Have you ever sent an email only to realize you made a typo or sent it to the wrong person? Studies show that over 93% of people have committed a typographical error in a work email they’ve sent. Making errors in our emails is common and nothing to feel ashamed about. But, errors can sometimes have dire consequences. If this seems to be a common occurrence for you, you may want to look into putting your emails through a proofreading software. However if you already hit send are wondering how to recall an email, we have the answers for you.
Many people don’t know this, but you can recall a sent message from the recipient’s inbox. Knowing how to recall an email would’ve come in handy in the past. This article will help explain how to recall an email in Outlook, Gmail, and Yahoo.
How To Recall an Email for Microsoft Office 2007
In Microsoft Office 2007, you can perform a recall message request on the original message by clicking “Mail” in the Navigation Pane. Then select the prompt that says “Sent Items.” Once you click on that, you must open the original message that you want to replace and recall.
After that, you have to go under the “Messages” tab. There will be a button with files named “Other Actions”. Clicking this button will open the drop-down menu, which should show “Recall Message”.
Choose “Recall Message…” to recall an email you accidentally sent. Then, select the option that says, “Delete unread copies and replace them with a new message”. This lets you replace the original message with your new message.
If you are sending a mass email to multiple recipients, you should select the notification checkbox. This checkbox will say, “Tell me if a recall succeeds or fails for each recipient”. Before clicking “Send”, you may opt to write a replacement message first.
Enable “Recall This Message” Command
If you do not see a “Recall This Message” command, you might not have an account for Exchange Server. This recall message option will not appear for those who do not use Microsoft Outlook 2007.
To enable the “Recall This Message” option, you must first create an Exchange Server account. You will also need to have Microsoft Outlook 2007 installed to enable the recall message function. Once you have this sorted, go to the “Tools” pane.
To check why the recall command is missing, click on your “Account Settings” dialogue box. This dialogue box lets you see the email accounts in your Outlook profile. The email type gets shown under the “Type” column”.
You have to select the one using Microsoft Exchange Servers. If you have other messages you want to recall, go to mail again and repeat the steps listed above. You need to use both Microsoft Exchange and Outlook to recall a message.
How to Check On Email Recall
For a full recall to work, the recipient should not have read your email. A full recall will delete your original message, and the recipient will receive a notification that you did so.
This means that you were successfully able to recall your message. Another way is to enable “Tracking Options”. Before you send, click on “Process requests and responses on arrival”.
However, if the recipient has already read your original message, you can still recall it. The main difference is the recipient has already seen the message, which can be a downside. Once you recall, your recipient gets notified that you want to delete the message.
They have to approve your request for you to start the recall process. Once done, both the original message and the recalled message will be available in your sent messages. In some cases, both messages can also get seen in your recipient’s inbox.
How To Recall an Email for Newer Versions of Microsoft Office
There are different steps to follow to recall an email for newer versions of Microsoft Office. Newer versions of Microsoft Office have a folder pane found on the left of your Outlook window. This lets you select and open the message you want to recall.
Once you see the message, double-click on it to open. Clicking on it once will make it appear on the reading pane, which won’t let you recall it. For Classic Ribbon users: Go to the “Message” tab. Go to “Actions” and click “Recall This Message”.
If you use Simplified Ribbon Settings, go under the “Message” tab and select “More Commands”. More commands is a “…” button on the rightmost part of the tab after “Report Message”. This will show a drop-down menu.
From the drop-down menu, select “Actions” and click “Recall This Message”. If you do not see a “Recall This Message” option, refer to this article’s enable recall command section.
From there, you should see a “Recall This Message” window pop up. You should click on the “Delete unread copies and replace with a new message”, then click OK.
Keep in mind that you can’t recall messages with Azure Information Protection. To recall message isn’t an option on Outlook for the web.
Recall an Email In Outlook
Recalling messages in Microsoft requires a Microsoft Exchange server email account. The exchange must also get done using Outlook as the email client. Both of these conditions must get met to have the ability to recall messages and emails.
For you to recall an email in Outlook, the recipient must open his mailbox while you start the recall process. It also must be unread or marked as unread by the recipient for you to delete and recall the original message. The original message should also contain no spam or anything that might affect the message in any way.
Launch your Outlook application and go to the “Sent Items” tab found on the left side of your screen. Double-click on the original message you wish to recall. This will prompt a new window with the email opened.
Once it’s opened, click on the “Message” tab on top of your screen and click on “Actions”. This opens a drop-down menu with the “Recall This Message” option. This opens a window that lets you choose between two options.
The first option is to “Delete unread copies of this message”. The second is “Delete unread copies of this message to replace with a new message. Select which one suits your needs and click “OK”.
How To Recall an Email In Gmail
Recalling an email on Gmail can be quite easy. First, open gmail.com and log into your Gmail account. After that, click on the “Settings” button symbolized by a gear on the upper right section of your window.
Click on “General” and look for “Undo Send”. This lets you set up how many seconds you can recall a message after sending it. You can choose from 5 up to 30 seconds. It’s recommended to select 30 seconds so you have ample time to recall your emails.
After you make these changes, make sure to scroll down and click on “Save Changes”. Now every time you find yourself accidentally sending an email, you can click on undo. This will let you recall any email within the timeframe you’ve set.
A quicker way to do this is by pressing the “Z” key on your keyboard. This lets you ‘Undo” and recall an email you have sent out. This also works to undo any actions performed on Gmail.
How To Recall an Email In Yahoo
Recalling an email from Yahoo might be the hardest one to do. This feature is unavailable on their web or desktop version, so you must download their app. Go to your app store first and download ‘Yahoo Mail” if you don’t have it yet.
Once you have the app, launch it and log into your Yahoo account. Then, type in the recipient’s email address to which you want to send an email. The only way to recall emails in Yahoo is to click the “Undo” button within 5 seconds of sending them.
You have to be quick to recall your email on Yahoo. Unlike Gmail, the second time you can undo or recall your email is fixed to 5 seconds. You also don’t get the recall command after significant time has passed, unlike in Outlook.
How to Know If I Recalled an Email
There are several factors that decide if your recall was a success. For one, the recipient mustn’t have read your original message. If the recipient has read the original message you will need their cooperation to mark the email as unread before you can recall it.
If you made a recall using Outlook, it would show both the original email and recall emails in the inbox. The success depends on if your recipient has read the original message you sent or not.
“Automatically process meeting requests and responses…” has to get enabled. If your recipient doesn’t have this enabled, both recall and original email get saved. A recipient opening the first email would make your recall attempt a failure.
A way around this is asking your recipient to mark your email as unread. A recipient that changes where your email location might also make a recall attempt fail. This is true in Gmail, where emails that get placed in different folders or moved can not get recalled.
Recall an Email Today
Now you know how to recall an email. Whether you’ve sent an email by accident or forgot to proofread it, these steps can help you recall an email. Don’t let mistakes prevent you from making the best relationships with your clients.
Want to make your email system more efficient? Then we have got you covered! Contact us today and learn more about sending emails and email support for your business.
