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After 6-Year Beta Test, All Gmail Users Get 'Undo Send'

Posted by Soulskill on from the take-that-back dept.

jones_supa writes: Since 2009, Google has been beta testing a feature in Gmail called "Undo Send." It allows you to delay emails up to 30 seconds from when you press the "Send" button so you can take them back if you immediately decide it was a bad idea to press the send button. Google announced in a blog post that Undo Send is becoming an official feature. For users who already had the Undo Send beta enabled, the feature will remain on, and those who didn't can turn it on via the General tab under Settings. Users can choose if they want to hold their mail for 5, 10, 20 or 30 seconds.

15 of 95 comments (clear)

  1. Next Up: *Delay* delay send by Lexible · · Score: 2

    With future upgrades to the functionality for the foreseeable future.

    1. Re: Next Up: *Delay* delay send by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      I stand by my words, never regretted clicking send.

      This is a feature for people for whom 30 seconds is long enough to change their mind on if they have something to say.

      Maybe they could think for 30 seconds and ask two questions.

          Is the going to the right person ? Do I need to send this ?

    2. Re: Next Up: *Delay* delay send by jc42 · · Score: 4, Informative

      I stand by my words, never regretted clicking send. This is a feature for people for whom 30 seconds is long enough to change their mind on if they have something to say. Maybe they could think for 30 seconds and ask two questions.

      Well, a few years ago, I'd have said the same. But then I got involved with several of the latest "smart" phones and tablets. As a result, I now think "Undo Send" sounds like a fine idea.

      The reason, of course, is all the times I've been typing a message, when suddenly it blinks out in mid-word, and I find that the partial message has apparently been sent. My muttered "WTF!?" has no effect. I've generally had no idea what I may have done (if anything) that caused the software to act that way. This happened once today on my Android (HTC ONE) phone, and I've seen it on several iPads and Android tablets. My wife reports the same behavior on her iPhone.

      Of course, this wasn't a case of me clicking Send, so perhaps your "never regretted clicking send" does apply. But it'll be useful if a Send triggered by the software itself when I didn't want it to send anything will suffice as grounds for wanting an Unsend capability.

      The only problem is the 30-second window. The email (and IM) interfaces are getting progressively more baroque, and that may often not be enough time to understand what has gone wrong inside the goofy software. What we really need is a way to tell it "Don't ever send anything unless I explicitly hit the Send button." But the clever software "designers" also seem to be eliminating things as mundane as buttons with words on them, replacing them with idiosyncratic icons (different in every email/message app) whose behaviour can be hard to remember if you routinely work on several different machines, as many of us do.

      (Just today, I tried to back out of a messaging app by using what looked a lot like the usual left-pointing "Return to previous screen" button. It sent the message, though I'm not sure who it went to, and I hadn't even intentionally been trying to make a reply. Things really are getting this messed up. ;-)

      --
      Those who do study history are doomed to stand helplessly by while everyone else repeats it.
  2. What About... by VorpalRodent · · Score: 4, Insightful

    More importantly, can we get an "Undo Post" on Slashdot for when we accidentally say something we regret?

    Better yet, how about a collective "Undo Submit" to rescind articles that everyone agrees the editors should never have allowed through?

    --
    Take it to the limit, everybody to the limit, come on, everybody fhqwhgads.
    1. Re:What About... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I'd rather have Undo beta.

    2. Re:What About... by penguinoid · · Score: 5, Funny

      I'd rather have Undo beta.

      That feature is still in beta.

      --
      Don't waste your vote! Vote for whoever you want, unless you live in a swing state it won't matter anyways
    3. Re:What About... by Anubis+IV · · Score: 3, Insightful

      I'd prefer a "Retract Comment" button that kept the comment there but changed the formatting in some way to indicate I no longer stood by it. When (not if) I say something stupid, I deserve to be called out on it and the ensuing conversations deserve to have my post there in order to preserve their context, but I also deserve a chance to learn from my mistake and to help others use my mistake as an opportunity to learn. Removing my post removes the context for later posts and deprives others of an opportunity to learn from my stupidity.

      There have been countless times here on Slashdot when I've unknowingly said something that was inaccurate and have had a thoughtful post correct me with the right information. Sometimes they're snarky, sometimes they stick to just the facts, and sometimes they blow me out of the water with vitriol, but regardless of how they do it, when they point out that I got something horribly wrong, I'd love to be able to retract my post so that the focus gets put on theirs, especially in cases where I was up-modded before I was corrected.

  3. 30 seconds isn't enough by bjdevil66 · · Score: 3

    How about 5 or 10 mins? I know "scheduled" sending can do this, but this sounds a lot easier - and the usual time of, "oh crap - shouldn't have sent that!", time period for me is about 5 mins (I've found the answer, realized it went to the wrong person, etc.)...

  4. Re:How about fixing the send first? by bobbied · · Score: 2

    It's clear to me that the mail server at Clinton.com ate them..... Blame Hillary! (Well that and a route error)

    --
    "File to fit, pound to insert, paint to match" - Aircraft Maintenance 101
  5. Re:Popup notifications by Sowelu · · Score: 2

    I swear there used to be an attachment-specific lab that would check your outgoing email for keywords that imply an attachment, and if they were present but you didn't attach anything, would warn you before sending. I don't see it on the list of labs now though. Maybe I hallucinated it.

  6. It already exists!! by Overzeetop · · Score: 4, Funny

    The [Undo Post] button has been mislabeled as [Continue Editing], but it works even better than an undo post because you can just change your text as many times as you want until you hit the [Commit Forever] button. Note that the actual [Post] button has been mislabeled as [Preview] and the [Commit Forever] button has been mislabeled as [Post]. Slashdot is aware of this bug in the new code, but there are no resources available to fix it in the foreseeable future.

    --
    Is it just my observation, or are there way too many stupid people in the world?
  7. Re:Popup notifications by dos1 · · Score: 2

    Either you didn't, or we both did.

  8. Need more choices by tds67 · · Score: 2, Funny

    Users can choose if they want to hold their mail for 5, 10, 20 or 30 seconds.

    Can we choose between seconds and hours? It takes time for the Vodka to wear off.

  9. AOL had the "unsend" feature decades ago by kriston · · Score: 2

    AOL had the "unsend" feature decades ago, which actually "unsended" emails after they were sent.

    So did Lotus Notes, and Microsoft Exchange.

    This "feature" is a 30-second delay on outbound messages, a clever hack, but how is this news to anyone?

    It's the "beer goggles" extension re-warmed for clueless Gmail users as it graduates out of Gmail Labs.

    Feh.

    Try harder, Google. Try harder.

    --

    Kriston

  10. Obviously a very complicated feature by quax · · Score: 3, Funny

    6 years testing seems totally appropriate.

    Agile coding at its best.