK to send it or Cancel to stop it. If you cancel it, you then have a chance to review the message and make any changes before you attempt to resend it.

Except if you have Gmail, that is. While Google can’t exactly invent a time machine, its \”Undo Send\” feature within Gmail can recall a mistakenly sent message. \r\n\r\n

Undo Send on the Desktop \r\n\r\n

Log into Gmail, and click the Gear icon ( ) on the upper-right and select Settings. \r\n\r\n

Under the General tab, scroll down to Undo Send. Click the drop-down menu and select whether you want the \”Undo Send\” option to appear for 5, 10, 20, or 30 seconds after you hit send. \r\n\r\n

Scroll to the bottom and click Save Changes. When you send an email, an Undo button will appear on the bottom left. Click Undo, and the email will return as a draft for you to continue editing. \r\n\r\n

\r\n\r\n

Undo Send From the Gmail App \r\n\r\n

Once the feature is set up on desktop, Undo Send settings will apply to the Gmail mobile apps for iOS and Android. Now all you have to do is fire up the app, compose a new email, and send it on its merry way. \r\n\r\n

An Undo link will appear at the bottom of the screen and remain there for however many seconds you selected on the desktop. Tap Undo to be returned to your draft. The interface looks similar on iOS (left) and Android (right). \r\n\r\n

Confirm Before Sending on Android \r\n\r\n

For most of us, that’s probably overkill. But if you want to be extra cautious with your email, \”Confirm before sending\” is still available on Android (but not iOS). \r\n\r\n

To enable it in the Android Gmail app, click on the hamburger icon ( ), scroll to the bottom of the left pane, and tap Settings. At the Settings screen, tap General settings. Scroll to the bottom of the screen and tap on the checkmark next to \”Confirm before sending\” to enable the feature. \r\n\r\n

Now compose and try to send a new email. A message pops up asking if you want to send the message. Tap OK to send it or Cancel to stop it. If you cancel it, you then have a chance to review the message and make any changes before you attempt to resend it. \r\n\r\n

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Rob Woodgate is a writer and IT consultant with nearly 20 years of experience across the private and public sectors. He’s also worked as a trainer, technical support person, delivery manager, system administrator, and in other roles that involve getting people and technology to work together. Read more.

Gmail’s “Undo Send” feature is much-loved here at How-To Geek, but you can get the same option in Outlook.com and the Microsoft Outlook desktop application. Here’s how to set them up.

The option in Outlook.com and Microsoft Outlook works the same as in Gmail: When you enable it, Outlook will wait a few seconds before sending emails. After you click the “Send” button, you have a few seconds to click the “Undo” button. This stops Outlook from sending the email out. If you don’t click the button, Outlook will send the email out as usual. You can’t undo sending an email if it’s already sent.

How to Enable “Undo Send” on Outlook.com

Outlook.com, also known as the Outlook web app, has a modern version and a classic version. Most users of Outlook.com should have the modern look and feel for their email account now, which by default shows an all blue bar.

If you’ve still got the classic version, which a lot of enterprise versions (the work email provided by your company) are still using, it’ll show a primarily black bar by default.

Either way, the process is generally the same, but the location of the settings is slightly different. Whichever version you’re using, the “undo sending” functionality works the same way. This means that during the period Outlook is waiting to send your email, you must keep the browser open and your computer awake; otherwise, the message won’t be sent.

In the modern view, click the Settings cog and then click “View all Outlook Settings.”

Switch to the “Email” settings and then click “Compose and reply.”

On the right-hand side, scroll down to the “Undo Send” option, and move the slider. You can select anything up to 10 seconds.

When you’ve made your choice, click the “Save” button, and then you’re done.

If you’re still using Outlook.com’s classic view, click the Settings cog and then click “Mail.”

Switch to the “Mail” options and then click “Undo sending.”

On the right-hand side, turn on the “Let me cancel messages I’ve sent for” option and then select a time in the drop-down menu.

When you’ve made your choice, click the “Save” button.

You might notice that in the classic version you can select up to 30 seconds, compared to only 10 seconds in the modern version. Some users will still have the “Try the new Outlook” button in the top right, which if you click will change Outlook to the modern version

The 30-second limit still works in the modern version, but if you try to change the setting in the modern version, it reverts to 10 seconds with no way to change it back to 30 seconds. There is no way of knowing when Microsoft will “fix” this discrepancy, but at some point, all users will be moved to the modern version, and you should be prepared to have a 10 second maximum “undo sending” time when that happens.

How to Enable “Undo Send” in Microsoft Outlook

This process is more complicated in the traditional Microsoft Outlook client, but it’s much more configurable and flexible. That’s Outlook in a nutshell.

Not only can you choose whatever period you want, but you can also apply it to one email, all emails, or specific emails based on filters. Here’s how to delay sending messages in Outlook. Once you’ve set that up, you have a certain amount of time to cancel sending the message in Outlook.

Or, in a Microsoft Exchange environment, you might be able to use Outlook’s recall feature to recall a sent email.

Can You Undo Sending In The Outlook Mobile App?

As of June 2019, Microsoft’s Outlook mobile app doesn’t have the Undo Send functionality, whereas Gmail offers it on both their Android and iOS apps. But, given the fierce competition between the major mail app providers, it’s only a matter of time before Microsoft adds this to their app as well.