A premature click and before you know it, your unfinished e-mail is on its way to your colleague. It’s annoying, but not the end of the world for Microsoft Outlook users. The e-mail program comes with a recall function for messages. We reveal how it works and what is required in order to recall your e-mail.
E-mails sent with Microsoft Outlook can be deleted from the recipient’s inbox or replaced with a new e-mail as long as the following conditions are met:
If these three requirements are fulfilled, then the e-mail can be recalled without a problem.
In order to recall an e-mail that has already been sent using Outlook 2016, 2013, or 2010, you need to do the following:
Step 1: Click on the “Sent Items” folder, which is on the left side of the Outlook window.
All outgoing messages are automatically saved in the “Sent Items” folder.
Step 2: Select the message that you want to recall via Outlook and double-click on it so that it opens in a new window.
When you open a sent message in a new window, Outlook offers various functions for forwarding or moving the e-mail.
Step 3: Click on the “Actions” button and select the Outlook option “Recall This Message” from the drop-down menu.
The “Actions” button can be found in the “Move” menu area.
If the Outlook option “Recall This Message” is not displayed, this is probably because you aren’t using an Exchange account or the recall function has been deactivated by the administrator of the Exchange server.
Step 4: Select one of the two recall options.
Decide whether you want to inform the recipient as to why you’ve recalled the message.
If you would like to inform the recipients of the reason for the recall, check the box for “Tell me if recall succeeds or fails for each recipient”
Confirm your selection by clicking on “OK.”
Step 5: Make sure that the recall was successful.
Outlook will always inform you by e-mail about the result of the recall. If you have activated the corresponding function, the recipient of the message will also be informed about the recall.
Failed recall
The report about the failed recall consists of the following information: recipient, subject, time, and date of delivery as well as whether the recall was successful or not.
Successful recall
If you receive a positive recall report, you can assume that the message that was sent incorrectly has been deleted or replaced with a different version.
Whether an already-sent e-mail can be replaced by a new message depends not only on the requirements listed above, but also on the recipient’s Outlook settings.
The following scenarios are possible according to Microsoft.
Scenario 1: The “Automatically process meeting requests and responses to meeting requests and polls” feature is enabled (as default).
If the recipient has the “Automatically process meeting requests and responses to meeting requests and polls” feature enabled, both the original message and the message to recall the e-mail will be stored in the recipient’s inbox. Whether the recall works or not depends on whether the mail has been read.
Scenario 2: The “Automatically process meeting requests and responses to meeting requests and polls” feature is disabled.
If the recipient has not enabled the “Automatically process meeting requests and responses to meeting requests and polls” feature, both the original message and the message about the recall will be stored in the recipient’s inbox. Whether the recall is successful or not depends on which e-mail is opened first:
Scenario 3: An inbox rule moves the original e-mail to another folder.
Scenario 4: An inbox rule moves both the original e-mail and the recall e-mail to a different folder.
If the recipient has defined a rule stating that both e-mails should be stored in the same folder, then it depends which e-mail is opened first.
If an unfinished or error-filled e-mail can’t be recalled, e.g. because one of the above conditions isn’t met, then the mishap can usually be rectified by a follow-up message. Apologize for the mistake and send any missing content. Further tips for professional internet communication can be found in our article on e-mail etiquette.
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