Whew! Google Gmail Lets You 'Undo Send' That E-Mail

Google's Gmail Labs team added a feature to Gmail late Thursday night to cut down on e-mail user error.

"Sometimes I regret sending a message the morning after. Other times I send a message and then immediately notice a mistake. I forget to attach a file or e-mail the birthday girl that I can't make her surprise party," wrote Michael Leggett, user experience designer for Google, in a blog post Thursday night.

Undoubtedly everyone who uses e-mail as a part of day-to-day life has made a mistake like the one Leggett described. While Leggett's scenario is pretty tame, there are other cases when the instant retrieval of an e-mail is a matter of keeping your job or not embarrassing yourself in front of an entire high-school reunion class.

The "Undo" feature just added to Gmail Labs is designed to save users from that embarrassment by providing a five-second window in which an e-mail sent from Gmail can be undone. Users who might need an extra few seconds to decide whether or not it really is a good idea to send that-e-mail to an ex-boyfriend or ex-girlfriend at 3 a.m. can find the setting under the Gmail Labs icon in Gmail.

Just click on the Labs button, enable the "Undo Send" button and take those extra five seconds to decide whether or not the entire office and all of your friends need to know how many Jaegerbombs you did last night.