How to Recall an Email in Outlook (Unsend an Email)

Did you send the mail to the wrong person, or there are mistakes in the mail? Well, if you are using Outlook for emails, then you don’t have to worry about it. You can recall email from Outlook 365, Outlook 2016, or any version you are using. Here you will know how to recall an email in Outlook.

Microsoft’s Outlook Mail is a popular email service provider that’s being used by a lot of organizations for internal communications. Just like how you would make use of any email provider such as Gmail, Hotmail, and Yahoo, Outlook has all the functions you’d want it to have. Outlook is available as a standalone program and as a package along with the Microsoft Office Suite. Why would you want to use Outlook Mail you may ask? Well, there’s a great feature called Recall Mail and we’ll be telling you how to recall an email in Microsoft Outlook.

Why Recall an Email

There could be many reasons why you’d want to recall an email or unsend mail. Maybe the email got sent without you completing it or you forget to add in other recipients. It could also be that you’ve sent the email to the wrong person or you forgot to proofread the email before sending it out, only to later realize that the email has spelling mistakes and punctuation errors. It could even be possible that you might have sent out an angry written email to someone and after sending it you decided that it wasn’t worth sending the mail. Thankfully, Outlook lets you recall the email, but on certain conditions only. 

Recall an Email in Outlook

Now there have been many versions of Microsoft Outlook that have been released. From 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and the Microsoft Outlook 365 version, all of them can recall your email. Unfortunately, the recall or unsend function doesn’t work on Outlook for the phone and Outlook for the Web. Let’s take a look at how to recall an email in Outlook 2007.

Recall an email in Outlook 2007

  1. Select the Mail tab on your Outlook 2007.
  2. Now, in the navigation panel select Sent Items.
  3. Open the message/mail that you would want to recall or unsend.
  4. Click on the Messages tab.
  5. Now in the Actions group click on Other Actions -> Recall This Message. If the option is not there, then open the message in a full Window (double click on the message you want to unsend).
  6. Next select either “Delete unread copies and replace it with a new message’ or ‘Delete unread copies’.
  7. You can also select or unselect ‘Tell me if recall succeeds or fails for each recipient.’ It can fill your Inbox if there are many recipients.
  8. Now type in the message that you wish to send and click on the Send button. Or send a new mail later.

And that’s how you can recall a message in Outlook 2007. However, there could be reasons why your email couldn’t be recalled. For example, your recipient might not be using an Outlook registered email address or you might not be using an Exchange Server account. Furthermore, if the recipient has opened up the email, then it’s not possible to recall the email.

Recall an email in Outlook (Newer Versions)

If you are using a newer version like Outlook 2010, Outlook 2013, Outlook 2016, Outlook 2019, or Outlook 365 then all follow the same process for recalling an email.

It also depends on the outlook ribbons you are using. There are two different ribbons in Outlook, Classic, and Simplified. Ribbons are a set of options and settings that allow you to perform different tasks. It may be possible that your default Outlook version has Classic Ribbon or Simplified Ribbon. So, we have added a guide for both types of Ribbons. If you don’t know which Ribbon you are using, don’t worry if Method 1 doesn’t work, check out Method 2. So let’s check out how to recall or unsend emails in Outlook 2016, Outlook 365, etc.

Method 1 (Classic Ribbon)

  1. Open Outlook application on your PC.
  2. Towards the left pane of Outlook, click on the Sent Items.
    How to Recall an Email in Outlook
  3. Now open the message/mail that you wish to recall. Make sure that you double-click on the message to open the mail in a full Window.
  4. Go to the Message tab and click on Actions -> Recall This Message.
    How to Recall an Email in Outlook
  5. Now, based on your choice Click on either ‘Delete unread copies of this message‘ or ‘Delete unread copies and replace them with a new message‘.
  6. You can also select the ‘Tell me if the recall was a success or a failure for each recipient’. But if there are many recipients, avoid it.
  7. Once you’ve selected your desired option, click on OK.
  8. You can also type in your message and hit the Send button if you will be replacing the recalled message.

Method 2 (Simplified Ribbon)

  1. In the Outlook app, open Sent Items which will be on the left pane of Outlook.
  2. Open the message that you wish to recall. Make sure that you double-click on the message to open another window.
  3. Go to the Messages tab and click on the three dots (It will be on the extreme right).
    How to Recall an Email in Outlook
  4. Now from the options select Actions, and then select Recall This Message.
  5. Next click on ‘Delete unread copies of this message‘ or select ‘Delete unread copies and replace them with a new message‘.
    How to Recall an Email in Outlook
  6. You can also select the Tell me if the recall was a success or a failure for each recipient.
  7. Once you’ve selected your desired option, click on OK.
  8. You can also type in your message and hit the Send button if you will be replacing the recalled message.

Considering that newer versions of Outlook have additional protection with Azure Information Protection, then you won’t be able to see the recall this message option. Also, this function can’t be performed if you aren’t using an Exchange Services account and if the recipient doesn’t use an Outlook email address. Also, to make sure that people purchase and make use of the Office 365 apps for desktops, the recall feature is not available while using Outlook on any web browser, Android, and iOS apps. It might seem like a limitation, but then there’s a good reason why you might want to own a Microsoft Office subscription plan.

Conclusion

Mistakes do happen and its human tendency to do so as no one is entirely perfect. So, if you ever reach the stage of having to recall a message on Outlook, then you know how to recall an email in Outlook. It would be useful to point out that your replacement message should contain an apology for any mistakes that might have crept into the original email messages. Oh, and if you ever reach a situation like this, remember that there is no time limit to recall the message, unlike in Gmail where you’ve got precious seconds to recall the mail which may or may not create issues for you.

So that’s all on how to recall or unsend an email in Outlook. I hope you find the guide helpful. And do let us know in the comment section for any queries.

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Joshua D'souza

Enjoy games, 90's hip-hop, and tech. Loves exploring the infinite world of laptops and food. Every ready to provide assistance in anything that rocks his boat. Will gladly enjoy capturing memories through various lenses. Worked previously at PiunikaWeb as an author and researcher.

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