How to Send Private Emails in Gmail?

How to Send Private Emails in Gmail
How to Send Private Emails in Gmail

If you ever need to send a sensitive email, you may either use a private email service or learn how to do it in Gmail.

Gmail has a specific private mode that allows you to send emails that will be deleted after a set amount of time. If you value your privacy, you’ll appreciate how this mode prevents the recipient from forwarding, copying, printing, or downloading the contents of your private email.

Everything you need to know about Gmail’s confidential mode and how to use it to send private emails in Gmail is right here.

What is the Confidential Mode in Gmail?

You can send secret or private emails to other Gmail users as well as anyone who use other email clients like Outlook, Yahoo, or iCloud using Gmail’s confidential mode.

You can manually set an expiry date for an email sent in confidential mode, which is the day the email will be deleted from the recipient’s Gmail account. This is a useful function if you’re sending someone material that they should “burn after reading” and don’t want it to sit in their inbox. You may set your email to expire in as little as one day or up to five years.

Another benefit of utilizing Gmail’s confidential mode is the option to set an SMS passcode that must be entered before your email can be read. That means no one can see the contents of your message unless they have the text that contains the passcode.

How to Use Gmail’s Confidential Mode?

It’s simple to send private emails using Gmail’s confidential mode. It’s possible to accomplish it on both a PC and a smartphone.

Gmail: How to Send Private Emails

Follow the instructions below to send private emails from your computer using Gmail’s confidential mode.

  1. Log into your Gmail account by opening it and entering your username and password.
  2. Select Compose in the upper-left area of the screen.
  3. Find and pick the Turn confidential mode on/off option at the bottom of the New Message box.
  4. Set the expiry date and if you want to demand an SMS passcode to view your email in the confidential mode window (this will add extra security).
  5. Select the Save option.
  6. Before sending your email, Gmail will ask you to validate your and the recipient’s phone numbers if you opt to create a passcode. To continue, enter your phone number and click Send.
  7. After that, you can continue writing your email and select Send when it’s finished.

Gmail Mobile App: How to Send Private Emails

If you prefer to prepare and send confidential emails while on the go, you can use the Gmail mobile app instead of your desktop to do so. Follow the instructions below to send a private email from the Gmail mobile app.

  1. Log into your Gmail account using the Gmail app on your smartphone.
  2. Select Compose from the bottom-right corner of your screen.
  3. *use the email gmail app to compose an email*
  4. Select More (the three horizontal dots in the upper-right corner of the screen) from within the Compose box.
  5. Select Confidential mode from the drop-down menu.
  6. Set the expiry date and if you want to demand an SMS passcode to view your email in the confidential mode window (this will add extra security).
  7. Select the Save option.
  8. When you’ve completed writing your email, click Send.

What is the Best Way to Open a Confidential Email?

You can send private emails not only to Gmail users, but also to persons who use other email providers, thanks to the confidential mode option. If you’re using Gmail to open a secret email, follow the same steps you would for regular emails on your desktop or smartphone. You’ll get a text message if the sender requested an SMS passcode, and you’ll need to key the code into Gmail before you can open the email.

If you use a different email provider, open the confidential email and request a passcode using the link inside. You’ll get a text message with a code that you must enter to read the contents of the email.

Before Sending Any Sensitive Information Via Email,

It’s typically not a good idea to transfer sensitive information via the internet because nothing is guaranteed to be 100% safe. Even while Gmail’s confidential mode stops recipients from forwarding or printing your email, they can still photograph or screenshot it and save or share it with other users later.

Learn how to encrypt all of your online and offline data, as well as additional ways to send secure encrypted emails for free, to prevent your personal information from being exploited against you. However, avoiding communicating any private or sensitive information via the internet is sometimes the best option.

Have you ever sent an email with personal information in it? Did you do it through Gmail’s confidential mode or another method? In the comments section below, tell us about your email privacy experiences.

Mark Funk
Mark Funk is an experienced information security specialist who works with enterprises to mature and improve their enterprise security programs. Previously, he worked as a security news reporter.