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Saving drafts

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Don't worry about losing messages as you compose them -- Gmail automatically saves drafts every few minutes. If you'd like to save a draft manually, just click Save Now above the message you're composing, or press Ctrl+S when your cursor is in any of the text fields (Cmd+S for Macintosh users).

To retrieve a draft:

  1. Click Drafts along the left side of any Gmail page. (If you don't see Drafts along the left side of your Gmail page, click more above Contacts on the left side of the page.)
  2. Click the message you'd like to continue composing.
  3. Edit the message, and click Send, Save Changes, or Discard.
If you'd like to delete a draft:
  1. Click Drafts along the left side of any Gmail page. (If you don't see Drafts along the left side of your Gmail page, click more above Contacts on the left side of the page.)
  2. Check the box next to the message you'd like to delete.
  3. Click Discard Drafts near the top of the page. Your draft will be permanently removed.

updated 9/3/2009

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