Oh. No.

Did I really just send that? Let me check my sent items.

Yes, I did.

Aaaggghhhhhh.

Maybe they won’t see it.

Who am I kidding? They are looking at it right now.

Sigh.

I may be the only person who accidentally sends emails on a regular basis, but in case I’m not, I have recently started doing something that really helps me to avoid that little problem.

When replying to a message

When I’m replying to someone’s email, I hit “Forward” instead of “Reply.” This empties the “To” field and allows me to write without having to worry about accidentally sending the note prematurely.

[Note: this has always been one of my biggest fears working in HR. The other involves printing sensitive stuff to a public shared printer. Shudder.]

When composing from scratch

When I’m writing an email from scratch, I leave the “To” field blank until I’m finished and happy with the email.

Next time you’re writing an email and you are worried about sending prematurely, just follow the applicable step above.

You’re welcome. :-)

What email tricks do you use to help you get the job done? Have you ever sent an email that wasn’t quite ready to be released into the wild?