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There are few things more frustrating than accidentally hitting “send” on an email before it’s actually finished–or, even worse, sending a sensitive message to the wrong person! Fortunately, most popular email platforms offer an unsend or recall feature. If you act quickly enough, chances are you can cancel the message before it reaches them. In this article, we’ll explain how to unsend messages using platforms like Gmail, Outlook, and Apple Mail. Unfortunately, it’s no longer possible to unsend an email in Yahoo.
Unsending Emails: What You Need to Know
- Gmail, some versions of Outlook, and Apple Mail all allow you to cancel an email within a few seconds of sending it. Click the Undo or Undo Send button.
- By default, you will have 5-10 seconds to unsend a message in most email platforms. You may be able to adjust the delay in your email app’s settings.
- Outlook offers a “Recall Message” feature that you can use to unsend messages to recipients in the same exchange or organization.
For popular FAQs on unsending an email, jump to more common questions
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Steps
Gmail
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Tap or click Undo immediately after sending a message. In Gmail, you can recall emails immediately after sending them. This feature is available in the mobile app as well as the browser-based version of Gmail. As soon as you hit Send , look for a banner at the bottom of the screen that says “Sent.” Tap or click the blue Undo button on the banner. [1] X Research source
- This feature works by delaying the email for a few seconds before actually sending it out. Selecting Undo simply cancels the message before the delay period ends.
- In some cases, you may briefly see an option to Cancel before the initial sending process completes.
- Depending on your settings, the Undo button will remain available for 5 to 30 seconds after you send the email.
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Revise your email or close the message. After you click or tap Undo , you’ll be redirected to an unsent draft of your message. If you like, you can keep editing the message or click the X at the top right or left corner (depending on which version of Gmail you’re using) to close the message and save it to your drafts.Advertisement
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Adjust your unsend settings in the Gmail web app. If you want to change the length of the message recall window, you can do so in the web version of Gmail.
- Go to mail.google.com https://mail.google.com in a browser. If you’re not already logged in, do so now.
- Click the Settings icon at the top right corner of the screen and select See all settings .
- Find Undo Send . It’s the fourth option down in the general Settings menu. Use the dropdown menu to select a cancellation period of 5, 10, 20, or 30 seconds. This period is set to 5 seconds by default.
- Scroll down and click Save Changes at the very bottom of the page.
Outlook
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Enable the “Undo Send” feature (Mac and Outlook for the web only). Unfortunately, this feature no longer exists in Outlook for Windows. [2] X Research source However, the current versions of Outlook for Mac and the web allow you to enable a brief window of time when you can cancel an email after hitting “Send.” This feature is only available for Microsoft 365 and Outlook.com accounts. Before you can use Undo Send, you have to enable it in Settings.
- On a Mac: Click the Outlook menu at the top of the screen and select Settings… . Click Composing under the Email header. Use the + and - buttons next to Undo Send to increase or decrease the length of the delay before messages are sent. 20 seconds is the maximum delay. [3] X Trustworthy Source Microsoft Support Technical support and product information from Microsoft. Go to source
- On Outlook for the web: Click View > View settings in the menu bar at the top of the page. In the Mail tab, select Compose and reply . Scroll down to the Undo send section and use the slider to set the delay amount. In the web app, the maximum delay is 10 seconds. Click Save .
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Click the Undo button after sending an email. Once you’ve enabled the “Undo Send” feature, you can cancel emails within the time window that you set. This works just like it does in Gmail–after clicking Send , look for a banner at the bottom of the screen that says “Sent”. Click the Undo button on the banner to be redirected back to a draft of your unsent email.
- From here, you can either make changes and send the email again, or close the message to save it in your drafts.
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Use “Recall” if you and your recipient(s) are part of the same organization. In newer versions of Outlook for Windows, Mac, and the web, you can recall emails that have already been sent. However, this option has some limitations. Message recall only works if you and your recipient are both part of the same Microsoft Exchange or both have Microsoft 365 accounts and are part of the same organization. It won’t work if your recipient has already opened the message, and it also won’t work for Hotmail, Gmail, or Live.com accounts that you’re accessing through Outlook. [4] X Trustworthy Source Microsoft Support Technical support and product information from Microsoft. Go to source
- New Outlook & Outlook Web: In the left-hand menu pane, select the Sent Items folder. Double-click the message you want to recall. Select Recall Message from the ribbon menu, then click OK in the dialog box. [5] X Trustworthy Source Microsoft Support Technical support and product information from Microsoft. Go to source
- Classic Outlook: Select Sent Items from the left-hand folder pane. Double-click the message you want to recall. In the Messages tab of your ribbon menu, select Actions > Recall This Message . If you have a simplified ribbon menu, click ••• > Actions > Recall This Message instead. Select if you want to delete or replace the message, then click OK .
