Microsoft Outlook Tip: How to Recall a Message
By Tana M. Mann Easton, Lead Efficiency Engineer
Have you ever sent an email to a co-worker and realized after you pressed send that you sent it to the wrong person? Gulp! There is a way to recall that accidentally sent message! Simply:
Go to your Sent folder
Open the message you want to recall
You should be in the Message tab of the sent message
Under the Move section of that tab, click the drop down of the object in the lower right hand corner that looks like a piece of paper with a blue envelope in front of it
Select “Recall This Message”
A new window will open that says:
Recall This Message
Some recipients may have already read this message.
Message recall can delete or replace copies of this message in recipient Inboxes, if they have not yet read this message.
Are you sure you want to
Delete unread copies of this message (this is the default action)
Delete unread copies and replace with a new message
Tell me if recall succeeds or fails for each recipient (this is checked by default)
Hit OK if the options are what you desire
The accidental recipient of the email will then receive an email with a subject line that starts with “Recall.” If the recipient is part of your same Outlook network (usually within the same company), then when they click on the Recall email, the original email will disappear if they haven’t already opened the original email. If the recipient has already opened the original email, then the recall will fail.
If the recipient is outside of your Outlook network, then they will receive an email that states your intention to recall your original message, but the original message won’t be deleted from their inbox.
Since emails sent to people outside of your organization and that have already been opened cannot be recalled and deleted, a best practice is to take a minute before you click the send button to proofread your work. Double check that you’re sending your email to the correct recipient, that the message in the body of the email says what you want to say and is grammatically sound, and that you’re not sending any information from a previous part of the conversation thread that you don’t wish to share. And if you end up accidentally sending an email that can't be recalled, give yourself some grace. Pretty much everyone makes that mistake at some point in their careers.
If you or your team would like more time-saving tips and tricks, sign up for our 2 hour Balance and Productivity training to instantly double your meaningful output and find the feeling of lasting flow and optimized work life balance by clicking here and saying hello!
Productively Yours,
Focus to Evolve Team