How to Recall an Email in Gmail

Written by Jack Lloyd

Last Updated: August 1, 2023 Fact Checked

This wikiHow teaches you how to recall a sent email within a few seconds of sending it in Gmail. You can do this both on the desktop version of Gmail and in the Gmail app for iPhone and iPad; while Android users can't recall sent emails, they can enable a setting that prompts Gmail to confirm before sending all emails.

Method 1

Method 1 of 4:

On Desktop

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1
Open Gmail. Go to https://www.gmail.com in your computer's web browser. This will open your Gmail inbox if you're logged in.
- If you aren't logged into Gmail, enter your email address and password when prompted.
2
Enable the "Undo Send" feature if necessary. If you aren't using the new version of Gmail, you'll need to turn on "Undo Send" by doing the following:^{[1]
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- Click
  .
- Click Settings in the drop-down menu.
- Check the "Enable Undo Send" box on the General tab.
- Select an amount of time during which you can undo an email from the "Send cancellation period" drop-down menu.
- Scroll down and click Save Changes.
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3
Click ＋ Compose. It's in the upper-left side of the Gmail inbox.^{[2]
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- On the classic version of Gmail, you'll click COMPOSE.
Type your recipient's email address into the "To" text box, then press Tab ↹ and type in whatever you want your email's subject line to read.^{[3]
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In the main text box, enter whatever message you want to use for your email.^{[4]
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It's a blue button at the bottom of the window. Doing so will send your email.^{[5]
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7
Click Undo when prompted. This message will appear in the lower-left side of the page (new Gmail) or at the top of the page (classic Gmail).^{[6]
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- By default, you'll have 5 seconds (new Gmail) or 10 seconds (classic Gmail) to recall your message.
Once your email is recalled, it will reopen as a draft. You can edit or discard it from there.
9
Change the amount of time you have before you can no longer recall an email. If you're using the new version of Gmail and you want more than 5 seconds to recall an email, do the following:^{[7]
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- Click
  .
- Click Settings.
- Click the "Send cancellation period" drop-down menu on the General tab.
- Select a time in seconds (e.g., 30) from the resulting drop-down menu.
- Scroll down and click Save Changes.

Method 2

Method 2 of 4:

On iPhone

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1
Open Gmail. Tap the Gmail app, which resembles a red "M" on a white background. This will open your Gmail inbox if you're logged in.
- If you aren't logged in, you'll need to enter your email address and password when prompted.
- Unfortunately, you cannot recall an email sent from Gmail on Android.
Tap Compose
. It's the pencil icon in the bottom-right corner of the screen. A new email form will appear.^{[8]
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In the "To" text box, type in the email address of the person to whom you want to send an email.^{[9]
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Type your email's subject into the "Subject" text box, then type whatever you want in the email's body.^{[10]
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Tap the "Send"
icon. It's in the upper-right corner of the screen. Doing so will send your email.^{[11]
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6
Tap UNDO when prompted. This option will appear in the lower-right corner of the screen.^{[12]
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- You'll have five seconds to recall the email.
Once your email is recalled, it will reopen as a draft. You can edit or discard it from there.

Method 3

Method 3 of 4:

Confirm Before Sending on Android

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1
Open Gmail. Tap the Gmail app, which resembles a red "M" on a white background. This will open your Gmail inbox if you're logged in.
- If you aren't logged in, you'll need to enter your email address and password when prompted.
It's in the top-left corner of the screen. Doing so prompts a pop-out menu.^{[13]
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This option is at the bottom of the pop-out menu. The Settings menu will open.
You'll find this on the Settings page.^{[14]
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5
Scroll down and tap Confirm before sending. It's at the bottom of the page. This will ensure that any email you send will have to be confirmed before it leaves your inbox from now on, thus preventing you from accidentally sending an email.
- If you see a checkmark to the right of this option, it's already enabled.

Method 4

Method 4 of 4:

Recall Email After 30 Seconds

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1
Important
- Only Google Workspace administrators can install this add-on.
- The ability to recall emails is only available for emails sent within your organization on the Google Workspace domain.
- This feature is not available for personal Gmail accounts.
2
Open Gmail. Go to https://www.gmail.com in your computer's web browser. This will open your Gmail inbox if you're logged in.
- If you aren't logged into Gmail, enter your email address and password when prompted.
3
Click +. It's in the right side of the Gmail inbox.
4
Search for add-on on Google Workspace Marketplace:
- To see and install this add-on, you must have administrator privileges within your Google Workspace.
- Search "remail".
- Click on ReMail add-on in the list.
5
Install Google Workspace Marketplace add-on:
- Click on "Admin install".
6
Open your "Sent" email section.
7
Find the email you want to recall.
8
Open the ReMail add-on and click on RECALL EMAIL button.
9
Confirm that you want to recall email
10
Email recall confirmation.

Community Q&A

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Question

Is there an option to recall an email that was send 1 or 2 days ago?

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Staff Answer
This answer was written by one of our trained team of researchers who validated it for accuracy and comprehensiveness.

wikiHow Staff Editor

Staff Answer

No, there isn't an option to do this. There is only the option of using the Undo Send feature within Gmail, that will allow you to stop an email from sending for up to 30 seconds.

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Question

How do I recall an email that is a week or more older, in Gmail?

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Staff Answer
This answer was written by one of our trained team of researchers who validated it for accuracy and comprehensiveness.

wikiHow Staff Editor

Staff Answer

You cannot recall an email that is a week or more older. The only thing you can do is apply the Undo Send feature within 5 to 30 seconds of sending the email.

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Question

Can you unsend a Gmail email?

wikiHow Staff Editor
Staff Answer
This answer was written by one of our trained team of researchers who validated it for accuracy and comprehensiveness.

wikiHow Staff Editor

Staff Answer

If you have the Undo Send feature set up, you have between 5 to 30 seconds to recall an email. After that time however, the email cannot be taken back.

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The new version of Gmail includes a "self-destruct" feature which will cause an email to disappear from the recipient's inbox after a set amount of time (a day at minimum).

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Warnings

Setting the recall period to more than 5 seconds will result in a noticeable lag between when you click the Send button and when the email actually arrives in your recipient's inbox.

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Unfortunately, if you've sent an email to someone outside of your Google Workspace organization and the "Undo Send" period has expired, you won't be able to recall the email.

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