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Gmail now lets you 'undo send' if you realize your mistake in 5 seconds

12:53 PM Thu, Mar 26, 2009 |
By Sheila Lennon    Email this author |   Email this entry

Google's Gmail now lets you pull back emails sent in error -- but you only get five second to do it. Is that long enough for remorse to set it? Probably not, but it might help if you sent a reply to the wrong person and realized it immediately.

At the Gmail Blog, the feature's creator, Michael Leggett, writes (New in Labs: Undo Send),

Sometimes I regret sending a message the morning after. Other times I send a message and then immediately notice a mistake. I forget to attach a file or email the birthday girl that I can't make her surprise party. I can rush to close my browser or unplug the Internet -- but Gmail almost always wins that race.

An email to the wrong Larry pushed me over the edge. I could undo just about any other action in Gmail -- why couldn't I undo send? Many people agreed, including Yuzo Fujishima, an engineer in the Tokyo office. My theory (which others shared) was that even just five seconds would be enough time to catch most of those regrettable emails.

And now you can do just that. Turn on Undo Send in Gmail Labs under Settings, and you'll see a new "Undo" link on every sent mail confirmation. Click "Undo," and we'll grab the message before it's sent and take you right back to compose....

It was sixth from the bottom in a long list of options when I clicked that link.

More from CNN: Where 'Undo Send' and other Gmail ideas are born

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