In an attempt to mature its email services,
Google rolled out a privacy-centric feature called as ‘confidential mode’ which
according to the announcements made by the company will be available for all
the G suite users in the month of June. Reportedly, in 2018, a beta version of the feature has been launched in the month of August.
The feature is well-built to serve
the users and their sensitive information; once available, the mode is
configured to “be set to default ON for all domains with Gmail enabled, unless
you choose to disable this feature" as per the Google announcements.
With the newly added Confidential
Mode turned on, users are aided with inbuilt information rights management
controls which allow them to set a specific expiration date for emails that
will delete them automatically after the set deadline and they can
also, revoke sent emails.
This groundbreaking feature of Gmail will also allow users to send self-destructing
emails that will restrict forwarding and block printing to other users.
As the officials
further explained, “Because a sender can require additional authentication via
text message to view an email, it’s also possible to protect data even if a
recipient’s email account has been hijacked while the message is active."
How to use confidential mode
First of all, ensure that you are
using the new version of Gmail which can be activated from the gear icon at the top.
Now open Gmail and click on
compose, at the bottom of the mailbox will appear a tiny clock icon, click on
that icon to configure the settings of that mail.
You will have to go through this
procedure for each mail you wish to use the feature with as the mode is
configured on a per-email basis.
