Recalling a sent email is not feasible in Outlook 2016 for Mac. Here is an official document for your reference: Can I recall a sent email in Outlook 2016 for Mac? While I totally understand your concern to have this feature included. How do I recall an email in Outlook for a Mac? Go to sent items from Mail box. Double click on the message which is to be recall. Click on messagesActionsrecall this message. Select delete copies of this message and OK.
- Feb 15, 2019 Outlook for Office 365 for Mac Outlook 2016 for Mac Outlook 2019 for Mac More. Less There's no feature to recall sent email messages in any version of Outlook for Mac. Message recall is available after you click Send and is available only if both you and the recipient have an Office 365 or Microsoft Exchange email account in the same organization.
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- Scenario 4: An inbox rule moves both the original e-mail and the recall e-mail to a different folder. If the recipient has defined a rule stating that both e-mails should be stored in the same folder, then it depends which e-mail is opened first. If the recipient opens the recall.
Most of us have had that sinking feeling when we accidentally send an email either to the wrong person, or that is full of errors.
However, gone are the days when we have to suffer from the shame of calling up the recipient and asking them to delete the message. Many email and enterprise file sharing services nowadays have a recall feature meaning there is a way you can try to get that email back without anyone seeing it.
So how do you recall an email in Outlook?
If you use Outlook 2010 or 2013 to manage your email, then follow this simple how-to guide to work out how to pull those emails back from the brink.
Recalling an email in Outlook 2010 and 2013
1. Open your Sent Items folder
2. Double click on the email you want to recall
3. Under the Message tab, click on Actions in the Move folder at the top
4. Click on Recall This Message. (be aware: this only works if you have an “Exchange account” or the feature is available within your organisation)
5. A pop-up message will then appear. Click on Delete unread copies of this message.
6. If you want to create a replacement message. Click the Delete unread copies and replace with a new message to replace the message with a new one
7. If you want to be notified if the recall worked or not then all you need to do is click Tell me if recall succeeds or fails for each recipient option
8. Select OK – if you constructed another email and then hit Send
Why recalling an email in Outlook doesn’t always work
Unfortunately, if the recipient opens the email you didn’t want them to see, you can’t recall it. They can still get the recall message and note that you wanted to delete the first email, but it will stay in their Outlook system anyway.
If your first message was sent to a folder other than the inbox then the recall won’t work. Neither will it work if it’s sent to a public folder or if you try to recall it from a mobile device. Once one person has seen it, it’s too late.
The recall feature is designed to work with Outlook. If you are sending from a Gmail account for example, you can’t expect it to work, you’ll need to read our guide on how to recall an email in Gmail for tips on how to achieve this.
Other Solutions
• Delay your emails.
This means you can delay the delivery of an email after you’ve sent it giving you that extra time to change your mind.
Delay a single message in Outlook.
1. Click Options in the Message editing window
2. Hit Delay Delivery.
3. Select the Do not deliver before check box.
4. Select the delivery date and time that you want from the two drop-down lists.
5. Then click on the Close button to save the changes
6. After you click Send, the message will stay in the Outbox folder until your scheduled delivery time.
This will only work to give you a bit more time to reconsider your message; it will not prevent you from accidentally sending the email to the wrong person. It is also only useful if you remember to check the message again before it leaves your Outbox.
Delay sending a group of messages
1. Click on the File tab
2. Click Manage Rules & Alerts
3. Click New Rule under the Email Rules tab
4. In the Rules Wizard window under Step 1: Select a template box, and under Start from a Blank Rule, click Apply rule on messages I send, and then click Next to continue
5. In the Step 1: Select condition(s) list, select the boxes for any options that you want and then click Next
6. If you leave all the conditions unchecked when you click Next a confirmation dialogue box will appear. If you click Yes, the rule you are creating will then be applied to all messages you send
7. Now under Step 1: Select the action(s) list, check the box stating defer delivery by a number of minutes
8. In the Step 2: Edit the rule description (click an underlined value) box, click the underlined part of the phrase: defer delivery by a number of minutes
9. Enter the number of minutes you want to delay the messages for before it’s sent (Note: delivery can be delayed up to 120 minutes)
10. Click OK, and then when you’re done hit Next
11. Another list of checkboxes with exceptions that you want will then appear (Step 1: Select exception(s) if necessary)
12. If you want your rules to apply to all your emails click Next
13. Then under the Rules Wizard In the Step 1: Specify a name for this rule box enter a name for the rule you’ve created.
14. Check the Turn on this rule check box and then click Finish
15. It’s then a good idea to test your rule before relying on it when you come to sending something vital.
16. From now on, after you send each message it will stay in the Outbox folder for the time specified.
Again, this solution only works if you are carefully checking each of your emails for mistaken recipients or incorrect email attachments before it leaves your Outbox.
• With Egress Secure Email and File Transfer and Outlook email encryption, you can take full control of recalling emails and revoke access to email content at any time. Alternatively you can use Egress Risk-based Protection, which stops emails being sent to the wrong people in the first place! Risk-based Protection uses machine learning and big data analysis to understand email usage patterns and historic email data, recognising and alerting users to misaddressed emails before they press send. Get in touch with us to find out more about how to do this at your company.
