How to undo an email

DID you know you can prevent that heart-stopping moment when you've sent an email to the wrong person? Find out the hidden trick to how it's done.

Phew. This little icon could save your bacon by giving you 10 seconds to stop an email sending.

UH OH. You've just written a saucy email to a friend only to realise it's on its way to your boss by mistake. Fear not. There's a hidden trick in Gmail, but you've only got 10 seconds to do so.

Hidden in Google's Gmail settings is a little lifesaving feature, reported by Business Insider , that will let you "undo" an email, essentially preventing it from sending. But this feature only gives you 10 seconds to click the button before embarrassment hits an unintentional inbox. Why would you not have this feature turned on?

You'll need to activate it first, and here's how:

1. Login to Gmail and click the cog icon in the top right corner, then select settings from the drop-down menu

2. Click "Labs" from the tabs at the top

The option to undo sent messages is found in the settings.

3. Scroll to the bottom where you'll see "Undo Send" and click enable

4. Click "Save changes"

Phew. This little icon could save your bacon by giving you 10 seconds to stop an email sending.

The next time you compose and send an email you will see the usual status box appear that says "Your message has been sent", only now it'll also say "Undo". This stays visible for roughly 10 seconds. Click this and the original email will reopen and your heart can stop pounding.