6 types of emails we’d totally undo with Gmail’s “undo send”

All hail Gmail’s new Undo Send feature! The skinny on this magical new gizmo is basically that you can change your settings to delay your email’s sending time to 5, 10, 20 or 30 seconds. This way, if you need to “unsend” within that time, you can. Sure, this doesn’t seem like a lot of time to call take-backs, but when you just accidentally replied all with a stupid meme before realizing your boss’ boss was on the email chain? Twenty seconds is a lifesaver. Granted this feature has been around in beta for a while, but now it’s officially available to ALL Gmail users prone to clicking “send” waaaaay to fast.

In honor of this occasion, we’ve thought of a few other emails that could benefit from this fancy new “undo” feature. I’m certain this is just the tip of the mulligan iceberg:

1. Drunk Emails. Obvs. Sure this is like the Oregon Trail version of drunken communication, but don’t put anything past yourself when you’re half a bottle of bubbly in and “inspiration” strikes to email your ex. If, by chance, after hitting send on your glorious “we should get back together” manifesto, you come to your senses, nothing will be more glorious than having an “undo” option.

2. Those Reply All Disasters. As mentioned above, there is nothing worse than replying to everyone with a snide comment meant just for one friend on the chain, or accidentally telling the entire office your bad joke. You better believe I will use the “undo” option for both of these reasons at least once this week.

3. The “I totally lost the play-it-cool game” email. Look, there are no rules, and you do you, but sometimes, “doing you” means giving someone a little breathing room before you return their long-awaited response to that .gif you sent them. You know when you really want to play it cool but you’re busy, so you just shoot off a reply email and mess up that ridiculous-but-kinda-satisfying timing game in your mind? Now you can undo that, collect yourself, give it 20 minutes, and make your reply super breezy. Game on!

4. The “I hit ‘send’ too soon” email. You’ve gotten them, you’ve sent them. Now, you never have to send someone an unfinished email with missing or wrong information and then immediately follow up with a “sent too soon!” apology. This also goes for “Oops, forgot attachment!” Note to self: when applying to all new jobs, set up the “undo” feature.

5. The “just following up” email you retroactively regret. Sometimes, when waiting on a response from an editor, or client, I’ll get antsy and shoot an email that’s like “hey, just checking in…” That’s usually at the exact same moment they’ve, unprompted, decided to respond to me. And then I think, “Why didn’t I slow my roll just a little bit?” These are the most cringe-worthy emails, but it’d be nice if you could retract them as needed.

6. The multiple “Saw this and thought of you” emails. You know how when you have a crush, literally everything you read/see/hear makes you think of them? The “undo” feature will come in reeeeeaaaaal handy when you’ve sent an obscure video that actually won’t make sense to them and it’s maybe the third obscure video you’ve sent them in the past few hours. Yeah, undo send.

P.S. Be warned, this feature isn’t available on mobile applications yet but it is coming soon. THANK GAWD.

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(Images via HBO and YouTube/NBC)