- Outlook for Mac: Select Sent in the left-hand menu pane. Double-click the message you want to recall, then click the Recall Message button in the ribbon menu. Click OK to confirm. [6] X Trustworthy Source Microsoft Support Technical support and product information from Microsoft. Go to source
- With each of these methods, you’ll get an email shortly after you recall the message, letting you know if the recall was successful.
Apple Mail
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Tap Undo Send at the bottom of the mobile Mail app. By default, you have 10 seconds to unsend an email in Apple’s Mail app after sending it. After sending an email by mistake, check for a link at the bottom of the inbox that says Undo Send . Doing so will take you back to an unsent draft of the email, which you can edit or discard. [7] X Research source
- To change the amount of time you have to unsend the message, go to your iPhone or iPad’s Settings app and select Apps > Mail > Undo Send Delay (it’s at the bottom of the menu). You can choose a delay of 10, 20, or 30 seconds (or turn the delay off completely).
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Click Undo Send at the bottom of the left-hand sidebar on Mac. After sending a message by mistake in the Mail app for Mac, you have 10 seconds to undo the send. Locate the Undo Send link at the bottom side of the left menu pane and click it. You can also go to Edit > Undo in the menu bar at the top of your screen. [8] X Research source
- To change the length of the delay, click the Mail menu at the top of the screen and select Settings > Composing . Click the dropdown menu next to Undo send delay to choose a time or turn the feature off. You can set a delay of 10, 20, or 30 seconds.
Community Q&A
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QuestionHow do I unsend an email in Yahoo?Community AnswerAs of November 2017, Yahoo does not have an unsend email function available. Try Gmail or Outlook instead.
Video
Tips
- If you don't tap or click Undo before the time limit expires, your email will send.Thanks
- With most email apps, increasing the Undo window will increase the length of time it takes for any email to be delivered after you send it.Thanks
Common Question: Cancelling a Sent Email
Can I unsend an email after an hour? Typically, you can only unsend emails after a few seconds. After that threshold has passed, you won't be able to recall any emails sent. Outlook’s recall feature allows you to unsend after a longer period of time, but only if your recipient hasn’t opened the message yet.
Which email providers allow me to unsend an email? Most email providers allow you to unsend emails, including Gmail, Outlook, and Apple Mail. Yahoo Mail used to have this feature, but it has since been removed. [9] X Research source Keep in mind most of these platforms only allow you to unsend emails for up to a few seconds after you hit the Send button.
How do I create an email draft? With most email providers, a draft is created when you start writing the email. Look for a folder called Drafts to come back to the email later.
References
- ↑ https://support.google.com/mail/answer/2819488?hl=en
- ↑ https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/outlook_com/forum/all/im-looking-for-the-undo-send-feature-in-outlook/ef426c7d-9719-4d7d-92d3-de7ecf586c3b
- ↑ https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/undo-send-in-outlook-for-mac-a01e0043-b7b7-4e62-9dca-e0275e5e8ffd
- ↑ https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/recall-or-replace-a-sent-email-in-outlook-8e564127-15a0-4cf6-b974-f2101f5e256e
- ↑ https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/recall-an-outlook-email-message-35027f88-d655-4554-b4f8-6c0729a723a0
- ↑ https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/recall-an-email-message-in-outlook-for-mac-6511f8bb-af9a-42c9-b3b7-a8161bc11927
- ↑ https://support.apple.com/guide/iphone/unsend-email-with-undo-send-iph0e7288015/ios
- ↑ https://support.apple.com/lt-lt/guide/mail/mlhlbf24d020/mac
- ↑ https://help.yahoo.com/kb/SLN3595.html
About This Article
To unsend an email using the Gmail app on an iPhone, tap undo on the bottom-right corner of the screen, which is only available for 5 seconds after you’ve sent the email. Once you’ve pressed undo, you can either edit your email and resend it or you can click “Discard” to delete it. To unsend an email using Microsoft Outlook on your desktop, click the settings gear icon at the top-right corner of the outlook page. Then, click “Options” and choose “Undo send” on the sidebar on the left side of the screen, which will allow you to delay sending messages for a certain amount of time. Once you set this feature, you can click “Undo” at the top-right corner of the inbox after sending an email. To learn how to unsend an email on the Yahoo mail app, read on!
