How to Unsend an Email in Gmail (Undo Send)

Sent an email too soon, to the wrong person, or without the attachment? Gmail gives you a short window to take it back — and you can make that window longer before you need it.

Unsend an email right after sending

Right after you send a message, look at the bottom left for Message sent with an Undo option. Click Undo and the email comes back for editing. Google says you can send and unsend from a browser or the Gmail app.

Give yourself more time: up to 30 seconds

1. On a computer, open Gmail and click Settings at the top right, then See all settings.
2. Next to Undo Send, choose a send cancellation period of 5, 10, 20 or 30 seconds.
3. Scroll down and save your changes.

Sent to the wrong people? How Cc and Bcc work

Many “unsend” moments come from who was on the email. Google’s rules:

• Cc: everyone on the message can see the Cc recipients.
• Bcc: recipients aren’t told they were added to Bcc. Bcc recipients can see the To and Cc recipients, but not other Bcc recipients — and they don’t get replies sent with reply all.
• Suggested recipients: if Gmail keeps suggesting the wrong person, right-click their profile photo in the suggestions to hide them.

When it’s too late

The undo option only lasts for the cancellation period — after that, the email has been sent and Gmail can’t pull it back from the recipient. Two habits help next time:

• Set the period to 30 seconds now, as above.
• Schedule important emails a few minutes ahead: until the scheduled time you can open Scheduled and click Cancel send. How to schedule an email in Gmail.

Didn’t mean to unsend — or it never arrived?

If you clicked Undo, the email is back in your compose window or Drafts — it wasn’t sent. If you did send it and the recipient can’t find it, Google suggests checking your Sent and Drafts folders, asking them to check Junk or Spam, waiting a few hours for any delivery error, and making sure your connection is stable. If you sent it from another app such as Apple Mail or Outlook, try sending it again from the Gmail app or mail.google.com.

On Outlook? How to recall or undo send in Outlook. More Gmail time-savers: Gmail tips and tricks.