We've probably all been there. Hitting send in an email that, moments later, we later regret. Whether it went to the wrong person, was sent in a moment of anger, or just contains an embarrassing typo, wouldn't it be great if the emails could be recovered? Well, under the right circumstances, they can be.
If you're using Outlook with an Exchange account, you may be able to retrieve your email. But you have to be quick and you have to hope that some factors are on your side. We'll explore how to retrieve an email, the requirements that need to be met, along with some alternative approaches.
Head over to the comments section below to share your own email recovery stories and any tips you can share on the subject.
It is very easy to try and recover a message in Outlook. First, navigate to your Sent Items and then open the message you want to recover. From the ribbon, make sure the Message The tab is selected. Then, in the Movement group, click Behavior (which may have collapsed into an icon, depending on the size of your window). From the drop-down menu that appears, select Remember this message… .
A new window will open, allowing you to select how you want to handle the recovery. You can Delete unread copies of this message to remove the email from the recipient's inbox entirely. Alternatively, you can Delete unread copies and replace them with a new message. If you want to send a different email instead of the original..
You can also choose to check Tell me if recovery succeeds or fails for each recipient . This will send you an email informing you of the outcome of each withdrawal attempt. Once you receive these, you will see a Tracking Icon on the ribbon that can be clicked to give a summary of the results.
When finished, click OK to remember the message. This will send a request to the recipient's address and ask the email client to delete the original email.
This feature will only work if you are using a Microsoft Exchange email account and the recipient is on the same server as you. If you want to check if you are using an Exchange account, in Outlook navigate to File , select Account Settings and then click the Account Settings button. About the Email tab, you will see under the Type column what type of account you are using.
With that limitation in mind, remember won't work on emails you've sent outside of an organization to, say, a Gmail or Yahoo account. Create a Microsoft account in Windows 10 with Gmail or Yahoo! Create a Microsoft account in Windows 10 using Gmail or Yahoo! Here's how you can create a Microsoft account for Windows 10 without a Microsoft email address. Read more . This is because once an email has left your internal server, you have no control over it. There is no universal rule that an email server must honor a fetch request; In fact, it won't even process.
Even if you and your recipient are on the same Exchange server, that does not mean that recovery success is guaranteed. Most importantly, the recovery request must be read first. If the recipient has opened the original message, retrieval will fail.
However, if the recipient has Automatically process meeting requests and responses to meeting requests and surveys enabled in your settings, the recovery will be done automatically in the background. This setting can be found by going to File>Options>Mail> Tracking .
If the recipient has a rule that moves their email from the inbox to another folder, the recovery request will fail. Also, if the email is sent to a public inbox and the recovery request is read by someone other than the intended individual recipient, the recovery will not work.
Finally, retrieval requests cannot be processed if the recipient is viewing their emails outside of the Outlook desktop program, such as through the Outlook Web App. Hotmail is dead! Microsoft Outlook Email Services Explained Hotmail is dead! Microsoft Outlook Email Services Explained Stop looking for Hotmail! The terminology surrounding the various Microsoft Outlook email services is confusing. If you already don't know if it's called Outlook Web App, Outlook Online, or something else, let us explain. Read More or your mobile device.
If you often need to retrieve emails, it may be better to take an alternative approach.
One method of doing this is to set a rule in Outlook to delay sending your messages. To get started, navigate to the File tab and then select Manage rules and alerts . In the Email Rules tab, click New Rule . Follow the wizard instructions and you can set the conditions you want; for example, whether the rule should be ignored if it is sent to a specific person. Just make sure to select the action to defer delivery for a number of minutes s , which can then be set up to 120 minutes.
If you're using Gmail and looking for a similar reminder feature, you're in luck. Go to your inbox and click the cog icon at the top right, then select Settings . About the General tab, go to the Undo Send section. Previously this was within the Labs section, but now it's a full Gmail feature. Check Enable Undo Send and then set a time interval, up to 30 seconds, for how long you want to delay sending email before a popup window appears.
As you have seen, it is a simple procedure to withdraw an email in Outlook. However, whether or not the withdrawal will be successful is a completely different matter because it depends on many factors. In a world where people can access their emails from anywhere suitable Gmail on your iPhone:4 Google-Friendly Email Apps on your iPhone:4 Google-Friendly Email Apps Which app gives you the purest email experience? of Gmail on your iPhone? We tested a wide variety of today's popular email apps to find out. Read More
Instead, if you often send something by mistake, consider using an alternate method to delay sending your email. This means that it won't be sent instantly and also guarantees that you won't be red-faced because of a mistake! For more information, see Outlook's Little-Known Features 10 Little-Used Hidden Microsoft Outlook Features 10 Little-Used Hidden Microsoft Outlook Features Microsoft Outlook has a ton of features. Use these lesser-known features of Outlook and improve your email workflow Read More .
Do you have your own tips to share regarding email removal? Do you have any stories to share regarding a recall?
