In this guide we will see how you can send self-destructive emails using “confidential mode”. It allows you to set time to self destruct
Google made it possible to send and receive e-mails from “confidentially” in Gmail. What does that mean? You can exchange messages and attachments more securely. To do this, you can set an expiration date for the message to expire and a password to open it or to remove the routing options for others.
When you send the email in the “confidential mode”, the recipient will receive with him a notification about the limits imposed by you. These restrictions prevent, for example, a recipient from sharing an email with accidentally sensitive data. But, remember, malicious people can still copy and download the message or attachments (prints or apps) to leak information.
That said, you can send sensitive emails in the web version of Gmail and in the applications for Android and iOS ( iPhone and iPad). The process is very similar.
How to send emails in Gmail confidential mode
- Go to Gmail on your computer;
- Click “Compose” to create a new email;
- In the lower right corner of the window, click on the padlock with a watch;
- This will activate the “confidential mode”. Recipients will not be able to forward, copy/paste, download or print the content of the received email.
- Set an expiration date for the email to expire;
- Set whether you want to require a password to open the message;
- Click “Save.”
If you choose “No SMS Passcode,” recipients using the Gmail application can open the message directly, and those who do not will receive the password by email. If you choose “SMS Passcode”, recipients will receive a passcode by text message. You must enter the recipient’s phone number, not yours. You can only add SMS passwords to numbers in these regions:
- North America
- South America
- Europe
- Asia: India and Japan
On Android and iOS, to activate the feature, touch “Top” (three-point menu) and “Confidential mode” in the upper right corner. The steps are the same.
If you have chosen a very long time for the e-mail to expire, you can remove access in advance and prevent the recipient from opening the e-mail before the new expiration date (which may be in the next few minutes, to “cancel” sending).
- Go to Gmail on your computer;
- On the left, click “Send”;
- Open the confidential email that has already been sent;
- Click “Remove access” to prevent the recipient from seeing you again.
Who receives confidential emails can …
- View the message and attachments by the expiration date;
- Or until the sender removes that e-mail access;
- You may need to enter the password to open the email as explained.
And you can not copy, paste, download, print and forward (they are disabled).