Hunter7Taylor on How to Recall an E-mail in Microsoft Outlook

This was the first time I had to recall a message. I did not know how to recall the messages so I went to the help area and it was very easy. However, how would I know that the message had actually been recalled? It is always something! 

I’ll show you how to recall the message in the screenshots but before I do that, take a few tips from me on sending emails: Read the email fully and ensure the pertinent points are included. If an attachment needs to be sent, don’t make my error and send it without the attachment. Check to ensure the attachment is there. You may have seen this elsewhere, but it bears repeating. Do not reply all. Most of the time, everyone on the list does not need to see your response. Another wonderful feature is spell check. Do it each time before sending an email. It is difficult to understand the sender’s tone in an email. Go out of your way to use words that are polite and non-accusatory. Okay, I digress; so, let’s go.

Outlook has a feature that allows you to recall the message, but, as usual, there are some caveats (aka nothing is free):

1. The message can only be recalled if it has not been opened by the recipient. Only messages that have not been read can be recalled.
2. Messages can be recalled from the entire group not specific recipients. So, when I sent the message, I recalled it from everyone I sent it to, not just one or two people. The recall feature does not allow you to recall it from specific receivers.
3. The recall feature works well in an office environment. If your email address is thisisme@abcinc.com and the message needs to be recalled from recipients@abcinc.com, the recall will be successful. It also works well when the message is recalled from a Microsoft Exchange server or email address (e.g. hotmail.com or msn.com), but only if you pay for this subscription. Doesn’t seem quite fair to me, but that’s neither here nor there.
4. If you are recalling an email message sent to a Yahoo!, Gmail or Bellsouth account, the message will not be recalled--no matter how many times I, or you, try.

The moral of the story is to not be afraid to try something new even if you don’t know the outcome. Clearly, I did not know how to do this, but it needed to be done. I also did not know if I would be successful, but I tried. What’s even better is I get to help someone else avoid the mistakes I made. Clearly, it wasn't sky diving, but maybe that's next.