We’ve all felt the dread of sending an email too soon, without the right attachment, or to the wrong person, and then having to quickly draft a nervous email with a creative excuse — or simple. simply couldn’t stand the shame.
Microsoft Outlook is one of the few email platforms that allows you to recall emails.
With this feature, you won’t have to feel scared about your Monday brain and can continue your week without making a mistake.
It’s important to address some feature requests and notes.
First, get the recall and resend feature to work:
- Both you and your recipient must have a Microsoft Outlook email address.
- Email can only be recovered if it is not read or opened by the recipient.
- Permanent revocation is only available on one calculator. Mac users will have to use the Undo toggle, which gives you a grace period of up to 10 seconds to edit or cancel an email after sending it.
Also: How to Encrypt Your Emails and Why You Should
With that said, keep in mind when you can use it, it’s a great feature.
How to Recall and Resend Emails in Outlook on PC
Before sending anything, go to your inbox. On the left side of the screen, click the tab labeled “Sent Items”. Then, select the email you want to recall. It will expand to the right side of the window.
The Sent Items feature is located between the Inbox and Drafts. Screenshots of Christina Darby/ZDNET
In the upper left corner of the Outlook app, select the “File” tab and a drop-down menu will appear. From there, select the “Info” option.
You can find the File tab in the upper left corner. Screenshot by Addison Murray/ZDNET
The Info menu will show several options. Go to the bottom of the list and select “Resend and Redial Message”.
To find the Message Resend and Callback options, go to the Info menu. Screenshot by Addison Murray/ZDNET
When you click on the option to Resend and Recall Messages, choose whether you want to delete unread copies of messages (recall) or delete unread copies and replace the message with a new one ( instead of, replace).
Also: How to promote email signatures in Outlook
Choose the option that best suits your situation.
As I mentioned, there are a few caveats to the withdrawal process, so whether a coin toss is successful or not can be a coin toss.
Outlook will display a pop-up dialog, giving you the option to tick the “message” box at the bottom to let you know if the recall was successful or unfortunately failed.
Check any box — though, personally I’d rather be notified and then click “OK”.
If you want to compose a new message, write your new copy and press “Enter” when prompted.
Outlook will give you the option to check the “Tell me if the recall succeeds or fails for each recipient” box before proceeding with the recall. Personally, I would feel more secure knowing my mistake was retracted. Screenshot by Addison Murray/ZDNET
Note about recall settings
Recovery is not guaranteed. The recall may fail depending on the recipient’s settings in Outlook. For example, if a recipient has the “Automatically process requests and responses to meeting and poll requests” box checked in their tracking settings, the recipient will be notified that you, the sender, , deleted the message from their inbox.
Frequently asked questions
How long do you have to recall an email after sending it?
You can’t recall a message until the recipient has read it, so the sooner the better.
Do recipients know if an email is revoked?
That depends on their settings. Maybe the recipient can receive a notification that something from their inbox has been deleted.
What happens if you resend email in Outlook?
If you choose to resend the email, a new copy of the message will open for you to make any necessary changes to the text. From there, you are free to send. The original message will be removed from the recipient’s inbox, replaced with the latest version.
