You can’t have missed the widespread news reports over the recent email ‘mishap’ involving one bitter ex giving permission to his buddy to ‘have a go’ at his former girlfriend. The inappropriate male banter would probably have remained between the two of them … until he accidentally cc’d the ex into the email(!)

Although the two chaps could not have predicted that a private conversation about a potential conquest would make a full page in The Sun, we’d like to think that he’s learnt his lesson and will never make the same mistake again. Should you ever find yourself in the same situation, we thought you might like a few tips to help avoid the terrible mess.

Tip 1: Migrate your email account to Gmail and activate a few handy ‘labs’ functions to help keep your discourse secret.

Tip 2: Install ‘undo send’, a personal lifesaver, allowing a 15 second window within which to cancel the email and save yourself from a very public dressing down.

Tip 3: Install ‘Got the Wrong Bob’  meaning Gmail learns from previous emails and highlights when you include someone unexpected.

These three tips could have saved him (and may save you one day), but with the backlash against him flooding in from all corners of the UK I imagine he might want to take a look at some other Gmail labs to help him out of this mess.

Hint 1: He should enable ‘Message Sneak Peak’ allowing him a quick glance at emails without opening them to decide whether it’s an email from the boss or vitriolic hatemail in his inbox.

Hint 2: Finally he should enable ‘Smart Mute’ so that once he hides an email it stays out of sight. Better keep those spiteful emails locked away hey Harry?

Sadly there’s no ‘auto-grovel function’ or ‘apologise to all’ but given the OS nature of Gmail it probably isn’t far away.