software utility to retrieve/pull back sent email?

ATP · Mar 11, 2011

Hello again folks.

Can someone here kindly tell me the proper name of the utility/software that enables you to retrieve/take or pull back an email that you have sent by mistake?

Also, if possible, recommend just such a utility (preferably free) that enables you to do this? I am in a bit of hurry, sorry.

Much thanks.

Matera the Mad · Mar 11, 2011

No such animal. The e-mail has gone to someone else's inbox already, it is on another server in an account that you have no access rights to. There is no recall for e-mail.

If you use gmail, there is a sort of OMGNO! button that will let you change your mind if you do it within a certain number of seconds. Other webmails or clients, I dunno. But by the time you post in a forum, it's way too late.

Sorry

alleycat · Mar 11, 2011

Is it an interoffice e-mail?

Deleted member 42 · Mar 11, 2011

If you're running on Exchange, on a local network, and the email hasn't be read by any addressee, you can delete it, if your local admin has enabled that function.

But once an email leaves your inbox, it is not retrievable; indeed, it is not even intact since the various packets of data that make it up do not necessarily travel the same route (though these days, they usually do).

BigWords · Mar 11, 2011

See, there really should be three or four windows to pass through before the mail is sent - a pop-up asking "Do you really want to send that?" then "Are you sure?" before the damn e-mail goes causing all kinds of problems...

There should also be a test to check if people are drunk. Drunk people should never be allowed to send e-mails.

ArcadiaDarrell · Mar 11, 2011

No there's no such software. In fact, though stupid, this is the best current method I know of: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GaO8WltLmEk

I hope everything turns out okay.

ATP · Mar 11, 2011

BigWords said:
See, there really should be three or four windows to pass through before the mail is sent - a pop-up asking "Do you really want to send that?" then "Are you sure?" before the damn e-mail goes causing all kinds of problems...

There should also be a test to check if people are drunk. Drunk people should never be allowed to send e-mails.

I would like to say that I was drunk, and use this well worn excuse. But no, I was perfectly sober,& driven by the anxiety & ensuing stress created by an editor seeking a fast turnaround of an article & my need to catch him to finalise the business side of things before he left the office late Friday afternoon (over here).

As it is, I subsequently sent a follow up email, correcting the original one. Then, I was forced to re-read & check the original email, only to discover that the follow up email I had sent was *wrong* (this is the one I wanted to recall/retrieve). :Jaw:

Now, I am forced to send another email, apologising for *that* previous email, and trying to find some plausible explanation or excuse to CMA. He's a new client, too...

ATP · Mar 11, 2011

Thanks everyone else...

Torgo · Mar 11, 2011

Google had a nifty Gmail add on a while back that made you solve maths problems before it'd let you send mail - designed to prevent you from mailing while drunk.

http://arstechnica.com/web/news/2008/10/mail-goggles-a-breathlyzer-test-for-your-gmail.ars

dpaterso · Mar 11, 2011

Back in the mainframe days, being able to retrieve VM email that hadn't been opened yet from someone's inbox was a nifty tool!

-Derek

Tirjasdyn · Mar 11, 2011

Exchange and gmail mail unsending really doesn't work unless you do it less than five seconds after sending. Otherwise all you get is a message send asking the reader not to read the other message.

Email, just like other methods of communication both on and offline is not something you can take back.

Good luck.

Williebee · Mar 11, 2011

ATP?

The best tool available to you, at this stage?

"I'm sorry."

Good luck!

alleycat · Mar 11, 2011

One saving grace, ATP, people are a little more forgiving of goofs in e-mail than in snail mail. They're generally composed quicker, and and often not proofread. Everyone has sent an e-mail with mistakes in it, or sent one to the wrong person, so there is a tendency to overlook typos and flaws in an e-mail.

maestrowork · Mar 11, 2011

Google gives you time to unsend a message... but I think it's only like 10 seconds, or something. Not a whole lot of time to say, "Oh shit, I didn't mean it."

But yeah, once it leaves your mailbox, it's gone. It's traveling at light speed to your recipient's server and it's now in that server until the person reads it. To delete it, you will have to contact the admin of that server and ask them. Good luck with that.

That's why Google Mail now has the "draft" feature. Everything you compose is stored as draft. I use that a lot. I'd save important email as drafts (such as query letters). I'd make sure I have everything right before I finally hit the "send" button. Otherwise, it sits in the Draft folder.

ArcadiaDarrell · Mar 11, 2011

Tell the client you were suffering from a horrible case of "Friday Brain"; its when 98% of your mind goes out for the weekend and all that's left are the rudimentary functions of breathing and blinking. Anything beyond that is questionable at best even speaking.

ATP · Mar 11, 2011

maestrowork said:
Google gives you time to unsend a message... but I think it's only like 10 seconds, or something. Not a whole lot of time to say, "Oh shit, I didn't mean it."

But yeah, once it leaves your mailbox, it's gone. It's traveling at light speed to your recipient's server and it's now in that server until the person reads it. To delete it, you will have to contact the admin of that server and ask them. Good luck with that.

That's why Google Mail now has the "draft" feature. Everything you compose is stored as draft. I use that a lot. I'd save important email as drafts (such as query letters). I'd make sure I have everything right before I finally hit the "send" button. Otherwise, it sits in the Draft folder.

Will have to place my reply in the freelance section, I'm afraid. It is no longer purely a technology issue.

Mac H. · Mar 12, 2011

ATP said:
Hello again folks.

Can someone here kindly tell me the proper name of the utility/software that enables you to retrieve/take or pull back an email that you have sent by mistake?

Also, if possible, recommend just such a utility (preferably free) that enables you to do this? I am in a bit of hurry, sorry.

Much thanks.

Agatha Christie would solve the problem by send a few hundred emails directly afterwards - all that a variation of the original email (or similar enough) .. perhaps with a few Nigerian spam phrases in them.

Then, a few hours later, you can send a normal email saying "I think my email account has been used as a spam generator. Sorry about that".

The technique was used in an old novel of hers ... the murderer knew that someone had sent a warning about his identity but he was too late to stop it. So he basically spammed them with similar messages about random people so the truth would get ignored in the noise.

Seriously, though - just fess up. It's embarrassing but that's just part of life.

Good luck!

Mac

Matera the Mad · Mar 13, 2011

I will never forget the time I had such a total brainfart that I got my own address wrong in a PM (in another forum). Had to send a NO! NO! I goofed! message to chase it.

software utility to retrieve/pull back sent email?

ATP

What happened to my LIFE?!

Matera the Mad

Bartender, gimme a Linux Mint

alleycat

Still around

Deleted member 42

BigWords

Geekzilla

ArcadiaDarrell

tromping down the yellow brick road

ATP

What happened to my LIFE?!

ATP

What happened to my LIFE?!

Torgo

Formerly Phantom of Krankor.

dpaterso

Also in our Discord and IRC chat channels

Tirjasdyn

Outline Maven

Williebee

Capeless, wingless, & yet I fly.

alleycat

Still around

maestrowork

Fear the Death Ray

ArcadiaDarrell

tromping down the yellow brick road

ATP

What happened to my LIFE?!

Mac H.

Board Visitor

Matera the Mad

Bartender, gimme a Linux Mint