Microsoft Announces Enhanced Email Recall Feature for Exchange Online: A Response to Customer Feedback

Microsoft's Exchange Online, the enterprise email service offered by the tech giant, has introduced an improved email recall feature in 2023. This cloud-based functionality is designed to offer higher reliability than the recall feature found in the Microsoft Outlook email client, addressing a significant need within the business community.

Over the past year, numerous corporate clients have shared feedback with Microsoft regarding the email recall feature. Acting on this customer input, Microsoft has now unveiled an updated version of the Exchange Online email recall function, aiming to enhance the overall user experience.

Optional Recall Notifications for Recipients:

Previously, when an email was recalled, the Exchange Online system would automatically remove the message from the recipient's inbox, leading to confusion about the disappearance of recently viewed emails. To mitigate this issue, Microsoft has introduced a new option for Exchange Online, allowing corporate IT administrators to configure whether to retain a notification. If enabled, recipients will be informed when an email is recalled.

Note: IT administrators can also specify whether to provide recall notifications for all recalled emails or only for those that have already been read by the recipient.

Extended Time Limits for Email Recall:

The original version allowed users to recall sent emails without any time restrictions, enabling the recall of emails sent as far back as 10 days. Based on customer feedback, Microsoft now offers IT administrators the ability to set maximum recall time limits.

The default maximum recall period is set to 365 days, but it can be configured to be as short as 5 minutes or as long as 3650 days (10 years).

Support for External Routing:

Traditionally, recalling an email required both the sender and recipient to be using the same email system. Previously, emails sent outside of Exchange Online or routed through third-party or local services could not be recalled. Microsoft has now enabled the recall of emails that are routed externally, allowing for the retraction of messages sent outside of Exchange Online.

These updates are now available to all Exchange Online customers. Corporate IT administrators can access detailed configuration information here: https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/exchange-team-blog/exchange-online-message-recall-updates/ba-p/4226568