How to recall an email in Outlook, and what to do when you can’t

Recall a message in the new Outlook or Outlook on the web

1. Go to Sent Items and double-click the message so it opens in its own window.
2. On the ribbon, select Recall Message, then OK.
3. Shortly afterwards a Message Recall Report arrives in your inbox. Its link shows whether the recall succeeded, is pending or failed for each recipient.

Recall a message in classic Outlook for Windows

1. Go to Sent Items and double-click the message to open it. Selecting it in the reading pane is not enough.
2. With the classic ribbon: on the Message tab, in the Move group, select More Move Actions → Recall This Message. With the simplified ribbon: on the Message tab select More commands (…) → Actions → Recall This Message.
3. Choose Delete unread copies of this message, or Delete unread copies and replace with a new message to send a corrected version.
4. Select OK. If you are replacing it, edit the new message and send it.

If Recall This Message is missing, your account is not an Exchange account, or your organisation has turned the feature off. Outlook for Mac has its own steps.

Why recall so often fails

• The recipient is outside your organisation. Once a message has left your email system, nothing in Outlook can retrieve it from someone else’s. This is the most common reason, and there is no way round it.
• They have already opened it. Recall only removes unread copies.
• The message is protected with Azure Information Protection sensitivity labels.
• The account is personal: Outlook.com, Hotmail, Live and MSN addresses cannot use recall.

On Microsoft 365, recall runs in the cloud: Microsoft retries for up to 24 hours if a mailbox is temporarily unavailable, and the report tells you exactly what happened. On Exchange Server — including hosted Exchange like ours — classic Outlook uses the older recall method, which also only works inside your organisation on unread messages. Treat it as a good chance rather than a guarantee.

If the recall fails

Send a short follow-up straight away: say the earlier message was sent in error and ask the recipient to delete it. Most people will. If the message contained personal data — someone else’s details, a payslip, a client file — tell whoever handles data protection in your business. Under UK GDPR, a personal data breach that is likely to put people at risk must be reported to the ICO within 72 hours of becoming aware of it.

Make it matter less next time

• Turn on Undo send in the new Outlook and Outlook on the web (Settings → Mail → Compose and reply). Every message waits a few seconds before it goes, with an Undo button.
• Delay all outgoing mail in classic Outlook with a rule: File → Manage Rules & Alerts → New Rule → Apply rule on messages I send → defer delivery by a number of minutes. One or two minutes catches most mistakes.
• Check autocomplete before sending to someone with a similar name. Remove wrong suggestions from the list with the × beside them.
• Add attachments before addresses, so a message cannot go out half-written.

Sources

• Microsoft Support: How to recall an email in Outlook
• ICO: Personal data breaches — a guide