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Google Inbox will let you hit ‘undo’ on sent messages

Google Inbox will soon allow users to ‘unsend’ emails, a feature we’ve all wanted for quite some time. Since the advent of email, basically.

Google’s engineers are hard at work slotting new features into the recently debuted ‘Inbox’ UI for Gmail, and an ‘Undo Send’ feature, which would allow users to hastily recall any emails they have already sent, is apparently at the top of their to-do pile.

Speaking during a recent Reddit AMA, Google’s boffins confirmed that the ability to unsend emails is the feature most users want to see added to the email service, and as such was something that they were working hard to deliver.

You can already activate a similar feature in the regular Gmail interface by delving into the Google Labs additions, but this experimental feature imposes a small caveat: that you have to hit ‘undo’ within 30 seconds of sending the email. It is expected that the new service will make use of the same technology as the current one, though with any luck it won’t impose such a strict time constraint on users.

Being able to take-back a sent email is one which we fully support. We’ve all sent emails in haste, which we’ve instantly regretted the second we hit the ‘send’ button, and we’re also no stranger to firing off communications to the wrong people, especially when we’re in a rush. Not to mention those regretful drunken mails that have us sweating as we wake in a near-comatose state the next morning. So being able hit a button and undo the email is one which massively appeals – even if it means that we’ll have to use the currently quirky Inbox UI to do it.

Does an ‘Undo Send’ function rank highly on your email wish list? What other features would you like to see added? Let us know.

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