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New Gmail feature to allow users to send ‘confidential’ emails


Google has delivered its latest email feature by adding a confidential mode for Gmail, which as the name suggests allows users to send and receive ‘confidential’ emails.

According to Google’s support website, confidential emails have a sender-defined expiration date (from one day to five years), but access to the email can also be revoked at any time. Additionally, recipients can’t forward, copy, print or download these emails.

Similar to what Telegram introduced years ago, Gmail users can now set a self-destruct timer for a defined period on all outgoing emails.

The emails will be received like normal emails for all Gmail users, but those using other services such as Yahoo, the email will be opened in a secure web portal.

The sender of a confidential email can also require recipients to enter a pass code (sent via SMS or email) to open the message.

PASS CODES

SMS-based pass codes are the only option if your recipient is using a Gmail account, recipients using another email service can receive either SMS or email pass codes.

Unfortunately, SMS-based pass codes are only supported in Europe, India, Japan, North America, and South America.

Unlike Telegram with its screenshot alerts however, Gmail still allows recipients to take screenshots of confidential emails.

To enable confidential mode for an email on Android, users will need to compose a new message, then tap the three-dot menu > confidential mode.

To enable the option on your computer, users will need to use the new Gmail interface. From here, tap compose > confidential mode (it’s the padlock icon with a clock on it).

To manually revoke access to a confidential email on Android, open the sent message and tap the remove access option at the bottom of the email.