Most of us communicate through e-mails at work. More often, an e-mail is marked with several recipients to keep everyone in the loop. This may turn out to be a recipe for mishap when people accidentally click Reply to all option while trying to reply to the sender. Some lost their jobs and others are still recovering from such a mishap. So let’s look at how to unsend an email and retain your employment!
How to unsend an email you’ve already sent
Most offices use Google services. If your office does not, this feature could soon be available with time. Remember, the name of the game is speed. Here is how you can unsend a sent mail via Gmail.
Open your Gmail account on a browser. Head over to settings. Search for Undo Send option under the General tab in settings. Enable the Enable Undo Send option and select the Send cancellation period as per your choice. You will be given a choice from 5 seconds to 30 seconds.
Select the period of your choice. Refrain from using the 5-second option unless you believe the Speed Force has chosen you as a successor to The Flash.
Remember to save changes by scrolling to the bottom of your settings menu. Once selected, you will be given the chosen time to stop a mail you’ve accidentally sent. Henceforth, when you send a mail, a message will pop up saying, Your message has been sent. Undo. View Message. Select Undo link within the specified time to stop that message from being sent.
Gmail will open that mail for you to edit it. You can either change your recipients or save it in the draft for further changes. Although this feature is Gmail specific, for now, expect this feature in every other e-mail client with time.
Stopping a message you accidentally sent
This has happened to us all. We’ve accidentally sent a text, image and/or video to a wrong person or group. Internet-based messaging has drastically reduced our SMS/MMS usage but has added a new dimension to accidental messaging. There have been several awkward accidental posts all over the world.
As mentioned above, speed is the name of the game if you want to stop an accidental message. Most of our instant messaging apps use the internet. The key to stopping any message when sent is to stop your device from communicating over the internet. As simple as it may sound, it requires some nifty reflexes to succeed.
Many internet based messengers will show the status of your message with tick marks. One tick shows the message being sent, two ticks show the message is delivered and two coloured (usually blue) ticks show the message is read.
Realise and react
In this age of fast internet connectivity, stopping an internet based message is hard but possible. It is all about how soon can you realise and react.
When you’ve accidentally sent a text or content, immediately check the number of ticks. If the number is anything above one, accept your failure. If not, immediately pull down your notification bar and enable Airplane mode from the quick settings menu. For iPhone users, this option can be selected from the control centre.
In Airplane mode, a phone shuts down its connectivity radios. Toggled in time, it will stop the internet based messages from being sent. Images and videos take a few seconds to upload and could provide you with a slightly larger window to react as compared to text messages.
Select the text or content you’ve accidentally sent and delete them from the chat thread. Now you can switch off the Airplane mode and pray that the message did not make through.
Telegram is the only instant messenger that gives you control over sent messages. Users can delete messages which were delivered and read. Let’s hope every IM apps eventually offers this feature.
Tweets that self-destruct
There are times when you want to announce something on Twitter. Post the announcement you might not need that tweet. How about creating a tweet that will self-destruct after serving its purpose. Here is a simple way to create a self-destructing tweet.
There are several web-based apps to create a self-destructive tweet, but nothing as simple as Delete it Later. Head over to DeleteitLater. Sign in with your Twitter handle.
The website will want to know your timezone. Select and update accordingly as your tweet will self-destruct based on your timezone settings.
Post the timezone selection, click on the Twitter link to compose a new tweet. In the compose screen, compose your tweet and choose the date and time you want your tweet to self-destruct. Once assured, click the Send button.
The tweet will be posted on your Twitter profile and will get deleted on the date and time chosen by you. You can view the posted tweet under Feed section on the website. This will showcase your tweet with Update and Delete Now buttons. Choose either to update your tweet’s content and scheduled time of destruction or delete the tweet. The choice is yours and yours alone.
Mistakes happen but solutions exist
There are plenty of ways people can goof-up on the internet but there are always solutions to fix things. Whether you want to know how to unsend an email or message and tweets which have an expiry date, we’ll be posting more all types of solutions to common issues in the coming days.
