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Recalling Sent Messages

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› Outlook › Email › Recalling Sent Messages

Last reviewed on May 1, 2019     75 Comments

Applies to: Exchange Server

I'm frequently asked about message recall, specifically, they want to know why it doesn't seem to work at all. For example, Bob writes:

"I wrote a reply to a co-worker in anger and left it open on my desktop. Later I accidentally sent it. Thankfully, this is one time Message Recall worked. Moral of my story? I learned to close messages and save them to Drafts instead of leaving them open on the Task bar."

Unfortunately, Bob's story is all to common, but most of the time it's not a happy ending as Recall has a history of failing more often than it works. The major problems are that it only works with Exchange server accounts in the same domain as your account and the message you are recalling needs to be unread. However, even allowing for those limitations, recall still has a high failure rate.

Several things need to happen for recall to work. You need a blue moon on a warm starry night, then throw a pound of salt over your left shoulder: and once you do all that, it still probably won't work. I'm just kidding on those steps, but I'm not kidding when I say that recall really only works under certain very specific conditions.

The first and most important is that it only works with Exchange server accounts and only if the sender and recipient are in the same server organization, with one exception: Office 365 Exchange Online users may be able to recall messages sent to any Office 365 Exchange Online user, including users in other Exchange organizations but only **if your tenant is configured to send RTF outside the organization**.

Recall won't work on messages that are delivered through the SMTP connector (which means messages sent to the Internet will never be recalled).

Recall is not available in Outlook on the web. You need to use the Windows version of Outlook desktop software.

Assuming this condition is met and both the sender and recipient are using the same Exchange server, the recipient can't be sitting at Outlook reading their e-mail since recall fails once the message is opened. They can have Outlook open to the mailbox, but since it takes up to two minutes for the recall to automatically process, they are more likely to read the original message before it is recalled. If by chance they happen to read the recall before the message, it will process and remove the message.

 

Avoid Using Recall

Since Recall is one of the most useless features in Microsoft Exchange server, make it a habit type random letters into the CC field before you begin your reply. If you hit Send accidentally, the message will try to resolve the letters to a contact and fail, giving you a chance to cancel the send and avoid embarrassment. Along with saving messages to drafts and closing them, the Always check spelling before sending option can help prevent some people from accidentally sending messages.

If you send messages but have second thoughts soon after sending a message, create a rule to hold messages in your Outbox for several minutes before sending it to the server. In Rules and alerts, choose an After sending rule and set the Action to defer delivery by a number of minutes, up to 120 minutes. Either of these methods is much better than sending a recall that probably won't work.

Both of the methods above will work with any account type.

Hybrid Exchange Server

The question is from an Exchange administrator in an hybrid environment, with some user's mailboxes in "the cloud" and others using an on premise server.

When a user with an on-premises mailbox recalls a message, it's recalled from all the users whose mailbox is on-premises. but not for the users who are on the cloud. Users in the cloud can recall messages sent to other cloud users but not to the on-premises users.

Recall only works for messages on the same Exchange farm, which normally means all users in an organization. Even though you are in the same organization, the servers are separate. There really isn't anything you can do, the mailboxes need to be in the same server farm.

 

How to Recall a Sent Message

Now that I've covered who Recall will work for, I'll show you how to recall a Sent message.

  1. Open the sent message, which in most cases will be in your Sent Items folder.
  2. The Recall command is accessible from the File menu or the Message menu.
    recall from File tab
  3. Or... Look for the Actions button on the Message ribbon and choose Recall this message.
    recall sent message
  4. If you are using Outlook 2016/365's Simplified ribbon, the Actions command is in the overflow area on the far right.
    recall sent messages
  5. Choose your recall options. I recommend replacing the message with a new message which contains a short note about why you recalled (or attempted to recall) the previous message. Click OK to process the recall.
    choose your recall option

The recipient will receive a second message, and if the message has not yet been marked read, it should be processed and recalled within a minute or two. Sometimes the recall is not processed until the recipient attempts to view it. When recall is successful, both messages will disappear from the Inbox. If you are using the option to replace the message with a new one, the new message will be in the Inbox, whether or not the actual recall is successful.
Recall request in recipient's inbox

After the recall is processed by the recipients side, you'll receive a success or failure message in your Inbox. Note: if the recipient's email client does not support Outlook's RTF formatting, you will not receive tracking information back.
recall response in inbox

When you look at the Sent item in the message list, you'll see the Tracking icon once Outlook receives a Success or Failure report back
recall tracking icon in message list

Open the message and look at the tracking page to see if the recall was successful or failed.
recall tracking

When a recall is attempted to an Internet address, the recall message stays in the recipient's Inbox. If you used the option to replace the message, the replacement message will be in the recall too.
message recipient sees if recall does not process

Shared Mailboxes

You cannot recall messages sent through shared accounts. Recall only works if the account is opened as an account in Outlook. If the account was added to your profile as a secondary mailbox or as a managed or shared mailbox, recall is disabled, even if you have Send as permission on the mailbox.

