SAN FRANCISCO — Google is making it easier to steer clear of the trouble that can be caused by a misdirected or inappropriate e-mail.

An option to cancel the delivery of an e-mail within 30 seconds of hitting the send button is now a standard safeguard in Google’s Gmail as part of a settings change made this week. The “undo send” feature had been available for the past six years in Google’s experimental labs, but that required Gmail users to take extra steps to get it.

Gmail account holders will now be able to activate the protection in Gmail’s settings. The tool delays the delivery of e-mails from five to 30 seconds after the send button is pressed to give users a fleeting chance to retrieve an e-mail mistakenly sent to the wrong person or an ill-conceived communique.

Gmail boasts more than 900 million account holders worldwide.