Whether it's on Gmail, Outlook, or any other email platform, it can be stressful not knowing how to unsend or recall a message. Fortunately, there are solutions to correct these mistakes. From activating the unsend option to retrieving sent emails, we guide you through the essential steps to effectively manage your emails.
The short answer: yes!
It is possible to retrieve or delete a message sent by mistake, but you need to act quickly. The recall function also varies depending on the provider of your email address.
Sending an email may seem simple on the surface, but it's actually a fairly complex process that passes through several servers. When you click the "Send" button, the message leaves your outbox to be routed to your email provider's server (Gmail, Outlook, etc.). It then forwards the email to the recipient's server before it reaches their inbox. This transmission chain makes the magic of sending and receiving emails work, but it also makes the email cancellation process quite difficult.
However, some platforms offer features to delay sending or recall an email within a short window of time after sending. It's also important to know that specific protocols like SMTP, POP3, and IMAP govern how emails are sent and received, and they don't all work the same way. This, of course, adds another layer of complexity.
The good news is, you don't need too much technical knowledge, as these aspects are handled by the providers.
To modify a sent message, you need to act quickly. Some email services like Gmail and Outlook offer options to cancel or recall a message shortly after sending it.
However, note that these options do not guarantee the modification or cancellation of the message, especially if the recipient has already opened the email or if you don't have Microsoft Exchange server access. If modification isn't possible, the best course of action is to contact the recipient directly and explain the mistake (prepare your best bouquet).
To recall a message in Outlook and complete the recall process, follow these steps:
And you're done!
When you recall an email in Outlook, the system attempts to retrieve the message from the recipient's inbox before they read it. However, this only works under specific conditions:
If you recall an email, does the recipient know? Yes, in some cases. If the recall fails, the recipient may receive a notification about the recall attempt. If successful, they typically won't know a recall request was made.
The recall process can fail for several reasons:
Understanding these limitations helps set realistic expectations for the recall status of your message.
To cancel sending an email with Gmail or use Gmail undo send, the first step is to make sure this feature is enabled in your settings.
This Gmail undo send feature is much simpler than Outlook's recall function but has a shorter time window.
The ability to recall or unsend an email varies significantly across devices and platforms:
The Outlook web version (Outlook.com) has limited recall capabilities compared to the desktop version. You can cancel sending within a brief window using delay settings, but full recall functionality requires Microsoft Exchange access and the desktop application.
On the Outlook mobile app for iPhone and Android, direct recall functionality is not available. You'll need to access Outlook from a desktop computer to complete the recall process. However, you can set up delayed sending to give yourself more time to catch mistakes.
To recall an email on Outlook for Mac:
Note that the same Microsoft Exchange requirements apply for Mac users.
The new Outlook for Windows has a similar recall process to the classic version, though the interface may look slightly different. Look for the Message tab in the classic ribbon or use the Actions menu to find the recall option.
Sending an email is a near-instantaneous and irreversible process. However, when a mistake is made, certain measures can be taken to mitigate its effects. The main tip is speed. The quicker you act, the less chance there is of your message impacting your recipient, and the better your recall status will be.
Here are the basic reflexes you should have in case of a mistake:
Ultimately, we can only recommend carefully checking your email before sending it. We always think twice before speaking, so why not read an email seven times? Especially if its content is sensitive... Make sure the right recipient is selected, the content is correct and complete, you have the right email signature in place, and all necessary attachments are included.
Yes, with the 'Campaigns' offer, it is possible to track the number of clicks on the email signatures of all your employees in the 'Statistics' area of the platform.
You can then access a detailed or global view of the number of clicks on the email signatures of each employee. You can use the search option to target a specific signature or a given period. Finally, you have the possibility to export all statistics to an Excel document.
If you launch campaigns with banners inserted in your email signatures, you can also access their performance via this same space.
With Letsignit, you can easily add social network icons in your collaborators' email signatures and link to your company pages. Also, our "attributes" feature allows you to manage personalized URLs for each of your collaborators such as their individual LinkedIn profile.
And that's not all: you can add links to an appointment-setting application, allow your customers to leave reviews easily, and integrate our 'Chat on Teams' widget to let anyone start a discussion via Microsoft Teams chat.
It’s up to you! As an administrator of the Letsignit platform, you choose whether or not to grant modification rights to your employees. These permissions are managed on an attribute-by-attribute basis, which means that you can decide to allow the employee to change their phone number, but not the address of your premises, for example.
This feature applies to all attributes in your directory, including custom attributes created on Letsignit. When your employees change one or more attributes, your directory is obviously not affected.
It often happens that employees make their email signature their own: custom format, bad fonts, colors inconsistent with the brand standards... all of this has an impact on your brand!
A consistent visual identity is considered authentic and outperforms a perceived weak one by 20%. And, your customers are 2.4 times more likely to buy your products.
With Letsignit, take back control over your brand identity by standardizing all your email signatures. Our tool has many features that allow you to customize your signatures by department, by audience or by subsidiary. Not to mention the possibility of carrying out campaigns within your email signatures thanks to our Campaign offer.
What is the user experience like for our employees?
In both cases:
In short, they have autonomy in their email signature, but you keep control on the field, signatures, and banners they can edit or use.
With our "multi-signature" feature, your employees can benefit from multiple email signatures. No technical manipulation is required. Thanks to our Add-in for Outlook or the desktop app, they can change their email signatures as they wish with just a few clicks.
Regarding the creation of email signatures, you can make several variations such as:
Everything has been thought of to go further in the personalization process based on the recipient of your emails.
If sending emails has an impact, non-optimized email signatures also have an impact. An unsuitable format or an image that is too heavy considerably increases the size of your signatures... and therefore, your emails.
As a responsible economic actor, we contribute to reducing our CO2 emissions and those of our customers in several ways:
As we are increasingly involved in sustainability initiatives, our priority in 2023 is to develop even more green IT functionality.
If sending emails has an impact, non-optimized email signatures also have an impact. An unsuitable format or an image that is too heavy considerably increases the size of your signatures... and therefore, your emails.
As a responsible economic actor, we contribute to reducing our CO2 emissions and those of our customers in several ways:
As we are increasingly involved in sustainability initiatives, our priority in 2023 is to develop even more green IT functionality.
Recalling an email means attempting to retrieve or delete a message you've already sent before the recipient reads it. In Outlook, this feature allows the sender to either delete unread copies of the message or replace them with a new message. The recall process only works under specific conditions, primarily when both parties use Microsoft Exchange within the same organization. When you initiate a recall request, you'll receive a recall status notification indicating whether the recall succeeded or failed.
