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One easy solution to this (and many other general email mishaps) is to enable Gmail's undo button for sending email: https://support.google.com/mail/answer/1284

One easy solution to this (and many other general email mishaps) is to enable Gmail's undo button for sending email: https://support.google.com/mail/answer/1284885?hl=en https://support.google.com/mail/answer/1284885?hl=en

cmircea 14y ago
That's a workaround of sorts, not a solution.
- w1ntermute 14y ago
  It solves the problem for the most part, which is what's important here. We're not building a rocket.
  - sanjeevmundluru 14y ago
    This shouldn't BE a problem in the first place... and that's just the problem.
    - jonny_eh 14y ago
      and there shouldn't be corruption in government. Why is that relevant? Problems either exist or they don't.
      - schiffern 14y ago
        Yes, problems in the new Gmail are relevant to an article on problems in the new Gmail.
      - jonahx 14y ago
        we aren't dealing with the age-old failings of human nature -- it's a simple problem some engineer could fix in a day.
  - deleted 14y ago
    [deleted]
  - Angostura 14y ago
    It 'solves' the problem in the same way that "save frequently keep backups" 'solves' the "my OS crashes every 10 minutes" problem.
  - sigzero 14y ago
    I believe you only have a short period of time in order to use that. So not really a problem solver.
  - droidist2 14y ago
    > That's a workaround of sorts, not a solution. Now that I reread it and some of the responses, I think he's just arguing over the use of the word "solution", not saying he doesn't like the workaround which is what I originally thought. It depends on how you read it.
pkamb 14y ago
I don't understand why 15-second "undo send" isn't default behavior.
- artursapek 14y ago
  I think it probably costs Google a little bit to queue up your email for a send action 30 seconds from now instead of sending it off immediately. I bet it would actually cost them money to just enable it for everyone - I'm sure the percentage of users who even explore Labs is very small.
  - takluyver 14y ago
    I can't imagine the cost would be significant, relative to the overall cost of running GMail. And it's not like they generally try to run GMail on the cheap. Perhaps they're concerned that seeing an 'undo' button would confuse people about how e-mail works, and they'd get a lot of requests to 'undo' messages that had really been sent. Or perhaps there are enough cases where people really want the message to go instantly that even 30 seconds delay would annoy them.
  - agildehaus 14y ago
    Then do it client-side?
    - rtpg 14y ago
      you send an email, then immediately close the tab. Does your e-mail get sent?
      - jsight 14y ago
        I think that they deal with this problem. Doesn't a modal dialog popup if an email is being slow to send (and you hit the close button on the tab)?
      - rwc 14y ago
        the answer is yes.

cmircea 14y ago

That's a workaround of sorts, not a solution.

w1ntermute 14y ago
It solves the problem for the most part, which is what's important here. We're not building a rocket.
- sanjeevmundluru 14y ago
  This shouldn't BE a problem in the first place... and that's just the problem.
  - jonny_eh 14y ago
    and there shouldn't be corruption in government. Why is that relevant? Problems either exist or they don't.
    - schiffern 14y ago
      Yes, problems in the new Gmail are relevant to an article on problems in the new Gmail.
    - jonahx 14y ago
      we aren't dealing with the age-old failings of human nature -- it's a simple problem some engineer could fix in a day.
- deleted 14y ago
  [deleted]
- Angostura 14y ago
  It 'solves' the problem in the same way that "save frequently keep backups" 'solves' the "my OS crashes every 10 minutes" problem.
- sigzero 14y ago
  I believe you only have a short period of time in order to use that. So not really a problem solver.
- droidist2 14y ago
  > That's a workaround of sorts, not a solution. Now that I reread it and some of the responses, I think he's just arguing over the use of the word "solution", not saying he doesn't like the workaround which is what I originally thought. It depends on how you read it.

pkamb 14y ago

I don't understand why 15-second "undo send" isn't default behavior.

artursapek 14y ago
I think it probably costs Google a little bit to queue up your email for a send action 30 seconds from now instead of sending it off immediately. I bet it would actually cost them money to just enable it for everyone - I'm sure the percentage of users who even explore Labs is very small.
- takluyver 14y ago
  I can't imagine the cost would be significant, relative to the overall cost of running GMail. And it's not like they generally try to run GMail on the cheap. Perhaps they're concerned that seeing an 'undo' button would confuse people about how e-mail works, and they'd get a lot of requests to 'undo' messages that had really been sent. Or perhaps there are enough cases where people really want the message to go instantly that even 30 seconds delay would annoy them.
- agildehaus 14y ago
  Then do it client-side?
  - rtpg 14y ago
    you send an email, then immediately close the tab. Does your e-mail get sent?
    - jsight 14y ago
      I think that they deal with this problem. Doesn't a modal dialog popup if an email is being slow to send (and you hit the close button on the tab)?
    - rwc 14y ago
      the answer is yes.