You can recall a sent email in Outlook only in qualifying Microsoft 365 work or school accounts when you and the recipient are in the same organization and the recipient has not opened the message. Open the sent message and choose Recall Message or Recall This Message, depending on your Outlook version, then check the Message Recall Report. Personal Outlook.com accounts cannot retrieve a message after sending; they can use Undo Send only during a short delay.
Check whether recall can work for your account
Outlook recall is intended for Microsoft 365 work or school accounts. Both you and the recipient must have accounts in the same organization, and the recipient must not have opened the message. It is not a way to retrieve mail sent to personal Outlook.com, Hotmail, Live, MSN, or Gmail addresses, or to someone outside your organization. Microsoft describes recall as something Outlook can request “only in some cases.” Microsoft’s recall requirements and limitations
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If any of those conditions are not met, send a correction or follow-up email instead. Even when the command is available, submitting it does not prove the original was unseen or removed.
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Recall a message in new Outlook or Outlook on the web
- Open Sent Items.
- Double-click the email to open it in a separate window.
- Select Recall Message and confirm. Where available, the client may also offer a replacement-message option.
- Open the Message Recall Report delivered to your inbox and check its status: succeeded, pending, or failed.
The recall action attempts to retrieve unopened copies from recipients’ mailboxes. Use the report, rather than the fact that you submitted the request, to see its status. Microsoft’s instructions for recalling a message
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Recall a message in classic Outlook for Windows
- Go to Sent Items and double-click the message to open it. Selecting it in the reading pane is not enough.
- On the Message tab, choose Move > More Move Actions > Recall This Message. In the simplified ribbon, look under More commands > Actions > Recall This Message.
- Choose Delete unread copies of this message, or choose Delete unread copies and replace with a new message and compose the replacement.
- Check the Message Recall Report in your inbox for the outcome.
If Recall This Message is missing, the account may not be Exchange-based or the organization may not have made recall available. Microsoft also says classic Outlook cannot recall a message protected by Azure Information Protection. Microsoft’s classic Outlook guidance and limitations
Use recall in Outlook for Android or iOS
- Open the Sent folder and open the message.
- Tap the three-dot More options menu, then tap Recall.
- Check the recall report or status for the result.
Recall still requires both accounts to be Microsoft 365 accounts in the same organization. An old message or an administrator disabling the feature can also cause the attempt to fail. Microsoft’s guidance on undoing or recalling a sent email
What to do if recall is unavailable or fails
- The recipient opened the message or is outside your organization: send a correction or follow-up; recall’s eligibility conditions are not met.
- You sent from a personal account: a post-send recall is not available. For Outlook.com, use Undo Send before its delay expires.
- The report says pending: wait for an update. Microsoft says an unavailable recipient mailbox can be retried for up to 24 hours before the request is marked failed.
- The report says failed: the original may remain in the recipient’s mailbox; contact the recipient with a correction if needed.
Microsoft notes that report updates are usually quick, but can take longer when there are many recipients. No success-rate percentage is established by the cited Microsoft guidance. Microsoft’s recall requirements and limitations
Set up Undo Send for personal Outlook.com email
Undo Send delays delivery; it does not retrieve a message that has already been delivered. In Outlook.com, open Settings > Mail > Compose, set the Undo Send delay to up to 30 seconds, and save. After sending, select the Undo prompt before the delay ends to cancel the send. This option is useful for personal Outlook.com, Hotmail, Live, and MSN accounts, which cannot recall sent mail after delivery. Microsoft’s Outlook recall and Undo Send guidance
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