Recall or replace an email message that you sent

Recall a message

To recall a message without sending a revised message, do the following:

1. In Mail, in the Navigation Pane, click Sent Items.
2. Open the message that you want to recall.
3. On the Message tab, in the Move group, click Actions, and then click Recall This Message.
4. Click Delete unread copies of this message.

 NOTE    If you don’t see the Message tab, make sure that you have opened a sent message as described in steps 1 and 2.

I don't see the Recall This Message command

 NOTE    If you are sending the message to many people, you may want to clear the Tell me if recall succeeds or fails for each recipient check box.

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Recall and replace a message

In addition to trying to recall a message, you can send a replacement message. For example, if you forgot to include an attachment, you can try to recall the message, and then send a replacement message that has the attachment. The original message is removed from the mailboxes of the recipients who have not yet opened it, and then is replaced with the updated message.

To recall a message and then send a revised message, do the following:

1. In Mail, in the Navigation Pane, click Sent Items.
2. Open the message that you want to recall and replace.
3. On the Message tab, in the Move group, click Actions, and then click Recall This Message.

I don't see the Recall This Message command

4. Click Delete unread copies and replace with a new message.

 NOTE    If you are sending the message to many people, you may want to clear the Tell me if recall succeeds or fails for each recipient check box.

5. Click OK, and then update the new message. You can also remove or add file attachments.
6. Click Send.

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Scenarios that affect recall success

The success or failure of a message recall depends on the recipients' settings in Outlook. In the following table, five scenarios are presented:

• Four scenarios that explain what happens when message recall is tried in various situations
• One scenario that describes what happens when the recall of a message that was sent to a Microsoft Exchange public folder is tried