Undo
You’ve done it.
I’ve done it.
We’ve all done it.
Sent an email that we wish we could immediately take back, I mean. For example, hit “Reply to all” instead of just “Reply.” Or noticed a mistake … a big one … right after sending. Or forgetting an attachment.
Google has added an “Undo” button to their Gmail application:
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.
This feature can’t pull back an email that’s already gone; it just holds your message for five seconds so you have a chance to hit the panic button. And don’t worry – if you close Gmail or your browser crashes in those few seconds, we’ll still send your message.
Five seconds is a help. Might save me some embarrassment. Lord knows, I could use all the help I can get.
If only we could get an “Undo” button on the presidential election. I’m wondering how many people would hit it now?
And where else could we use an “Undo” button?
(27 votes, average: 4.67 out of 5)
Loading ...Tags: Gmail, Google, technology
March 25th, 2009 at 6:03 pm
I’d be happier with a “have Supreme Court rule inelligible to hold the office of president and charge with multiple counts of fraud, as he wasn’t born in the US” button.
March 25th, 2009 at 6:13 pm
AMEN!!!
March 25th, 2009 at 6:31 pm
MS Exchange has a similar function. As long as the email has not been read by the receiver, and if Exchange is configured for it, it can “retract” an email, even after it’s been delivered. A lot of offices have that enabled.
March 25th, 2009 at 6:31 pm
Oh, and I’m all for the recall or impeachment process for President Kenya. That would be an awesome easy button.
March 25th, 2009 at 6:55 pm
I could use an undo button for those times I eat one too many meatballs. Those darn things are terrible in large quantities, and it seems every Xmas I make the same mistake of eating 1 too many.
March 25th, 2009 at 7:31 pm
I would like an “Undo” button for the GOP primary.
March 25th, 2009 at 8:06 pm
Even though it was close to 100 years ago I could have used one at my first marriage. Despite not having one when I needed it I did survive the 60′s and went on to become a respectable redneck, bigoted, racist, gay bashing homophobe, democrat slamming, gun toting, muslim hating Christian. Well….. I guess things didn’t turn out so bad after all.
March 25th, 2009 at 10:47 pm
Can we have an Undo button for the “global warming”
frenzyhypocrisy, please? Oh yeah, and an Undo button for Al Gore while you’re at it.March 25th, 2009 at 11:44 pm
I bet Obama is wishing for a “Jay Leno Show appearance” undo button, and I bet his press secretary/babysitter would have settled for those five seconds to recall “Special Olympics” from that ‘tard’s mouth.
I said ‘tard while criticizing a comment about the Special Olympics, am I a hypocrite?
March 25th, 2009 at 11:52 pm
The Obama State Dept. already made an undo button,
unfortunatly it was mistranslated and reads ‘surrender’
in Farsi, Russian , Korean, Spanish, and Mandarin Chinese.
March 25th, 2009 at 11:59 pm
The morning after I would like to have a undo / redo option to be used as the situation required.
March 26th, 2009 at 12:47 am
hmm… seems like someone at google watched “galaxy quest” a few too many times. probably with the thermian language track turned on…
March 26th, 2009 at 4:04 am
Other than the aforementioned Undo button for Nov 2008, I’d be satisfied with one Undo button for the first Liberal who ever dared open their yap.
March 26th, 2009 at 8:12 am
I need an UNDO for my eyes, ears and my brain… somehow my TV set was on MSMBC and I actually saw and heard Rachael “Strap-on” Madcow… this too just after opening an email from my brother-who knows I can not stand her, him…ah it— sends me some picture of “Strap-on” he had Googled—[ http://cache.gawker.com/assets/images/gawker/2008/10/maddow2.jpeg ]
I NEED A UNDO!
March 26th, 2009 at 9:17 am
On the technical side, it is possible in outlook to recall a msg. You can recall it at any time, and it depends on the consent of the recipient, but I have found that 99% of the people who get a recall request agree to it out of courtessy.
Meanwhile, i keep hitting the undo button on obama, but it doesn’t work. All that happens is a bucket falls on his head and gets stuck. Which is actually kind of funny.
March 26th, 2009 at 9:19 am
I would like to have an UNDO button for all the time that I have just wasted trying to come up with some clever usage of an UNDO button.
March 26th, 2009 at 11:26 am
RE #15: Your version might be different, but the Outlook on my computer has nothing to do with whether or not the recipient “allows” the email recall.
Email recall success or failure on my version depends on whether or not the recipient has already opened the email. If they opened it before I requested a recall, recall fails. If they haven’t opened it, recall fails.
And the neat thing about Outlook Email Recall is that not only can we recall a message, we can replace it with something better. Too bad we don’t have recall/undo inside 90 days of a socialist administration.
March 26th, 2009 at 11:27 am
If they haven’t opened it, recall
fails.succeeds.Geez. Preview is my friend.
March 26th, 2009 at 11:30 am
The ultimate UNDO button would be a Karl Marx UNDO button. Kill “Das Kapital” and the cascade of retarded ideology would be nipped, rather effectively, in the bud. Then we wouldn’t need any UNDO button for hObama, Her Royal Thighness, Sub-Prime Lending mess, Homes for Homies, the New Deal, etc.
A lot of wrong headed thinking corrected with a simple press of a button. Fantastic!
March 26th, 2009 at 11:59 am
Undo button for:
Too much tequila/rum/vodka/yeagermeister
Fat and or ugly women/men after too much tequila/rum/vodka/yeagermeister
Rinsing greasy hippy off hands in clean stream
nancy pelousy, harry reid, present hussein, rahm “fwanks fwend” ahmanual
chicago style pizza
March 26th, 2009 at 1:00 pm
“Undo” buttons for comboxes.
March 26th, 2009 at 1:31 pm
I’d like to see an “undo” button for every GOP priamry after Reagan. 14 urbugginme…….as Austin Power sez..”It’a a man, baby!”
March 26th, 2009 at 4:09 pm
undo button for “Sure you can have a kitty.” or maybe one for “Yes dear.” Both phrases have put me in a lotta trouble.