Did you accidentally send an embarrassing email to a colleague? Maybe you forgot to add an attachment. Wouldn’t it be great if you could just take back your email?
Sometimes, you can.
This guide will show you how to recall an email in Outlook.
Table of contents
- Requirements to recall emails in Outlook
- Steps to recall an email on the Outlook desktop app
- Wrapping up
Requirements to recall emails in Outlook
You can’t recall the email if you're using Outlook.com unless you’ve set up undo sending. Likewise, you can’t if your email address ends in @Outlook.com, @hotmail.com, @live.com, or @msn.com.
This feature is available only for businesses on Microsoft 365 or Microsoft Exchange. You also need to have the Outlook desktop app.
If you meet all these requirements, follow these further instructions to recall your emails in Outlook.
Steps to recall an email on the Outlook desktop app
The process is straightforward and only has a few steps.
Click on the Sent Items and select the message you want to recall.
After that, go to the File → Resend and Recall.
A dropdown will appear where you need to click on the Recall This Message option.
Now, you’ll see two options:
Delete unread copies of this message: As the name indicates, this option will delete your sent email if the recipients haven’t opened it yet.
Delete unread copies and replace them with a new message: This option will open the message to enter your new message and send it again to your users. After you hit send, your old message will be replaced with the new one.
- Make sure to check the Tell me if recall succeeds or fails for each recipient. Doing so will show you a status message if the recall succeeds or fails.
Note: You can only recall a message before the recipient opens it. It’s not possible to recall a message after they have opened it.
Wrapping up
That is how you recall an email in Outlook. But do you know what the best way to recall an email is? It is not recalling at all.
By that, I mean triple-checking your emails before sending them. Because the recipient might open your email before you make a recall request. This will save you some embarrassing moments with your colleagues and make you a responsible email marketer.
If you also use a Gmail account, check out our guide on recalling an email in Gmail.
