Skip to main content

Experiencing the New Gmail: Sending an email using Confidential Mode

Update on April 2019: I am reviewing my older blogs for possible updates and realized this one lacked screenshots from Android and iOS devices. So, I am updating this blog with the relevant screenshots and some necessary details.


Google explains Gmail's Confidential Mode as where the recipients will not have the option to forward email contents, copy/paste, download, nor print. You can use these options to protect sensitive information. When you send the email, your recipient will get a notification about the limits you've selected.

The process is very simple. Click on Compose as you would for any regular email. Then click on the icon as is shown in the picture below.



In your Gmail Android app, click on the 3-dot (more) menu at top right, and from the options, click on Confidential Mode.

 


Ditto on your Gmail iOS app.


Clicking on the icon (or selecting the Confidential mode option in the Gmail mobile app) will open up a window/screen where you would need to decide on the length of the expiry and if the email sent would require an SMS passcode to open or not. Remember that these settings impact both the message text and any attachments. 
  • If you choose "No SMS passcode," recipients using the Gmail Web UI/app will be able to open it directly. Recipients who don't use Gmail will get emailed a passcode. 
  • If you choose "SMS passcode," recipients will get a passcode by text message. 



Once you have made your selection, click on the blue Save button. Then note how the appearance changes as is indicated in the image below.


The screens on your Gmail Android and iOS apps respectively:

Ensure the details mentioned are correct. If required, use the Edit link to make corrective changes in Confidential Mode settings. Then, Draft your email as usual and click on the blue Send button.



Now all you need to do is (a) confirm the email address the email is being sent to, (b) enter the phone number (if you have previously selected SMS passcode) and (c) click on the blue Send button.

The final screen, as it appears in the Gmail Android and iOS apps:





Comments

Post a Comment

Please do not post spam or promote your own site(s). All comments are moderated and such comments will not be published.

Also, please keep your comment relevant to the topic of the article.

Finally, please do not post any of your personally identifiable information such as phone number, email address or other important details as this is an open platform.

Popular posts

Gmail 101

Wendy Durham (CWD in her A Gmail Miscellany blog and wdurham in the Gmail Help Forum ) was a Product Expert and a prolific contributor when it came to explaining the intricacies of Gmail and Google accounts. Due to changes to Gmail and Google Accounts over the recent years, some of her well-known blog articles are no longer applicable. The three most used articles have been updated here to be consistent with the current version of Gmail and in some cases, Google Account. This will keep them useful going forward as a tribute to her dedication to user education. The current version of the article is updated based on the changes introduced in the Gmail UI as of January 2022, following the announcement here .  All your Gmail basics in one place! A primer for new users of Gmail, which explains how to find your way around Google's innovative email service and to perform the basic email tasks of reading messages, sending messages and organizing your mail using Gmail's web interfac...
5 comments
Read more

Revisiting Canned Responses (Templates) in Gmail

I wrote my first blog on Canned Responses here - Exploring the Advanced Tab in Gmail Settings: About Canned Responses , noting "Believe it or not, there is no article on Canned Responses in the Gmail Help Centre. Probably because it has always been a lab feature in the past and now included under the Advanced tab under Gmail settings in the new Gmail. So, today we take a look at this very popular feature in Gmail and the different ways we can use it.". That has remained the case, so with a change of UI, there is a need to rewrite the tutorial on how we can perform the following functions for a Canned Response or as they are now known, Templates . Create a Template Insert a Template Edit or Overwrite a Template Delete a Template Thankfully, the prerequisites haven't changed. To start using Templates in Gmail, it needs to be enabled from the Advanced tab under Gmail settings. As always, be sure to click on the Save Changes button on the bottom of the page. ...
45 comments
Read more