Google to introduce ’undo’ e-mail feature

Gulf News

Dubai, 18 September 2010: We’ve all been there, that immediate sense of regret kicking in when we clicked the send button to hurry along an e-mail that would be better off buried in the bottom of the e-trash bin. No chance now, we tell ourselves, to fix those stupid spelling gaffes, remove some nonsensical phrase or to retract that message destined for a new non-friend, future ex-girlfriend or an irritating co-worker.

 

But there is a glimmer of hope for the e-mail-challenged among us — a new electronic communications experiment being conducted by Google Labs that gives Internet users a second chance towards e-demption. Google’s new "undo" button has been under testing for months now and gives users up to 30 seconds to cancel a sent e-mail.

 

Gulf News asked Google if it liked the new "undo" button. A spokesperson said: "It’s a cool tool we’re trying out because we know how often we’ve accidentally sent e-mails we didn’t mean to send. At the end of the day we’re constantly experimenting with different features that speak to our users’ needs."

 

Google’s new "undo" button has been under testing for months now and gives users up to 30 seconds to cancel a sent e-mail.

 

On its Google Labs’ website, the company described the lab environment as a "playground where our more adventurous users can play around with prototypes of some of our wild and crazy ideas and offer feedback directly to the engineers who developed them. Please note that labs is the first phase in a lengthy product development process and none of this stuff is guaranteed to make it onto Google.com."

 

What that means, effectively, is that the new "undo" button may only be a prototype and could be revoked on the Google Gmail at any moment. "Lab experiments may be unavailable or be even removed without notice and you may not be able to access any of your data," the spokesperson said.

 

"We recommend that you not use sensitive information in a Labs experiment." The uncertainty around the future of the experimental "undo" button isn’t of much comfort for those of us who hesitate every time we are about to hit the send button. If you’re one of those who worry about your e-mail content, you’re not alone.

 

British survey

 

Take, for example, the 2,000 people who took part in a British survey released last month to mark the DVD and Blu-ray release of the new movie Going Postal. It found that one in 20 of the respondents had sent inappropriate e-mails at work which led to being hauled up on the carpet or worse, getting sacked. Twenty per cent said they sent inappropriate e-mails while caught up in an emotionally trying situation.