How to Recall Email in Outlook (and Replace It, If Desired)
When you attempt to retract email, Outlook may notify the recipient of the recalled email. To recall an email in Outlook:
Requirements for Recalling an Email Message
Some caveats apply when you want to recall an Outlook email message:
Delete Unread Copies of This Message to recall the message.Delete Unread Copies and Replace With a New Message to replace the message with a new one.
Both you and your recipient must have an Exchange server email account and use Outlook as the email client.The recipient’s mailbox is open when you attempt to process a recall.The original message is unread and is in the recipient’s Inbox.The message was not touched by any process, such as a rule, spam filter, or add-in.
If any of these requirements are not met, your recall will fail.
Possible Results When You Recall Outlook Email
Depending on the settings of the recipient’s email client, whether the original email has already been read, and several other factors, the results of your attempt to recall a message can vary. Following are some of the potential results of an Outlook recall.
If the recipient has read the message, the recall will fail. Both the original message and the new message (or notification of your attempt to recall the original message) are available to the recipient. If the recipient has not opened the original message and opens the recall message first, the original message is deleted. Outlook informs the recipient that you deleted the message from their mailbox.
These results also occur if the recipient moves both messages to the same folder, either manually or using a rule. If the recipient enabled Automatically process requests and responses to meeting requests and polls, under Tracking, and the recipient has not read the original email, Outlook deletes the original message and informs the recipient that you deleted the message. However, if the original message is marked as read when the recall message is processed, the recipient is informed that you want to delete the message. The original message remains in the recipient’s inbox. If the recipient moves the original message out of the inbox and into another folder (manually or using a rule) and the recall message goes to the inbox, the retraction fails regardless of whether either has been read or not. The recipient is informed that a recall attempt failed. The recipient has access to both the original and the new email message. In addition, if you use Outlook on a mobile device and attempt to recall a message, the process will likely fail.
How to Delay Sending Messages
Sending an incorrect email can be counterproductive and even embarrassing. While Outlook’s recall feature might save you in a pinch, you can alleviate some stress by scheduling an email to be sent later or delaying messages to be sent. This gives you time to recognize errors or update information before your email lands in your recipient’s inbox.
