Outlook login: How to recall an email in Outlook? Outlook 365 guide

A common problem when sending email is realising too late it has sent to the wrong person, is missing an important attachment, or includes an embarrassing mistake. Microsoft Outlook thankfully now provides a clever feature capable of recalling an email or replaces a message, although there are a certain requirements. Express.co.uk explains how to retract an email in Outlook and what happens when you do.

Requirements for recalling an Outlook email:

Both the user and recipient require an Exchange server email account and use Outlook as the email client.

The recipient’s mailbox should be open when an Outlook recall process is attempted.

The original Outlook message has to be unread and is in the recipient’s inbox.

Finally, the message cannot be affected by any process, such as a rule, spam filter, or add-in.

How to recall – and replace – an email in Outlook:

Begin by opening Outlook and head to the Sent Items folder.

Double-click the sent message you wish to recall to open it in a new window.

Next, navigate to the Message tab, click the Actions dropdown arrow, and select Recall This Message.

The Recall This Message dialog box presents Outlook users with two options:

Delete Unread Copies of This Message to recall the message.

Delete Unread Copies and Replace With a New Message to replace the message with a new one.

Those wishing to receive notification of the results should select the Tell Me if Recall Succeeds or Fails for Each Recipient check box.

Users who have selected Delete Unread Copies and Replace with a New Message, can alter the original message.

After selecting Send, users will receive an Outlook notification message confirming the success or failure of the attempt to retract or replace the email.

Possible consequences of recalling Outlook emails:

If the recipient has read the message, the recall will fail and both the original message and the new message are available to the recipient.

If the recipient has not opened the original message and opens the recall message first, the original message is deleted and the recipient is informed this is the case.

These results also occur if the recipient moves both messages to the same folder, either manually or using a rule.

If the recipient enabled Process requests and responses on arrival under Tracking Options, and the recipient has not read the original email, Outlook deletes the original message.