How to Recall an Email in Outlook

If you're wondering how to call back an email in Outlook, the good news is Microsoft has a built-in feature called Message Recall that can help in certain situations. This guide walks you through how it works, its limitations, and what to do when it doesn't work.

Before You Start: Who Can Use Recall

Message Recall isn't available to everyone, it only works if:

• Both you and the recipient have a Microsoft 365 work or school account.
• You and the recipient are in the same organisation.
• The recipient hasn't opened the email yet.

If you or your recipient use a personal account (like Outlook.com, Hotmail, Gmail, or Yahoo), recall will not work. Personal accounts can only rely on the Undo Send delay feature, which briefly holds an email before it actually sends.

How to Recall an Email Step by Step

1. Open Outlook and go to your Sent Items folder.
2. Double-click the email you want to recall to open it in its own window (selecting it in the reading pane won't work).
3. Go to the Message tab on the ribbon.
4. Click Actions, then select Recall This Message. (If you're using the Simplified Ribbon, click the three-dot More commands menu, then Actions.)
5. Choose one of two options:
   • Delete unread copies of this message – it removes the email if it hasn't been opened.
   • Delete unread copies and replace with a new message – it removes the original and lets you send a corrected version.
6. Check the box for "Tell me if recall succeeds or fails for each recipient" if you want a status update.
7. Click OK.

Within a few minutes, you'll receive a Message Recall Report email letting you know whether the recall succeeded, is still pending, or failed.

What Recall Can and Can't Do

It's important to understand the limits before you rely on this feature:

• It won't work outside your organisation. Recall cannot retrieve an email sent to someone at a different company or on a personal email provider.
• It won't work once the email is read. If the recipient has already opened the message, recall cannot remove it.
• Client and platform differences matter. Recall may behave differently depending on whether you and the recipient are using classic Outlook, new Outlook, Outlook on the web, or mobile, and on your organisation's settings.
• It's not instant, but it's usually fast. Most recalls complete within seconds to a few minutes, though Microsoft may keep retrying for up to 24 hours if a recipient's mailbox is temporarily unavailable.
• There's no strict time limit, but the sooner you attempt a recall after sending, the better your chances.

What to Do If You Can't Recall the Email

If recall isn't available to you, or it fails because the recipient already opened the message, you still have options:

• Send a follow-up email acknowledging the mistake and, if appropriate, asking the recipient to disregard or delete the original message.
• Contact the recipient directly (by phone or chat) if the content was sensitive and needs immediate attention.
• Turn on Undo Send going forward, so you have a short window to cancel outgoing emails before they're delivered.
• Contact your IT support immediately if the email contained sensitive or confidential information. They may be able to remove the message in some situations, help assess any security or compliance risks, and advise on the next steps. They can also help put preventative measures in place, such as Microsoft 365 Data Loss Prevention (DLP), to reduce the risk of the same thing happening again.
• Consider a secure email add-in if your organisation regularly handles sensitive information. Some third-party tools can revoke access to an email even after it's been opened, which goes beyond what Outlook's native recall can do.

Keep in mind that asking someone to ignore an email is a request, not a guarantee. They may still have seen the content or kept a copy, so it's best used alongside, not instead of, being careful about what you send in the first place.