A Brief Note on Outlook
Microsoft Outlook is a popular email client for sending and receiving emails using the Microsoft Exchange Server. Apart from emails, users can also use Outlook for accessing contacts, calendars, journals, tasks, and even browsing the web. You can use Outlook as a stand-alone application or as a part of the Microsoft Office Suite. You have to buy the software or pay a subscription to unleash all the features of Microsoft Outlook. However, there is a feature-limited web browser app that you can use for free. MS Outlook is the preferred email client for several businesses and organizations. As a result, many office or work-related communications in several companies happen through the Outlook application.
What’s the Need to Recall an Email?
Accidents happen all the time. Even when you are sending emails. Imagine your boss tasked you with special work and asked you to send an email. Just after clicking that “send” button, you realized you missed an important attachment. There are so many other situations where you have to recall an email. Microsoft Outlook has a special feature that allows you to recall emails. With this feature, you don’t have to worry about getting the hairdryer treatment from your boss (if you understand what I am saying) or getting back the email that you accidentally sent to the wrong contact. Even though this is a very useful feature that is a boon to many work communications, there are a few things you need to keep in mind.
The first thing is both you and the recipient of your email must use the Outlook email address. Next, the recall email feature works only if the recipient hasn’t opened the email yet. The recall email feature is available only for Windows users of the Outlook application. Mac users currently cannot enjoy this feature. But they can use the “Undo” option that gives them a 10-second window to undo the “send” option. If you are using the Web version of Outlook, then note that the Recall Email feature is not available.
How to Recall an Email in Outlook?
Let us now see how to recall an email in Outlook.
Open the Microsoft Outlook application. By default, Outlook opens in your Inbox. On the far left of the screen, you can see “Sent Items”. Click on it to open the sent folder. Look for the email that you want to recall and double click on it to open.’ Now, in the toolbar, select the “Message” tab. If you have the Classic Ribbon view, then in the Message tab, look for “Actions”. Click on it to expand. You will get some options but the important one is “Recall This Message”. Click on this action. You will now get a popup with two choices. You can delete this email permanently provided it meets the conditions that we mentioned earlier. The second option is you can delete the email and additionally you can replace the email with a new one. Select the choice you like and click on OK. If you have the Simplified Ribbon view, then in the “Message” tab, click on three dots (…) which open more commands. In the “Actions” section below, point to Actions and then click on “Recall This Message”. The remaining steps stay the same.
Enable Undo Feature on Mac
Whether you are a Mac user or if you are using the Web version of Outlook, the recall email feature is not available. What to do in these cases? Even though the important “recall” feature is absent in these situations, Outlook provides a very useful “Undo” feature. Using this feature, you can recall the sent email up to 10 seconds after you hit that send button. To enable this feature on Mac or Outlook Web, follow the below steps.
Open Outlook on your Mac or the Web version of it. In the web version, you can see a settings icon on the right (a gear icon or a cog wheel) of the top title bar. Click on it to open settings. Mac users can also follow the same steps. Now, click on “View all Outlook Settings” from the Settings menu. In the “Mail” tab on the left, select the “Compose and reply” option. Now, on the right side, look for the “Undo send” option. You can adjust the amount of time Outlook will wait before it sends the email. Within this period, you can cancel the email by clicking on the “Undo” button. Drag the slider to set your choice of a grace period. Note that the maximum you can set is 10 seconds. Click on “Save” to save this setting.
Will Recall Email Fail?
Yes. There is a high chance that even though you initiated a recall email option, it will fail to do so. Here are a few reasons why recalling an email in Outlook might not work. Recipient Opened the Email: The first and obvious reason why recall fails is if the recipient already opened your email. Other Email Clients: As we said before, the recall feature works if both the sender and receiver are using Outlook email addresses. If you sent an email to Gmail, Yahoo, or any other email service, the recall will fail. If Your Email is in Public Folders: This is a bit tricky. There is a chance that if any user (even other than the mail recipient) opens the email (as it is in a public folder), then the recall will fail. There are other situations with respect to public folders. Microsoft has a detailed support page for the same. Recipient Redirected Incoming Emails to Another Folder: If the recipient redirected the email to another folder (anything other than the inbox), then also the recall will fail.
What are the Alternatives?
If you are unable to recall an email due to any reason, what are the things you can do? Let us see now.
Send Another Email with an Apology: Mistakes happen. There is nothing wrong with realizing your mistake (whether it is a missing document, the wrong recipient, or your angry rant) and sending an apology email. Set Up Outlook to Delay Emails: Outlook has a very useful feature that allows you to set up a time delay between the time you click on the “Send” button and the time it actually delivers the email. You can change your mind anytime within this period.
Conclusion
Microsoft Outlook is a very popular email client. Several big, medium and small companies use this application as the main tool for their employees to manage their emails.
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We are human and we make mistakes sometimes. We are talking about sending the wrong email or missing crucial attachments. If only there could be a way to recall an email and save your face from embarrassment. Outlook has an excellent feature where you can recall an email provided this action fulfills some conditions. In this guide, we saw how to recall an email in outlook. We also saw the basic requirements for the recall action to work. After that, we saw some reasons why recalling an email might not work. In the end, we finished off the guide with a couple of useful tips to save yourself or avoid recall altogether. Comment * Name * Email * Website
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