How-To

Undo Send for Gmail Sent Items

By Steve Krause

Updated June 14, 2022

The Gmail undo feature allows you to cancel the sending of an email. Here’s how it works and how to set it up.

Have you ever sent an email only to say “no, no, no” seconds after hitting the send button? Or perhaps you wrote a flaming email to someone to get it off your chest, and after you hit the send button, that voice pops up in your head and says, “Are you serious? You actually sent that.”

Gmail has the answer for those “moments” called Undo Send. It’s not enabled by default (don’t ask me why) but turning it on and configuring it is simple.

Add Undo Send Option to Gmail Account

From inside Gmail, Click the Settings Gear Icon, then Settings.

Scroll down on the Labs page and Click Enable for Undo Send.  To save, Scroll down and click Save Changes.

Once enabled, be sure to set the cancellation period as shown below

Configure the “Undo” or “Cancellation Period”

Jump back to the General tab and configure the send cancellation period using the drop-down arrow. This is the grace period Gmail will give you to undo the send. Again, click save changes to apply your changes.

Test out the feature by sending an email to someone. A subtle popup will appear at the top of your Gmail inbox, allowing you to click the Undo button.