Phew! The power of undoing a sent email

I just sent a sensitive business email and I wanted to keep one of our advisers across the contents of it. So I blind copied him on the email.

Except…

In my rush to get things done, I copied the wrong ‘John’. The actual John whose email was entered into the BCC field was a John that I really do NOT want to be exposed to the contents of the email.

I process over a hundred emails a day, so I don’t delay in pressing SEND when I’ve reviewed the email.

As the email was being sent, I had one of those moments when your heart races into your throat. I had the wrong person blind copied. The. Worst. Feeling. Ever.

But now is when I’m happy to be using Google Apps for Domain for our email. (In fact, I so happy with the service for so many reasons.)

There’s a feature in Google email for businesses which lets you undo your send, so long as it’s within a minute or so of pressing Send. So I was able to undo the send, copy the right John onto the email, and move forward again.

Heart back into chest.

Yet another example of why having the right tools, configured in the right way, is so essential to a small but growing business.