Send & open confidential emails

Important: While confidential mode can help prevent recipients from accidentally sharing emails, they can still take screenshots or photos of your emails. Recipients with malicious programs may still be able to copy or download your messages.

To help protect sensitive information from unauthorized access, use confidential mode in Gmail. With confidential mode, you can:

• Set an expiration date for an email
• Revoke access to an email at any time
• Disable options for recipients to forward, copy, print, and download your emails
• Require recipients to open your emails with an SMS passcode, which is available to phone numbers from these regions:
  • North America
  • South America
  • Europe
  • Australia
  • Asia: India, Korea, and Japan

Send a confidential email

1. On your computer, go to Gmail.
2. At the top, click Compose.
3. At the bottom of the compose window, click Toggle confidential mode .
   • If confidential mode is on, at bottom of the email, click Edit.
4. To set an expiration date, click the drop-down menu.
5. To choose how recipients open your email, click:
   • No SMS passcode:
     • Recipients can open the email directly in Gmail.
     • If the recipient does not use Gmail, they get an email with the passcode.
   • SMS passcode:
     • Recipients get a passcode by text message to their phone number.
     • Don’t enter your phone number.
6. Click Save.

Tip: The expiration date and passcode requirements affect how recipients access the message text and any attachments.

Remove access to a confidential email

If you don’t want a recipient to open the email, you can remove access before it expires.

1. On your computer, open Gmail.
2. On the left, click Sent.
3. Open the confidential email.
4. Click Remove access.

Open a confidential email

If you receive a confidential email from a sender:

• You can open the message and attachments until the expiration date or until the sender removes access.
• Your options to copy, paste, download, print, and forward the message text and attachments are disabled.
• You may need to enter a passcode to open the email.

Tip: If you can’t open the email, it’s possible the sender could’ve deleted the email or removed your access before the expiration date. Contact the sender to give you more time or to resend the email.

Open a confidential message in Gmail

1. From your device, open Gmail.
2. From your inbox, open the email.
   • If the sender does not require an SMS passcode: You can open the email.
   • If the sender requires an SMS passcode:
     1. Select Send passcode
     2. On your phone or tablet, look for a text message for the passcode.
     3. In Gmail, enter the passcode.
     4. Select Submit.

Open a confidential email in another email client

1. From your inbox, open the email.
2. Select View the email.
3. Select Send passcode.
4. Look for a text message or email for the passcode.
5. Enter the passcode, then select Submit.

Related resources

• Gmail security tips
• Check if your Gmail message is authenticated