Home » Outlook » How to Recall an Email in Outlook Replace it With a New One

Almost every one of us has, at some point, been guilty of sending an email too early without checking it properly. It may have had a wrong attachment or some typing mistakes. Outlook is a feature-rich platform, but mistakes while sending an email can happen here, also. Fortunately, it gives you the ability to recall emails. You can recall an email in Outlook for a period of 120 minutes after sending it. To do that, head to the ‘Sent Items’ folder, find the message there and choose the ‘Recall this message’ option. Recalling emails is possible in different Outlook versions from Outlook 2007 to 2019. It is also applicable to Outlook for Microsoft 365.

How to Recall an Email in Outlook

If you and your recipients use Microsoft 365 and are a part of a single organization, replacing a message is very simple. Here are the steps for recalling an email in Outlook.

• Firstly, navigate to the ‘Sent Items’ folder.
• Now, double-tap the message to recall. It will open in a another window.
• Now, pick the ‘File’ option at the top.
• Choose ‘Info.’
• Now, select the option ‘Message Resend and Recall.’

• After that, select ‘Recall This Message…’

• You will see two options.
• Select one of them.

1. Choose ‘Delete unread copies of this message.’ It will recall an email in Outlook that has been sent.
2. Pick the ‘Delete unread copies and replace with a new message’ option. It will substitute the sent message with a new one.

• After that, choose the checkbox, ‘ Tell me if recall succeeds or fails for each recipient.’
• Hit ‘OK.’

POINT TO NOTE: On selecting the ‘Delete unread copies and replace with a new message’ option, the original message will show for you to edit. On selecting ‘Send,’ this original message will get removed from your recipient’s mailbox.

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How to Check the Success or Failure of the Recalled Message in Outlook

After you recall an email in Outlook, you might want to know if the attempt was successful or not. This outcome relies on the settings of your recipient in Outlook. Here are five scenarios that will let you check on your recall.

1. When the recipient’s computer has the ‘Automatically process requests and responses’ checkbox selected.

This is the most common scenario in which the user sends a message and later recalls it. They then replace it with a new one. This action results in the recipient’s inbox getting the original and the recalled message.

The recipient’s computer has a certain setting. Below the ‘Tracking’ option, the checkbox for ‘Automatically process requests and responses to meeting requests and polls’ is selected.

In this case, if they haven’t yet read the original message, it will be deleted. Your recipient will be informed that you or the sender has deleted the message from the mailbox. But the message stays in the recipient’s Outlook folder.

1. When the recipient’s computer does not have the ‘Automatically process requests and responses’ checkbox selected.

In this case, the recipient has not selected the checkbox, ‘Automatically process requests and responses’ under ‘Tracking.’ So, if you recall a message, either one of the following will happen on the recipient’s computer.

1. If the recipient opens and recalls the email first, it will delete the original message. They will be informed that you or the sender has deleted the email from the mailbox.
2. If the recipient accesses the original message first, your recalling an email in Outlook will fail.
3. If the recall message and the earlier email are present in different folders.

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If this happens, the recipient gets an email stating that the attempt to recall an email has failed. It will happen irrespective of how Outlook is configured. It will also happen regardless of whether the recipient has read or not read the message. They can access the earlier as well as the new message.

You recall your message and replace it with another one.

In this scenario, both the original and the new messages on the recipient’s computer are moved to a single computer. When you try to recall this message Outlook, two situations can occur in this instance.

1. If the recipient sees the recall message first, the earlier message will get deleted. They will also get a notification informing them that the sender deleted the email from their mailbox.
2. If the recipient accesses the earlier email first, the recall will fail. They can view the earlier and the new message.
3. You recall a message sent to the public folder and replace it with another one.

Two situations can occur in this case.

1. The recall will succeed only if the recipient reading the recall message has read access to every item in the public folder. But they haven’t yet read the earlier email. You will get a notification that your recall has succeeded.
2. If your recipient has read the original message, they will receive a notification that the recall has failed. The recall message is deleted.

How to Retract an Email in Outlook on the Web

Unfortunately, like the app, Outlook on the Web does not give you the option to recall sent emails. The only thing you can do is undo the message within 10 seconds of sending it.

Here is how to unsend an email in Outlook on the Web.

• Access Outlook settings. Do it by tapping on the cog icon in Outlook.
• From here, move to the ‘View all Outlook settings’ menu.
• The next step is to set the undo send cancellation period.
• Move to the ‘Compose and Reply’ section in Outlook on the Web.
• Here, locate the ‘Undo Send’ tab in the dropdown list.
• Configure the cancellation period to 10 seconds.
• Remember that you need to set this period as 10 seconds because Outlook on the Web does not give you the option to set a greater cancellation period.
• Compose an email in Outlook on the Web.
• After that, send the test email.
• You can see an ‘Undo’ option in the ‘Sending’ pop-up window.
• Tap this button to halt the message sending.

How to Retract an Email in Outlook and Replace it With a New Message

Would you want to cancel an email and substitute it with a new one? Perhaps you want to recompose it with more information and a better style of writing. Here is how to replace an email in this way.

• Go to the ‘Sent mail’ folder.
• Double-tap the email to recall.
• Now, at the top of the window, select ‘File.’
• After that, choose ‘Info.’
• Select the ‘Message resend and recall’ option.
• After this, select ‘Resend This Message.’
• Edit the text of the message and click ‘Send.’

How to Delay the Delivery of Emails in Outlook

Now that you know much about recall the message meaning, you must learn about other alternatives as well. Although knowing how to unsend an email in Outlook is good, there are other things you can do.

A wise option would be to schedule your email to be sent later. This process gives you time to detect errors and edit the information before the recipient gets to see the wrong message.

Here are the steps to send messages later instead of immediately in Outlook.

• Choose ‘New Email.’
• You can also select a current email and choose ‘Reply’ , ‘Reply all’, or ‘Forward.’
• Compose your message in the window.
• Head to the ‘Options’ tab.
• Choose ‘Delay Delivery.’
• Go to the ‘Properties’ dialog.
• Below ‘Delivery options’ choose ‘Do not deliver before’ checkbox.
• Set a date and time for the email to go.
• Then choose ‘Close.’
• Select ‘Send.’
• Navigate to the Outbox folder.
• Here you’ll find messages scheduled that haven’t been sent.
• Open an email to change its delivery time or date.
• Select ‘Options’ followed by ‘Delay delivery.’
• Now, set a different time.

Summing up

By now, you must have a significantly greater understanding of how to recall an email in Outlook. You also know the different situations where recall is successful and unsuccessful. Although it is always best to send an email after carefully reviewing it, sometimes mistakes can happen. If you need more clarity on the recall function, connect with an email technical support expert.