OutLook is a great email client, which, albeit with limitations, but allows you to recall or replace the letter you sent. On this page you will find a detailed guide on how to withdraw a letter in Outlook 2010, but this instruction is relevant not only for the 2010 version, but also for versions of other generations - both older and younger.
Is it possible to withdraw or replace a letter: restrictions
If you sent a letter, then in Outlook 2010 you have a chance to withdraw it (actually “delete”), and also replace it. But at the same time, there are several serious restrictions and requirements that must be reckoned with.
You can withdraw any letter sent and received within the framework of Outlook, only if the addressee:
- Didn't open
- Did not read
- Not marked read.
That is, in fact, if your email has already been seen, then nothing can be done with it. Moreover, it is not even necessary to read it, it is enough for the addressee to mark the message as “read”. These are basic conditions, but there are a number of additional conditions that will not allow replacing or deleting a sent letter:
- The recipient uses any email address other than @ outlook.com,
- You or the recipient use a server other than the standard Exchange service to process emails,
- The function of the client’s autonomous functioning is activated at the addressee - in this case, all received letters are automatically entered into his offline backup, and it is already impossible to change it,
- The recipient uses special caching plugins that will show the old version of the email anyway.
- If the sent email was protected by Azure Information Protection.
Cancellation of the letter in all other cases is not only possible, but also easy. It is good that Microsoft Outlook supports this function when giants such as The Bat or owners of email services, Gmail, Yahoo or Russian Yandex or Mail.ru do not even offer the much-needed and irreplaceable function for personal or business correspondence even in 2019/2020.
If you do not delete letters, then the reason is precisely one of the above factors. Also keep in mind that here on the page we only discussed the question of deleting your letter in someone else’s mailbox, that is, in the mailbox of another person — if you have another task: to erase the letters in your own house, then on this page you will not find the answer to your question.
How to cancel, delete, replace, recall or edit the sent message
It is not so important which OutLook you use - all of them, starting from the 2003 version, work on a single principle, so our instructions are universal and suitable for 2010 and 2016 and for other versions, including the version from the Office 365 suite But still there are slight differences, so we painted the instructions for different generations separately
Recall and replace messages in OutLook 2010 and 2013
The first step is to open the "Sent" section and find the message you need there. Open this message and then follow the steps below:
- In the “File” section, find the “Details” tab on which select “Resend”, where expand “Recall a message”:
OutLook is a very flexible system, so after a click a message appears about a full recall, which is actually equal to removing and replacing.
If you choose the replacement option, then the editor will open before you again, and you can make the necessary changes. In this editor, the letter that you wrote for the very first time will be initially filled.
In a similar way, everything happens in the 2003 generation, some differences are only in the latest builds.
How to revoke or change email in Outlook 2016 or 365
To withdraw a letter that has already been sent in Outlook 2016 or 365, you also need to go to the Sent tab and still open the letter that you want to withdraw or change, and then some differences begin. Follow the instructions below:
- In the "Actions" section (as shown in the screenshot), select the "Recall a message" option:
If this button is not displayed for you - which is very common, it means that you have not activated the Exchange service. Read more about what it is and how to activate it in the official Microsoft Help.
- After you click on the “Recall Messages” action button, the system will offer you two options:
In this case, you can’t just replace the sent message - it will be deleted in all cases, but you can save the original text and use it to form a new letter - that is, in fact, replace it with new text, but in both case, the letter will be deleted first.
It is important that if the system fails to withdraw or replace messages, you will receive a report only if you check the corresponding box. If you uncheck the box next to “Report feedback,” you won’t receive a report, which means you won’t know if it succeeded.
How to check recall or replacement results
The most important thing in this process is to find out if the letter was recalled. There are so many reasons why this is impossible, which do not directly depend on you, so the results should be controlled, and in the case of Outlook 2010 and newer versions, you have such an opportunity.
You can view the results by going along the path: File> Options> Mail. In this section, you need to find the item "Tracking". In this section you will see literally everything:
- Did the recipient read your original message,
- Did the corrected message reach
- And what message was read in the end.
We recommend that you monitor the status in all cases - since if you do not follow it, then in fact all actions to replace, delete or recall sent letters turn into a game of roulette, because you do not know if the process completed successfully or not.
If you have any questions or problems, you can always ask for help in the comments, see the official help on the Microsoft website, or watch the following video:
We recommend installing an additional extension for those who often make mistakes and want to edit, which adds a certain amount of time after clicking on the send button. Most often, it’s about 15 seconds - but special plugins will help you configure a longer period. However, so that you do not have to replace, edit, or delete messages sent through Microsoft Outlook 2010, it is better to think 3 times before sending at least something to your interlocutor.
