How to Delete an Email You Sent (Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo & More)

Right after you hit Send, you spot the typo, the wrong attachment, or — even worse — that the email went to the wrong person. We’ve all been there. The good news? You can delete or recall an email you’ve already sent — but only if your email provider supports it, and only within a small time window.

Made a mistake? No worries. In this guide, we’ll show you how to delete a sent email in Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo Mail, and ProtonMail. You’ll learn what works, what doesn’t, and the steps to take when recall isn’t possible. We’ll also share simple tools and settings you can enable to prevent mistakes in the future.

Here’s what we’ll cover:

• Can You Delete an Email After You Send It?
• How to Delete an Email You Sent
  • In Gmail
  • In Outlook
  • In Yahoo Mail
  • In Apple Mail
  • In Proton Mail
• What to Do If You Can’t Delete the Email
• How to Prevent Mistakes in the Future

Sounds good? Then let’s fix that email.

Can You Delete an Email After You Send It?

Most inboxes don’t let you truly recall an email once it has been delivered. What they do offer is a brief Undo Send delay that stops the email before it leaves your outbox, or — in Outlook’s case — a limited recall system that only works under very specific conditions.

Here’s a quick comparison of what each platform allows:

How to Delete an Email You Sent

The ability to unsend an email depends entirely on your email provider. Some services let you cancel a message a few seconds after sending it. Others offer recall features that work only in very specific conditions.

In Gmail

Gmail gives you a short window after sending an email to retract it. By default, this window is 5 seconds, but you can extend it to 30 seconds in your settings. When you recall an email in Gmail, it’s as if you never sent it.

Here’s how to delete an email you sent in Gmail:

1. After sending an email, look at the bottom-left corner of your screen.
2. You’ll see a small pop-up with Message sent and an Undo option.
3. Click Undo within the allowed time window.

And done. Gmail will pull the message back and reopen it as a draft so you can edit or delete it. Once the Undo window expires, however, you cannot delete the email. It has already been delivered.

In Outlook

Outlook offers a unique feature called Message Recall, which lets you attempt to replace or delete an email after it has already left your outbox. Unlike Gmail’s Undo Send — which simply delays delivery by a few seconds — Outlook recall works after the message has been delivered to the recipient’s inbox.

Here’s how to delete an email you sent in Outlook:

1. Open Outlook and go to your Sent Items folder.
2. Double-click the message you want to recall to open it in a new window.
3. In the top ribbon, select Message.
4. Click Actions > Recall This Message.
5. Choose one of the two options:
   • Delete unread copies of this message
   • Delete unread copies and replace with a new message
6. Click OK.

And that’s it. Outlook will attempt the recall — but success is not guaranteed. This feature only works when both you and the recipient use Outlook within the same Microsoft 365 or Exchange organization, and only if the email is still unread.

In Yahoo Mail

Yahoo Mail does not offer a true unsend or recall feature. That means once an email has been delivered to someone else’s inbox, it cannot be deleted. You can delete the message from your Sent folder, but this only removes it from your own mailbox.

Here’s how to delete an email you sent in Yahoo Mail:

1. Open Yahoo Mail.
2. In the left sidebar, select Sent.
3. Open the message you want to delete.
4. Click the Trash icon to remove it from your account.

This helps you clean up your mailbox, but it does not retract the email from the recipient. Yahoo Mail does offer an Undo Send feature — but only in the mobile app, and it only gives you a 3-second window to cancel a message.

In Apple Mail

Apple Mail doesn’t offer a true unsend or recall feature once an email has been delivered to the recipient. However, it does include a short Undo Send window that lets you stop an email before it leaves your outbox.

Here’s how to delete an email you sent in Apple Mail:

1. After hitting Send, look at the bottom-left corner of the Mail window.
2. You’ll see an Unsend option for 10 to 30 seconds (depending on your settings).
3. Click Undo Send to cancel delivery and return the message to your Drafts folder.

