With about 165 billion messages sent around the world each day, email is increasingly supplanting face-to-face conversation, particularly in the workplace.

But in the absence of facial expressions, voice pitch and other social cues, it can be hard to decode the emotions behind the message. Roughly half of all emails are misinterpreted, studies show.

The wrong punctuation, a sticky Caps Lock key or a simple mistake can accidentally set off an argument, kill a business deal, and even ruin a friendship.

Two new tools aim to prevent email mishaps.

A new, groundbreaking computer program called ToneCheck scans emails for tone, the same way Microsoft Word's "Spell Check" looks for spelling errors.

Meanwhile, Google's Gmail now lets remorseful users recall an email within 30 seconds of sending it, up from the earlier five-second grace period.

Matt Eldridge, CEO of Lymbix Inc., the Canadian firm behind ToneCheck, says he thinks of his program "as an emotional thesaurus."

Eldridge said he got the idea after his own email missteps wrecked potential business deals.

"So I thought to myself, there's Spell Check and a Grammar Check, there must be a tone-check I can download into my (Microsoft) Outlook."

ToneCheck reviews emails based on information from ToneADay, a Wikipedia-style website also owned by Lymbix, which asks users to evaluate the tone of words, phrases and slang.

As a result, the program's lexicon is continuously evolving.

Eldridge said that his company wants to help people communicate more clearly electronically. He also hopes that improvements will eliminate online battles and help people get along.

The program launched in beta form three weeks ago and is available free for download.

For now, it can only be used with the email program Outlook, but Eldridge says the company wants to develop the application for web-based email such as Gmail and Hotmail.

In the case of Google's new email escape hatch, the "Undo Send" function must be activated in Gmail's account settings.

Ryan McNutt, who works as a new media officer, says email remains a minefield for many users, given that there are no visual cues to aid in the interaction.

Even when compared to phone conversations, email is troublesome as vocal changes and sighs are lost.

"We each think we're better understanding each other, but something often gets lost in translation."

With a report from CTV Atlantic Bureau Chief Todd Battis