How to Recall an Email in Outlook: Learn how to retract an email in Outlook as well as what may or may not happen when you do.

Requirements

To recall Outlook email, both you and your recipient must be using an Exchange server email account and Outlook as the email client. The following must be true, as well.

The recipient’s mailbox is open when you attempt to process a recall.
The original message has not yet been read and is currently in the recipient’s Inbox.
The message was not touched by any process, such as a rule, spam filter or add-in.
In addition, if your recipient does not have an Exchange account within the same organization, you may not be able to recall the email.

Note: When you attempt to retract email, be aware that Outlook may send a notification to the recipient that you have done so.

How to Recall an Email in Outlook

The steps for retracting or replacing an email in Outlook are the same for all versions, from 2002 forward.

Open Outlook and go to the Sent Items folder.
Locate the sent message you would like to recall and double-click the email to open it. Viewing the email in the preview pane will not give you access to the message recall feature.
Make sure you are on the Message tab. Select the Actions drop-down arrow in the Move box and click Recall This Message. The Recall This Message dialog box opens. The dialog might display a message notifying you that the recipient has or may have already received and read your original email.
Select either the Delete Unread Copies of This Message option to recall the message or the Delete Unread Copies and Replace With a New Message option to replace the message with a new one.
Place a checkmark next to Tell Me if Recall Succeeds or Fails for Each Recipient if you want to receive notification of the results.
Click OK.
Modify the original message if you selected the Delete Unread Copies and Replace with a New Message option and click Send.