Gmail Introduce Confidential Emails That ‘Self-Destruct’
Gmail has recently rolled out a new feature that we thought you should know about, confidential emails. These emails will disappear from the recipient’s inbox after the expiration date you have set. This potentially means we can gain more control over the emails we send, along with the novelty of sending disappearing content. The concept of sending content that will expire is one that we have come to know and love. Social media such as; Snapchat, Instagram and Facebook have all introduced some element of limited-time content. Gmail has jumped on the bandwagon and introduced confidential emails to desktop and they are on their way to mobile too.
Let’s take a look at how they work so you know how to send a self destructing emails!
How Do Google’s Confidential Emails Work?
Depending on when you want the email to magically disappear, you can set different expiration dates. The end date for the email can be either; one day, one week, one month, three months or 5 years after the send date. Another thing to mention is the fact that in confidential mode, recipients have restricted access to the email. They are unable to copy, forward, download or print content from a confidential email. However, currently, there are no restrictions for taking screenshots if the recipients are using a mobile device. So, bear that in mind in future.
With confidential emails, you can also choose to have a one-time passcode to access the email. This means that the recipient will receive a code via text to their mobile that they will need to input in order to be granted access to the content. This is also useful for users that are not currently using Gmail. If you send a confidential email to a user that doesn’t use Gmail (So, icloud.com, for example). They will be directed to an external website through a link, whereby they need to input the passcode to access the email. Now you know how they work, you need to know how to set up and send confidential emails…
How to Set-Up Google’s Confidential Emails
First of all, you need to go to Gmail and compose a new email. Once you have clicked the compose button you need to select the icon to turn on confidential mode. To make this ‘how-to’ section a little clearer, we’ve included an image of what to look out for below.
Once you have selected confidential mode, you will be shown a pop-up where you can select your expiration date. Here’s what it looks like…
As we mentioned earlier, you can choose various expiration dates ranging from one day to five years. All of the options are available in the drop down menu below ‘set expiration’. Simply choose when you want the email to disappear from the recipients’ inbox and that’s it! You can also see there is an option to select SMS Passcode in the image above. If you do, the recipient will receive a passcode to their phone via text that they need to access your email as we mentioned earlier. Just to add that extra level of security.
Your Takeaway
In a nutshell, the addition of confidential emails gives us more control over what happens to our emails once they have been received. Not only that, they can help to make sure that information cannot fall into the wrong hands, and if it does, we know it won’t be there for long. A pretty good addition to Gmail if you ask me!