In Proton Mail

Proton Mail also doesn’t allow you to delete an email once it’s delivered, but it does include a helpful Undo Send feature. So if you want to prevent an email from going out — or quickly “unsend” it — you can do so within a short delay.

Here’s how to delete an email you sent in Proton Mail:

1. After sending, an Undo button appears briefly at the bottom of the screen.
2. Click it before the delay expires (10 seconds by default).
3. The email is pulled back into Drafts so you can revise or delete it.

What to Do If You Can’t Delete the Email

Sometimes, no matter how fast you react, you simply can’t delete or recall the email — either because the time window has passed, your provider doesn’t support unsending, or the message was already opened.

If that happens, the quickest fix is to send a short follow-up correcting the mistake. Keep it simple, factual, and focused on what needs to be clarified. A prompt correction minimizes confusion and shows professionalism.

For example:

How to Prevent Mistakes in the Future

Even if your email provider lets you recall or unsend messages, the safest strategy is avoiding mistakes in the first place. A few simple habits — plus the right tools — can dramatically reduce the chances of sending something you regret.

Double-Check Your Email Before Sending

It sounds obvious, but most email mistakes happen because we hit Send too quickly. Before sending any important message, pause for 5–10 seconds and review the essentials. Here’s the checklist I like to use:

• Recipient: Is this going to the right person?
• Attachments: Is the correct file attached?
• Links: Do they point to the right place?
• Tone: Does the message sound clear and professional?
• Details: Dates, times, amounts — are they accurate?

A brief final check is often enough to catch the errors you’d otherwise notice only after clicking send.

Add a Delayed Send Buffer

One of the easiest ways to avoid sending emails you’ll regret is to delay delivery by a few seconds. This gives you a built-in safety window to catch typos, wrong recipients, or missing attachments before the email actually leaves your outbox.

Most email providers let you enable a short delay. In Gmail, for example, you can extend the Undo Send window to 30 seconds. It adds almost no friction — but it prevents a surprising number of mistakes.

Here’s how to do it:

1. Open Gmail on your computer.
2. Go to Settings > See all settings.
3. Under the General tab, scroll to Undo Send.
4. Choose a send delay of 5, 10, 20, or 30 seconds.
5. Click Save Changes.

And voilà. Every time you send an email, Gmail will show an Undo button for the duration you selected, giving you a final chance to stop the message before it’s delivered.

Use an AI Assistant to Flag Mistakes

If you write emails quickly, it’s easy to miss typos, unclear sentences, or a tone that doesn’t land well. An AI email assistant helps you avoid those mistakes by giving you a clean, polished draft from the start.

With Mailmeteor’s AI Email Writer, you can:

• Generate a clear, professional email in seconds
• Rewrite your message in a warmer, clearer, or more concise tone
• Define your own writing style so the AI writes like you

No more rereading the same lines ten times. You start with a solid, well-structured draft — which means far fewer “oh no…” moments after hitting Send, and far more confidence in every email you send.

Schedule Emails Instead of Sending Immediately

If you tend to send emails on autopilot, scheduling is an easy way to avoid mistakes. Instead of sending immediately, schedule your message a few minutes ahead — giving yourself time to catch typos, wrong recipients, or missing attachments.

Here’s how to schedule emails in Gmail:

1. Compose your email.
2. Click the arrow next to Send.
3. Select Schedule send.
4. Choose one of the suggested times or set a custom date and time.

And that’s it. If you catch an issue before the scheduled time, you can simply open the message, fix it, and reschedule — no panic needed. This also works in Outlook, Yahoo Mail, Proton Mail, Apple Mail.

Conclusion

Deleting an email you’ve already sent isn’t always possible — but as you’ve seen, many providers now offer short undo send windows or recall options that can save you in a pinch. And even when recall isn’t available, a quick correction message usually fixes the issue.

To avoid mistakes altogether, enable a send delay, use scheduling, and let AI draft your emails more clearly. With the right tools and habits, you’ll catch issues before they hit someone else’s inbox — and send every message with confidence.

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