Resend a message

You know that a message recall works if you receive a positive confirmation message.

But if your confirmation shows that the recall failed or you don't receive a confirmation at all, then it is a safe bet that your original email was not deleted.

So what do you do if you can't recall a message? Try resending it with changes. Here's how that works.

Click Sent Items in your folder list. Then, open the mail you want to resend.

Go to the backstage, and with Info selected, click Resend or Recall, and click Resend This Message.

Your original email opens with a Send button.

Now, you can rewrite the message, correct your mistakes, or add the parts you forgot about.

You may also want to explain why you are resending it.

Then, click Send.

Your recipients now have two messages from you – the original and the resent message.

You should try to resend a message as soon as possible, so the two messages are close together in the mail list.

This will make it less confusing for the recipients.

Resending doesn't go as far as Recalling does to correct mistakes, but it is a good alternative, and it always works.

It is often the best choice, because it works with any email system, anytime.

Replace is really a combination of Recall and Resend. It attempts to recall the original message as well as send a message to replace it.

So, if you try Replace, and the Recall process fails, the recipients will still receive your edited message.

Here are some other things to think about when using Recall or Replace.

A message cannot be deleted by the Recall process after it has been opened or moved by a recipient.

Also, a message cannot be deleted by the Recall process if the recipient's Outlook program isn't configured properly.

To configure Outlook to accept a Recall notice, click the FILE tab, and open Options.

Click Mail and scroll down to the Tracking area.

Look for this item: Automatically process meeting requests and responses to meeting requests and polls.

This check box must be selected in order for Outlook to automatically delete recalled messages on a computer.

And finally, Recall doesn't work in the Outlook Web App.

So first, don't send an email until it is ready to go.

But if you do, you can try Recall or Replace if you and your recipients are on the same Exchange Mail Server, and running Outlook. Otherwise, use Resend.

For more information, check out the links in the course summary.