Where 'Undo Send' and other Gmail ideas are born

Instead of hitting "reply" to an e-mail, we accidentally push "reply all," sending a potentially embarrassing or insulting message to those we didn't intend to see it.

To address this problem, Google Inc.'s Gmail Labs has launched an experimental feature called "Undo Send" that gives users a chance to rewrite their message, correct settings or simply fix typos.

When a Gmail user who enables this feature sends an e-mail, a button that says "Undo" will pop up on their screen for five seconds. If the user hits the button within that time, the service will retrieve the e-mail in draft form -- allowing the user to make changes or cancel the message altogether.


"Sometimes ... I send a message and then immediately notice a mistake," said Michael Leggett, a Gmail Labs designer and the creator of the "Undo Send" feature, in the Gmail blog. "I forget to attach a file, or e-mail the birthday girl that I can't make her surprise party. I can rush to close my browser or unplug the Internet -- but Gmail almost always wins that race."


Leggett added that he's had "Undo Send" turned on for a while "and it's saved me several times."


This may be good news to Gmail's tens of millions of users as people in the digital era look to connect with others over the Web in a more efficient manner. "Undo Send" is also just the latest example of the dozens of creative -- and sometimes downright wacky -- online features developed at Gmail Labs to address common e-mail problems.