Have you ever sent an email with a typo, incorrect information, or to a wrong recipient? We understand how frustrating this is, but Outlook has a feature that allows you to recall as well as replace the email from the recipient’s inbox. However, very limited users know how to recall an email in Outlook.
If you are also among them and looking for the same solution, don’t worry! Here, we will discuss the complete process of how to recall a message in Outlook, the requirements, limitations, and several other points.
Also Read: How to permanently delete emails from Outlook?
If you have shared some sensitive or wrong information with someone, you can easily recall or recall and replace it by following the given process of how to retract an email in Outlook:
Aside from that, you can have Outlook notify you if the process succeeds or fails. Select the required option(s) and click the OK button to continue.
Note: The email will be removed from all recipients while utilizing the recall feature. You can’t unsend it for selective individuals.
Also Read: Top 12 Solutions To Resolve “Can not Send Emails From Outlook” Issue
Several factors may help you decide whether the email recall is successful or failed. The status of the recall message can be noticed from the following points:
If the recall process is successful, the recipient will not get any information. However, in some situations, a recall notification may be triggered. On the other hand, the sender receives a full report for confirmation about the success of the recall.
Regardless of the reasons for the recall failure, the recipient will not be aware that the sender attempted to retrieve the message. However, receiving notification of a recall attempt can be problematic at times. On the other side, Outlook sends a complete report about the status of recall to the sender in the case of failure as well.
Now, you know what happens when you use a recall feature. Let us now look at how you can verify the report received from the Microsoft team regarding the recall.
How would you know if a recalled email was successful or not? Don’t worry! Microsoft will send an automatically generated report to you.
To check the status of the recall email, you have to follow the given steps:
Note: Sometimes a success status may be misleading as well. For example, a recipient has opened your message and marked it as unread. In this case, the recall could still be reported as successful even though the recipient has already read the original message.
While researching how to recall sent emails in Outlook, you should be aware of some situations in which you cannot recall the email. Some of these requirements or limitations include the following:
To recall Outlook email, you and your recipient must have an Exchange or Microsoft 365 server account. The recall attempt will fail if the recipient uses Gmail, Yahoo, Thunderbird, or Apple Mail. Also, if you are unable to connect to the server in Outlook, recheck your credentials or restart your device.
An email can only be recalled if you use the Windows Outlook desktop app. The feature is unavailable for Outlook on the web, Mac, or mobile.
You cannot recall the email if the recipient has already opened it. In this case, you can only ask the recipient to disregard the email. However, the email will remain in his inbox, and he will still be able to access it unless it is deleted.
If your email triggered a filter in the recipient’s email client, redirecting it to another folder, or he manually moved it, the recall will not work. The feature is only applicable if the email is still present in the inbox of the recipient.
If all these cases are fulfilled, only then can you use the feature of recalling. Otherwise, it is not possible to remove the email from the receiver’s inbox.
If you have received a new email notification in the system tray but the message is not present in your inbox, there is a high chance that the sender has recalled it. Since the email was stored in your Outlook mailbox for a while, it is possible to recover it. The procedure for the same is described below:
Now, you can see the selected message in the Deleted Items folder or the Inbox folder as per the Outlook settings. It may take a few minutes for the email to be restored so that the app can synchronize.
Note: The message can only be restored if it is within the Retention Period. The length of this period depends on your Exchange or Office 365 settings, with the default being 14 days.
Unfortunately, Outlook on the web or Outlook Online does not have a recall option available. But in place of it, you can use an Undo Send feature as a savior. As the name implies, it gives you the quick ability to retract an email that you have sent. Learn how to unsend Outlook email:
Note: The Undo feature of Outlook Online gives you a short opportunity to correct the mistakes or omissions in your emails. Once, the cancellation period is over, you won’t be able to undo the email.
As mentioned above, some criteria are to be fulfilled to recall an Outlook email. But what if you missed the chance to recall the email? To avoid such a situation, you are advised to take preliminary actions, i.e., delay sending emails for a specific time interval. This way, you will get an opportunity to make the necessary changes. Here are the steps to use this option:
This will keep the message in your Outlook Outbox folder until the scheduled delivery time, giving you some time to reconsider your message.
Note: The delay option will not prevent you from sending the email to the wrong person. It is only beneficial if you remember to make some edits to the message or recheck it before delivering.
Also Read: Easy Solutions for Outlook Emails Stuck in Outbox
Here, we learned how to recall an email in Outlook and what else you can do instead of using the recall option. Just remember, the success of the recall feature relies on several variables, like server settings, the receiver’s action, email client compatibility, and others.
That’s why the recall should be a last resort, and you should always review emails diligently and consider alternative approaches to reduce errors. Also, if you are unable to recall the email in Outlook, it is recommended that you send a quick apology to the recipient.
Ans: No, the feature is exclusively available for Exchange and Microsoft 365. However, you can use the Undo feature in Outlook Web.
Ans: After recalling an email, you can expect to receive a new email with the subject “Message Recall Report”. This informs you about the success of recalling. The notification should arrive within 30 seconds, but it may take longer in some cases.
Ans: When you receive a recall notification, it means that the sender does not want you to read the message. Generally, this notification is received with the desktop version of Outlook.
Ans: The time limit to undo an email is 10 seconds on Outlook Online.
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