OWA (Outlook Web Access)

In the desktop version, It's very easy to recall a message. Is it possible to recall a message from OWA?

It's not possible to recall a message from OWA. You'll need to open the mailbox in Outlook to initiate a recall.

Automatic Processing

In order for the recall messages to automatically process, the recipient needs to have his Outlook configured to automatically process meeting requests and responses.

In Outlook 2010 and up, it's in File, Options, Mail - near the bottom; in Outlook 2007 and below, it's in Tools, Options, Email options, Tracking.

With this option enabled on the recipient's system, recall should take less than a minute. With automatic processing disabled, the recall is not processed until the message is selected.

More Information

How to use the recall message feature in Outlook (MSKB)

Recalling Sent Messages was last modified: May 1st, 2019 by Diane Poremsky
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  • Exchange Server and Secondary Email Addresses
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  • Messages are sent from the wrong account

About Diane Poremsky

A Microsoft Outlook Most Valuable Professional (MVP) since 1999, Diane is the author of several books, including Outlook 2013 Absolute Beginners Book. She also created video training CDs and online training classes for Microsoft Outlook. You can find her helping people online in Outlook Forums as well as in the Microsoft Answers and TechNet forums.

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Sameer (@guest_217925)
April 15, 2021 6:37 pm
#217925

Hi,

For some reason, when i am at the office, i can recall messages. However, i just sent a message (from home) and it's been over 20 minutes, and no messages of success or failure. I have noticed previously as well, that for some reason at home, i can't recall messages.

Is there any way that you can help? * yikes *

Thanks.

Sameer

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Diane Poremsky(@diane-poremsky)
Author
Reply to  Sameer
April 15, 2021 8:12 pm
#217926

Are you trying to recall a message sent from the work address?
Recall will not work for mail sent from your personal address.

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Sameer (@guest_217927)
Reply to  Diane Poremsky
April 15, 2021 8:34 pm
#217927

Thank you for your reply.

No, i am trying to do the recall from my work address itself (but from home and on wifi). Is it possible that due to some setting on wifi it doesn't recall (i haven't received any message - whether of success or failure - and it's been a couple of hours.

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Diane Poremsky(@diane-poremsky)
Author
Reply to  Sameer
April 15, 2021 11:40 pm
#217928

As long as the account is added to outlook as an exchange account, it should work just like it does at work. The recall success or failure is only generated by outlook - they may not have outlook open.

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Yan (@guest_215140)
April 30, 2020 9:07 am
#215140

Hi i recalled an email which most of the recipient is in my coy exchange, but so far i only received 4 delivery note saying either success of failure.As it is pass working out im quite sure most of them have no read the email. Will i receive the notification only when the recipent login to their email.

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Corey (@guest_215051)
April 15, 2020 5:21 pm
#215051

Can you recall from a cc'd recipient?

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Diane Poremsky(@diane-poremsky)
Author
Reply to  Corey
April 16, 2020 11:52 pm
#215056

Recall will attempt to recall from all recipients.

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shahril (@guest_214797)
February 24, 2020 2:03 am
#214797

i was send to 500 people in my tower , how bad today

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Diane Poremsky(@diane-poremsky)
Author
Reply to  shahril
February 24, 2020 7:24 am
#214798

If you can recall some, maybe not so bad... unless a lot of people hit reply all... then really bad. :(

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Haydee (@guest_214607)
January 14, 2020 5:26 pm
#214607

What happens if you recall an email and you receive a message back saying 'Sender responds M'? The recipient and I are co-workers and both use the same server/email web so a recall of the message can be made. At the moment the Recipient is on leave and her messages aren't being read as she's overseas. After I sent her the email an automated message came back to me saying that messages will not be read until she returns next week.

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Tina (@guest_209669)
December 15, 2017 4:57 pm
#209669

When I check recall status, next to 2 of the recipients it says failed, but the other 1 is still blank (don't have visibility if the 3rd recipient was or was not an outlook email. Is there a way to determine if the recall worked?

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Diane Poremsky(@diane-poremsky)
Author
Reply to  Tina
December 15, 2017 11:56 pm
#209670

No, sorry... It's possible the recall wasn't processed by their outlook yet. Keep in mind that recall only works with Exchange and only if they recipients are on your server.

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Nicole (@guest_209603)
December 8, 2017 2:00 pm
#209603

Is there a way to only email me if a message recall failed and not the receiptant also?

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Diane Poremsky(@diane-poremsky)
Author
Reply to  Nicole
December 9, 2017 8:27 pm
#209611

No, sorry, you cant change that behavior.

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chfakht (@guest_203778)
January 6, 2017 3:40 pm
#203778

Please I cannot find this option in my outlook 2016 and it's not available under quick access toolbar.
Thanks

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Reply
Diane Poremsky(@diane-poremsky)
Author
Reply to  chfakht
January 6, 2017 9:51 pm
#203780

You need to open a sent message then look on the Action menu.

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