How to send a confidential message on Gmail

Illustration by Samar Haddad / The Verge

It is possible to keep your email relatively safe in transit. Only business and educational institutions can use the service. One way to keep your data a little safer is to use confidential mode on your computer.

The confidential mode for Gmail was introduced by the search engine giant. The setting allows people to send messages that can last a long time and prevent recipients from copying them.

You can use confidential mode on a desktop or through the Gmail app on a mobile device. There is a way to do it.

In your browser

• Compose a new message.
• Look for the icon of a locked clock to the right of the Send button (it may be hard to find among all the other icons, but keep looking) and tap it.
• A pop-up will appear that allows you to set the parameters for how long you’d like recipients to have access to your message before it expires — starting at one day and going up to five years.

• Below the expiration date, you’ll see a Require Passcode category. If the person you’re emailing has Gmail, and you’d like an extra layer of security, select SMS passcode to also require them to input a passcode that will be texted to their phone number. If your recipient doesn’t have Gmail, even if you select No SMS passcode, they will be sent a passcode via email.
• A notification that the message is being sent in confidential mode will appear across the bottom of the message.

On mobile

Some of the items are located in different places than you would find in your browser. The process is the same for both operating systems.

• Compose a message.
• Tap the three vertical dots in the upper right corner of the app, then tap Confidential mode.
• As with a browser, you’ll have the option to set how long the message should be viewable by recipients and whether it’s protected by a passcode.
• Once you’ve adjusted the settings, a message sent in confidential mode will display a small window across the bottom that details how long the message will exist before expiring.

The article was originally published on May 31st, and has been updated to account for changes.