The tutorial provides the detailed guidance on how to retrieve email in Outlook after it has been sent, explains the key factors of recall success and describes a couple of alternatives.
A hasty click of the mouse can happen to the best of us. So, the Send button is hit, your email is on its way to the recipient, and you are cringing at the thought of what it may cost you. Before you start weighing the consequences and composing an apology notice, why not try to retrieve the erroneous message? Luckily, many email clients provide the ability to undo email messages after sending. Though this technique has a number of requirements and limitations, it does give you a good chance to timely correct your mistake and save face.
What does it mean to recall an email?
If you have accidentally sent an incomplete message, or forgot to attach a file, or sent an email to a wrong person, you can try to retrieve the message from the recipient's inbox before they read it. In Microsoft Outlook, this feature is called Recall email, and it can be done in two different ways:
- Delete the message from the recipient's Inbox.
- Replace the original message with a new one.
When a message is successfully recalled, the recipients no longer see it in their inbox.
The ability to retrieve email is only available for Microsoft Exchange email accounts and Office 365 users. Outlook 2007, Outlook 2010, Outlook 2013, Outlook 2016, Outlook 2019 are supported.
Some other email clients provide a similar feature too, though it may be called differently. For example, Gmail has the Undo Send option. Unlike Microsoft Outlook, Google Gmail is not recalling a message, but rather delaying its sending within a very short time period. For more information, please see Undo email sending in Gmail.
How to recall a message in Outlook
To recall a message sent in error, here are the steps to perform:
- Go to the Sent Items folder.
- Double-click on the message you want to retract to open it in a separate window. The Recall option is not available for a message displayed in the Reading Pane.
- On the Message tab, in the Move group, click Actions > Recall This Message.
- In the Recall This Message dialog box, select one of the below options, and click OK:
- Delete unread copies of this message – this will remove the message from the recipient's inbox.
- Delete unread copies and replace with a new message – this will replace the original message with a new one.
Tip. To be notified about the result, make sure the Tell me if recall succeeds or fails for each recipient box is selected. - If you've chosen to replace the message, a copy of your original message will be automatically opened in a separate window. Modify the message as you desire and click Send.Tips and notes:
- If the Recall command is not available for you, then most likely you don't have an Exchange account, or this function is disabled by your Exchange administrator. Please see Recall requirements and limitations.
- If the original message is sent to multiple recipients, a recall will be made for everyone. There is no way to retrieve a sent email for selected people.
- Because only an unread message can be recalled, perform the above steps as quickly as possible after the email has been sent.
Outlook recall requirements and limitations
While the recall process is pretty simple and straightforward, there are a few conditions that must be met for this feature to work:
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- You and your recipient should have an Office 365 or MicrosoftExchange account.
- The recall feature works only for Windows clients and is not available in Outlook for Mac and Outlook on the web.
- A message protected by Azure Information Protection cannot be retrieved.
- The original message should be in the recipient's Inbox and unread. An email opened by the recipient or processed by a rule, spam filter, or an add-in cannot be retracted.
If these four requirements are fulfilled, there is a good chance that an embarrassing email will be saved from being read. In the nest section, you will find more information about the key reasons of a recall failure.
Why is Outlook recall not working?
A successful start of the recall process does not mean it will always be completed as intended. There are a lot of factors that can complicate or even nullify it.
1. Office 365 or Microsoft Exchange should be used
As already mentioned, the recall feature is only supported for Outlook 365 and Microsoft Exchange email accounts. But this fact alone does not guarantee that an email will be retracted. The following conditions are critical for a recall success:
- The sender and recipient should be on the same Outlook Exchange Server. If the recipient uses a POP3, IMAP, or Outlook.com account or is on a different Exchange server, even within the same organization, a recall will fail.
- The recipient must have an active Outlook Exchange connection. If they are working off-line in the Cached Exchange Mode, a recall won't work.
- The original email needs to be sent from a 'primary' Exchange mailbox, not from Delegate or Shared Mailbox.
2. Works only for Windows and Outlook email client
The Recall feature is designed to work only on the Windows operating system and only for the Outlook client. If you are trying to retrieve an email sent to someone on a different email system such as Gmail or Thunderbird, it will not work. Also, a recall won't work for the web-based version of Outlook and Outlook for Mac.
3. Does not work for mobile apps
Recalls are not supported for emails that are read on mobile devices with an email client such as Gmail or Apple Mail. And even if your recipient uses Exchange ActiveSync (EAS) settings for Outlook on a smartphone or tablet, a recall may fail because of various compatibility issues.
4. The email must be in the recipient's Inbox
To be successfully retrieved, a message must stay in the Inbox folder of the recipient. If it was moved to another folder manually or was rerouted by an Outlook rule, sorting filter, VBA code or an add-in, the recall will fail.
5. The email must be unread
A recall works only for unread messages. If the email has already been opened by the recipient, it won't be deleted from their Inbox automatically. Instead, the recipient may get a notification that you have requested to retract the original message.
