Partly. Gmail's confidential mode can cut an email off on a date you pick, Proton Mail can delete one up to 28 days after you send it, and classic Outlook's Expires after option only strikes the message through. None of them can promise to stop a screenshot, and none can stop someone photographing the screen. If the content should be gone after one read, send it as a one-time link inside the email instead.
Self-destructing email in Gmail (confidential mode)
Gmail calls it confidential mode, and it works on the web, Android and iPhone. In a new email, turn on confidential mode, choose a date under Set expiration, and pick No SMS passcode or SMS passcode (Gmail Help). SMS codes work for phone numbers in India.
What it does:
- The recipient can't forward, copy, print or download the email or its attachments.
- You can open the email in Sent and choose Remove access before it expires.
- Gmail doesn't send the content itself. Per Google's admin guide, it swaps the body and attachments in the recipient's copy for a link to the content. Only the subject and that link travel to the recipient.
What it doesn't do: Google's own page says recipients can still take screenshots or photos. The page never calls confidential mode end-to-end encryption. On a work or school account it may also be switched off by your admin. For PDFs specifically, see how to send a PDF securely.
Self-destructing email in Outlook
Outlook has three settings that sound like self-destruct, and only one of them is.
- Expires after (the classic Outlook desktop app: Options, Message Options, Delivery options). After the date the message stays in the list with a strikethrough and can still be opened. It is a label, not a deletion.
- Do Not Forward (needs a qualifying Microsoft 365 subscription). Recipients must sign in and can't forward, print or copy. Office attachments stay protected after download, but PDF and image attachments can be downloaded without that protection. People on Gmail or Yahoo get a link and sign in, or use a one-time passcode that expires after 15 minutes. Microsoft 365 Personal and Family subscribers have it in Outlook.com too. It doesn't expire the email.
- Advanced Message Encryption. This is the version that can expire or revoke an email, but it comes with top business plans such as Microsoft 365 E5, and works only for outside recipients who read the email in Microsoft's web portal.
Microsoft is clear about the same gap as Google: its rights management can't stop a photograph or a screen capture.
Self-destructing email in Proton Mail
Proton Mail has the closest thing to a real self-destructing email. In the composer, open the ⋯ menu, choose Expiration time and pick a date and time, up to four weeks (28 days). The clock starts when you send, not when it is read.
- To another Proton user, the email is deleted from your Sent folder and from their inbox.
- To Gmail or anyone else, it works only as a password-protected email: tick that you are sending to a non-Proton Mail user and set a password. At expiry the content is deleted, but the notification email with the link stays in their inbox. Password-protected emails are on every plan, Proton Free included, and expire after 28 days by default.
Proton's pages don't address screenshots. Like any screen, it can be photographed.
Gmail vs Outlook vs Proton Mail
| Gmail confidential mode | Outlook | Proton Mail | |
|---|---|---|---|
| What expiry does | Ends access on a date; you can remove it sooner | Expires after only strikes it through; real expiry needs Advanced Message Encryption | Deletes it, up to 28 days after sending |
| Blocks forward, copy and print | Yes | With Do Not Forward; PDF and image attachments can still be downloaded unprotected | Not described on its expiry pages |
| Recipient on another provider | Gets a link and a passcode | Gets a link, then signs in or uses a passcode | Needs a password-protected email |
| What stays in their inbox | The subject and a link | The whole message, or a link to it (encrypted mail read in Gmail or Yahoo) | The notification email (non-Proton) |
| Screenshot or photo | Still possible, Google says, though Gmail tries to block screenshots | Still possible, Microsoft says | Not addressed |
Self-destructing file upload: send the attachment as a one-time link
An attachment is the part most worth protecting, and the part every mailbox keeps. The simpler fix is to keep it out of the email: put the file in a one-time link, then paste the link into the email.
With NO SUS Burn Files, up to 10 files, 50 MB combined, go in one link, with no account for you or the recipient. Your browser encrypts the files first, and the key stays in the link after the #, which browsers do not send to our server. The link opens a page with a button, so an email app's link preview doesn't use it up. The first download does, and the files are deleted from our server. For text or a password, the same thing works as a self-destructing note.
What no self-destructing email can do
- Promise to stop a screenshot, or stop a photo taken with another phone.
- Recall what the recipient saved, copied or photographed while it was open.
- Hide that you emailed them: the subject line or a notification usually stays in their inbox.
Which should you use?
- Both of you on Proton Mail: its expiration time is the real thing.
- Sending from Gmail: confidential mode, with an SMS passcode, is a good lock for the email. Assume screenshots.
- Sending from Outlook without an E5-type plan: don't rely on Expires after. Use Do Not Forward for the email, and a one-time link for the file.
- A password or a document that should be read once: send a one-time link, whatever email you use. The routine for passwords is in how to send a password securely.