How to Recall a Sent Email in Outlook?

It can be quite annoying or embarrassing if you mistakenly send an email meant for your partner or client to someone else. Well, if you were using Outlook when you sent the email to the wrong person, chances are that you can recall such emails. Microsoft Outlook comes with an amazing feature “Recall This Message” which allows the user to recall, replace, or delete messages which you have sent.

Limitation of Recall Email in Outlook

Although Outlook allows you to recall emails, however, this feature comes with certain limitations that are mentioned below:

• You can recall emails from other Outlook users only and not those which have been sent to an external email account.
• You can recall an email only when it is not yet read or opened by the recipient(s).
• The recipient from whom you recall the email must have Outlook for Windows and must have it Outlook program opened when you recall the email.
• The email must be delivered to the Inbox folder of the recipient. In case the email moves to some other folder due to a rule configured, you will not be able to recall the email.
• If the recipient is using Outlook via Web Access, on Mac, or on a mobile device, recalling the email will not be possible.

Now, as you know in what condition you can recall an email in Outlook, the following are the steps you need to follow in order to recall an email in Outlook.

Steps to Recall Email in Outlook 2007

1. In your Outlook 2007, go to the Sent Items
2. Open the sent email you wish to recall.
3. Click on the Actions option from the ribbon or menu and select Recall This Message
4. Make sure that you enable the Delete unread copies of this message option in order to recall an email in your Outlook 2007.
5. NOTE: You can also enable the Delete unread copies and replace with a new message option in order to replace the email with a new one.
6. Moreover, you can enable Tell me if recall succeeds or fails for each recipient option to get a notification about the success of the recall or replacement of email.
7. When done, click on the OK button to finish the email recalling process

NOTE: In case you are going to replace the email with a new one, you will need to enter the new message and send it again.

Recall Email Outlook 2010

1. Go to the Sent Items folder of your Outlook 2010.
2. Open the email you want to recall.
3. Click on the File option located at the Ribbon.
4. Next, under Info tab, click Resend or Recall and select Recall This Message This will direct you to a Recall Options dialog box. Here, you will see two options
   • Delete unread copies of this message
   • Delete unread copies and replace with a new message
5. If you select the first option, it will delete the unread copy of the email, however, if you select the second one, it will open the original email which you can edit and send again.
6. You can select the checkbox next to Tell me if recall succeeds or fails for each recipient option if you want to get a notification for the status of the message for each recipient.

Recall Email in Outlook 2013

1. In the Sent Items folder of your Outlook 2013, open the email you want to recall.
2. From the Ribbon, select the File option and go to Info
3. Click on the Resend or Recall button under info and select Recall This Message You will be directed to the Recall Options dialog box. Here you will see two options:
   • Delete unread copies of this message
   • Delete unread copies and replace with a new message
4. If you select the first option, it will delete the unread copy of the email, however, if you select the second one, it will open the original email which you can edit and send again.
5. Moreover, you can select the Tell me if recall succeeds or fails for each recipient option to receive notification for the status of the message for each recipient.
6. After making the appropriate changes to the email, you can remove, resend, or replace the email you recalled.

Recall Email in Outlook 2016

• Go to the Sent folder in your Outlook 2016.
• Open the email you need to recall and go to More Actions option under the Actions tab.
• After that, click on the “Recall This Message…” option. A “Recall This Message” dialog box will appear on your screen.
• In the dialog box, you will see the following two options:
  • Delete unread copies of this message
  • Delete unread copies and replace with a new message
• While selecting the first option will delete the unread copy, if you choose the latter option, you will be allowed to edit and send the recalled email.
• In order to receive a notification for the status of the message you sent for each recipient, make sure you select the checkbox next to Tell me if recall succeeds or fails for each recipient option.
• Once you are done making desired changes, click on the OK button to complete process.

Recall Email in Outlook 365                         

Recalling emails can only be done using the Outlook Client which is a desktop version and not the one that is accessed via Office 365 on the web.  Also, recalling an email message in Outlook may take up to 2 minutes to process.

1. Go to the Folder Pane in Mail and select the Sent Items
2. Double-click on the email you wish to recall in Outlook 365.
3. Next, click on the Message tab and select the Actions option under Move
4. Then, select Recall This Message You will be shown following two options in a box
   • Delete unread copies of this message
   • Delete unread copies and replace with a new message
5. Choose the desired option and click OK to complete the email recalling process.

NOTE: To know the status of the email recall, make sure to select the checkbox next to “Tell me if recall succeeds or fails for each recipient”.

Must Read: Sign Up and Install Office 365 on Windows PC

Recall Email in Outlook Web App

As said above, recalling an email in the Outlook Web app is not possible. You can only recall an email when you have a dedicated Outlook app installed on your computer. If you have a fully installed Outlook on your computer, you can follow the above-mentioned steps to recall an email in your Outlook account easily.

So, this is how you recall an email in Outlook. However, if you are not able to recall an email in Outlook, it could be because of any of the aforementioned Limitations of email recalling in Outlook.