New feature in Gmail: Stop sending mail you later regret

[David Baxter PhD]

New in Google Labs: Stop sending mail you later regret
by Jon Perlow, Gmail engineer
Monday, October 06, 2008

Sometimes I send messages I shouldn't send. Like the time I told that girl I had a crush on her over text message. Or the time I sent that late night email to my ex-girlfriend that we should get back together. Gmail can't always prevent you from sending messages you might later regret, but today we're launching a new Labs feature I wrote called Mail Goggles which may help.

When you enable Mail Goggles, it will check that you're really sure you want to send that late night Friday email. And what better way to check than by making you solve a few simple math problems after you click send to verify you're in the right state of mind?

By default, Mail Goggles is only active late night on the weekend as that is the time you're most likely to need it. Once enabled, you can adjust when it's active in the General settings.

Hopefully Mail Goggles will prevent many of you out there from sending messages you wish you hadn't. Like that late night memo -- I mean mission statement -- to the entire firm.

 

[Halo]

That definitely sounds like it could be a good feature.

 

[Retired]

The ideal safeguard would be the ability to retrieve or delete a previously sent email.

Of course this would require re-designing email clients, but I believe it is technologically possible, since email programs can be configured to periodically check for email with the server.

It's not a huge leap to enable a reverse email retrieval capability.

 

[Banned]

We have mail reversal on our office email whereby you can recall an email that has been delivered to someone's inbox. The two downfalls are that you cannot recall an email if it's been read, and if you do successfully recall the email, it sends a notification to the original recipient stating that you sent and recalled an email, and what the subject is.

It's been part of MS Office's Business version for many years...

 

[David Baxter PhD]

The best solution is to write the email and stick in your "Drafts" folder until; the next day.

 

[white page]

The best solution is to write the email and stick in your "Drafts" folder until; the next day.

this is truly sound advice , something I do frequently , much embaressment saved:blush:

 

[Daniel E.]

Some other Gmail Lab features, namely the Preview Pane that debuted in August:

Squeeze More Usability out of Gmail with Preview & Labs

Also:

Gmail Keyboard Shortcuts (For example, pressing "j" will go to the next message; pressing "k" will go to the previous message. Press "r" for reply and "f" for forwarding e-mail. This feature is enabled by changing Gmail's general settings.)

Gmail Notifier (Windows/Mac app by Google)