How to Recall an Email in Outlook

If you have ever sent an email you didn’t mean to send or realized after you sent an email that there was misinformation or a typo, then recalling emails in Outlook comes in handy! 

The key is to act fast when recalling emails since recalling emails does not always work. Before going through the steps on how to recall an email, it is important to know the reasons why a recall would not be successful:

• Opened messages: If a recipient opens your original email, you can’t recall it.

• Redirects to other folders: The recall option only affects emails that remain in the inbox.

• Other email clients: The recall function works with Outlook. If you send an email to someone who uses Gmail, for example, the recall may not work.

Follow the instructions below if you want to recall an email in Outlook:

Step 1: Open your Sent Items folder and look for the email you’d like to recall. Double click on the email to open it fully. (The email has to be opened fully since you will get the Actions options if you are viewing the sent item in the preview pane)

Step 2: Once you have the email opened fully, click the Message tab on the toolbar. Go to the Move section, click on Actions, and click “Recall This Message” in the drop-down list.

Step 3: A pop-up window will appear on your screen. There are 2 options to choose from: 1. Delete Unread Copies of This Message  2. Delete Unread Copies and Replace With a New Message. You will also see an option to have Outlook notify you if the process succeeds or fails. This is helpful and should be checked so you get confirmation on whether or not the recall was successful. Select your option(s) and click the OK button to continue.