6. May fail for public and shared folders
Public folders make things complicated because multiple people can access the Inbox. So, if any person opens the email, the recall will fail and the original message will stay in the Inbox because it is now 'read'.
What happens when you recall an email in Outlook
Whether a recall succeeds or fails is determined by an array of different factors. The outcomes of success and failure may also be different depending on Outlook settings.
Recall success
Under the perfect circumstances, the recipient will never know that the message was received and deleted or replaced thereafter. In some situations, a recall notification will arrive.
On the sender side: If you selected the corresponding option, Outlook will notify you that your message has been successfully recalled:
On the recipient side: If the 'Automatically process meeting requests and responses to meeting requests and polls' option is checked under File > Options > Mail > Tracking, the deletion or replacement of the original message would go unnoticed, aside from a couple of mail notifications in the system tray.
If the above option is not selected, the recipient will be informed that the sender wants to recall the message. If you are lucky and the recipient opens the recall notification before the original message, the latter will be automatically deleted or replaced with the new message. Otherwise, the original message will stay in the Inbox folder.
Recall failure
Regardless of the reasons because of which a recall failed, the results will be as follows.
On the sender side: If you selected the 'Tell me if recall succeeds or fails for each recipient' option, you will be notified about the failure:
On the recipient side: For the most part, the recipient won't notice that the sender was trying to retrieve the message. In some situations, they may get a recall message, but the original email will stay intact.
How to recover an email recalled by the sender
You noticed a new mail notification in the system tray but do not see that email in your Inbox? Chances are that the sender has recalled it. However, since the message was stored in your mailbox for a little while, it did leave a trace, and it is possible to recover it. Here's how:
- On the Folder tab, in the Clean Up group, click the Recover Deleted Items button.
In Outlook 2016, Outlook 2019 and Office 365, you can also go to the Deleted Items folder and click the Recover items recently removed from this folder link at the top.
- In the dialog box that appears, search for a 'Recall' message (please see the screenshot below), and you will see the original message above it.
- Select the original message, choose the Restore Selected Items option, and click OK.
The selected message will be restored to either the Deleted Items folder or the Inbox folder. Because Outlook needs some time for synchronization, it may take a couple of minutes for the restored message to show up.
How do I know if a recalled message was successful?
If you wish to be informed about the result, do a recall as usual and make sure the Tell me if recall succeeds or fails for each recipient box is checked (usually, this option is selected by default):
Outlook will send you a notification as soon as the recall message is processed by the recipient:
A tracking icon will also be added to your original message. Open the message you attempted to recall from the Sent items folder, click the Tracking button on the Message tab, and Outlook will show you the details:
- Sometimes a confirmation message may arrive with a delay because the recipient was not logged into Outlook when the recall was sent.
- At times, a success message may be misleading, for example, when the recipient opens your message and then marks it as 'unread'. In this case, the recall could still be reported as successful even though the original message was actually read.
What does it mean when you get a recall message?
When you get a recall notification like shown below, that means that the sender does not want you to read their original message and has attempted to retrieve it from your Inbox.
Most often, a recall message is received in one of the following situations:
- The recipient uses a desktop version of Outlook that is not on Exchange Server. In that event, the recipient only receives a note that a recall attempt has been made. The original message won't be deleted from their inbox in any case.
- The recipient is on the same Exchange Server as the sender, but the 'Automatically process meeting requests and responses to meeting requests and polls' option is not selected in their Outlook (File > Options > Mail > Tracking). In this case, the original message will be automatically deleted if the recipient opens the recall message while the original message is still unread.
Undo Send in Gmail
Undo Send is now a default feature of Gmail. After sending a message, the Undo option will pop up automatically in the bottom left corner of your screen, and you will have about 30 seconds to make your decision before the option disappears:
Unlike Outlook's recall feature, Gmail’s Undo option does not pry out an email from the receiver's mailbox. What is actually does is delaying email sending like Outlook's defer delivery rule does. If you do not use Undo within 30 seconds, the message will be sent permanently to the recipient.
Alternatives to recalling a message
Since there are too many factors that impact the success of a message recall, one of the following workarounds may come in handy.
Delay sending email
If you often send important information, a recall failure could be a costly mistake. To prevent this from happening, you can force Outlook to keep your emails in Outbox for a specified time interval before sending. This will give you time to grab an inappropriate message from your Outbox folder and correct a mistake. Two options are available to you:
Recall Email Outlook For Mac 2018 Release
- Configure an Outlook rule that sets up an interval between the time the Send button is hit and the moment when the message is actually sent. In this way, you can delay all outgoing messages or only those that meet certain conditions, e.g. sent from a specific account.
- Depay delivery of a specific email that you are composing.
For more information, please see How to delay email sending in Outlook.
Send an apology
Sending a quick apology note could be the simplest solution if the message you've mistakenly sent does not contain sensitive information and is not too abominable. Simply apologize and stop worrying about it. To err is human :)
That's how you recall sent email in Outlook. I thank you for reading and hope to see you on our blog next week!