Use Mail Goggles to Avoid Sending Embarassing Mail

Update: Please note that Mail Goggles is no longer provided by Google. It has been removed from the Labs section on Gmail. The closest experiment that you may want to enable instead is Undo Send. It gives you a couple of seconds to cancel the sending of an email.

To enable it open the labs section on Gmail and switch the Undo Send feature to enable. Update End

Ever dashed off an email full of your rants and then regretted it after you hit the ‘send’ button? Maybe you had one too many drinks and decide to let your entire address book in on your drunken thoughts? If you use Gmail, you now have a failsafe to prevent yourself from sending out such emails.

Google has introduced a new Gmail feature termed as Mail Goggles, which has been described as a breathalyzer for email. Essentially, this feature lets you send out an email only after you pass a little test i.e. a math problem. This feature is part of the Gmail Labs set, which is a testing ground for new Google features.

If you want to use Mail Goggles, you will need to enable it. To do so, log into your Gmail account and go to your account settings. Once there, click on the ‘Labs’ tab. Scroll down to Mail Goggles and select ‘Enable’. Save your changes and go to the “General’ tab to customize your Mail Goggles settings. Here you can decide what time you want Mail Goggles to be active and the level of difficulty of your math problems.

I find Mail Goggles quirky yet effective. Of course if you can easily solve math problems after you’ve had a few drinks, this feature is not for you. But otherwise, it’s still a pretty handy feature. What do you think of the Mail Goggles? Let me know in the comments.

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