How to Recall an Email in Outlook

You hit send and immediately spotted the mistake. Wrong recipient, missing attachment, something in the body you wish you'd left out. Outlook has a recall feature that pulls the message back, but it comes with conditions most guides skip over. This one does.

Recall Only Works in Specific Circumstances

Before going through the steps, it's worth being clear about when recall will actually succeed. Miss any of these conditions and the message stays in the recipient's inbox.

If the recipient opened the email (even a preview in the reading pane counts in some configurations), the recall fails. If they're outside your organisation, the recall fails. If a rule moved the email to a folder, the recall fails. In those cases, scroll down to the section on what to do when recall doesn't work.

How to Recall an Email in New Outlook for Windows

Microsoft has been rolling out a redesigned Outlook for Windows. The steps are slightly different depending on which version you have.

1. Open Sent Items in the left panel.
2. Double-click the email you want to recall to open it in a separate window.
3. In the ribbon at the top, select Recall Message.
4. Click OK to confirm.

Outlook sends you a Message Recall Report shortly after. Open the report and click the link inside to see whether the recall succeeded, failed, or is still pending. Pending means Outlook is still trying. It retries for up to 24 hours if the recipient's mailbox is temporarily unavailable.

How to Recall an Email in Classic Outlook for Windows

1. Open Sent Items in the left panel.
2. Double-click the email to open it in a separate window. Opening in the reading pane doesn't give you access to the recall option.
3. Select the Message tab in the ribbon.
4. Click the three dots (...) on the right side of the toolbar, hover over Actions, and select Recall This Message. On some versions of classic Outlook, you'll find it under File > Info > Resend or Recall.
5. Choose your option: Delete unread copies removes the email, Delete unread copies and replace with a new message lets you send a corrected version.
6. Tick Tell me if recall succeeds or fails for each recipient so you get a status report.
7. Click OK.

How to Recall an Email in Outlook on the Web

1. Go to Sent Items in the left panel.
2. Double-click the email to open it.
3. Click the three dots (...) at the top right of the message.
4. Select Advanced actions, then Recall message.
5. Click OK to confirm.

The recall report lands in your inbox shortly after. Check it before assuming the recall worked.

What Recipients See

A successful recall removes the email from the recipient's inbox without notifying them. The recipient won't see it. A failed recall is different. If recall fails on a message the recipient has already read, Microsoft may send them a notification that you attempted to recall the message. They won't be able to read the original again if they hadn't opened it, but they'll know a recall was attempted.

This matters if the email contained something sensitive. A failed recall attempt draws attention to the message rather than removing it.

Recall Failures and What to Do

Recall failing doesn't mean you have no options. The standard approach is to send a follow-up email acknowledging the mistake, correcting the information, and if relevant asking the recipient to disregard or delete the original.

Keep the follow-up brief and direct. Lengthy apologies draw more attention to the error. State what happened, what the correct information is, and move on.

The Better Alternative: Delay Your Emails

Recall is a last resort. A send delay is better. It gives you a window to catch mistakes before the email leaves your outbox.

In classic Outlook for Windows, you can set a send delay via a rule:

1. Go to File > Manage Rules & Alerts > New Rule.
2. Select Apply rule on messages I send and click Next.
3. Skip conditions and click Next again.
4. Select defer delivery by a number of minutes and set your delay (up to 120 minutes).
5. Name the rule and click Finish.

In new Outlook for Windows and Outlook on the web, look for the Undo Send option in Settings. It adds a short delay (up to 10 seconds in some configurations) and puts a cancel button on screen after you hit send.

A Note for M365 Administrators

If your organisation's users can't find the recall option despite having Microsoft 365 accounts, the feature may be disabled at the tenant level, or users may be on a licence tier that doesn't include Exchange Online. Check your Exchange admin centre settings.

If recall is working but failing frequently, it's often because outbound email is being processed through a third-party filter that delays delivery. By the time recall runs, the message has already been read. Some email security configurations affect this behaviour.