Your chest tightens as you feel your pulse move into your throat, while the sweat beads across your forehead. You stare frozen in panic, your finger hovering above your mouse. “Your message has been sent” hangs at the top of your screen.
The email you meant to send to your good friend down the hall is now working its way through the internet, headed directly to the inbox of every employee within the company.
We’ve all had these moments of pure, well-that’s-it-my-life-is- completely-over-as-I-know-it terror. We’ve all stared blankly at our screens as we realize a horrible typo was made or a wrong recipient was CC’d. Google — all praise be unto our great and benevolent overseer — has seen our troubles and decided to deliver us from our plight.
As of a few days ago, Gmail has officially added the ability to delay an email from sending and they have allowed you to choose between a 5, 10, 20, or 30 second delays. By default, the setting has been enabled for 10 seconds, but the problem is that unless you knew it was there, you may not realize that it was there.
Set Up The Life-saving Delay In Just a Few Simple Steps
To set a different amount of time for the delay, just follow these few easy steps and you’ll be well on your way to making sure you never again send another embarrassing email again.
- Log into your Gmail account
- Click on the gear icon at the top right
- Go to Settings
- Make sure the “General” tab is highlighted
- Scroll down and check the “Enable Undo Send” function.
- Set the amount of time for your delay
- Scroll to the bottom and click “Save Changes”
- Sit back, relax, and take a moment to reflect on this new peace of mind you’ve just given yourself.
Once these settings have been changed, any time an email is sent, a yellow message will appear under the search bar of your inbox, giving you the option to undo or view your message. If you click “undo” within the amount of time you’ve set, the email will be canceled!
So, go, click “Send” until your heart is content, knowing that never again must you feel the fear and anguish of an unintended email.
