Hello Outlook 2007 SP2/ Exchange 2007 SP2. A user's boss is on holiday and they just sent a mail they didn't mean to the team DL (includes the boss). They did a Message Recall, but the boss is away for another week and a half on vacation. I understand that Outlook needs to be open for Message Recall for work (i.e. it won't work when a user hasn't opened their Outlook). When the boss returns and opens his Outlook, will this message be recalled, or does this option only last for a set time? Finally, can we recall a message by OWA?

Yes, Outlook needs to be open when the actual recall is sent, in other words, the mailbox must be open. It will not work when the boss opens his Outlook at a later time, the sender will instead receive a recall fail message. No, you can not recall a message using OWA.Martin Sundstrm | Microsoft Certified Trainer | MCITP: Enterprise Messaging Administrator 2007/2010 | http://msundis.wordpress.com

Hi Martin Are you sure? I'm sure I've recalled messages sent to colleagues in different timezones before and the message was recalled when they logged into Outlook a few hours later?

Hi Pancamo, With reference to how does recall work, I would like to explain the below information: Message Recall will not be successful if: The recipient is not using Outlook. The recipient is not logged on to the mail service provider. The message has been moved from the Inbox. The message has been read. This includes viewing the message with the Preview Pane so that the message is flagged as Read. Recall can only work for: The recipient uses Outlook, and Outlook is running. The recipient's mailbox must be open for the recall to succeed. The message must still be unread and in the recipient's Inbox. There are a number of circumstances in which message recall doesn't work. Since it is an Outlook feature here are some reasons why it might not work: You can only attempt to recall a message you sent if you're using Outlook. Recipients who aren't using Outlook (e.g. POP3, IMAP4, and OWA users) will get the recall request messages, but they have no way to do a recall. If an Outlook recipient opens the message before opening the recall request, the recall will fail. Outlook users who have the preview pane turned on may still be able to read the recalled message, even if they haven't opened it. Most users will see the recall request and immediately rush to read the message. Below article can also help you understand this issue. http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/outlook/HA010917601033.aspx Best Regards!

Did we answer your question or do you have any other thoughts regarding the issue?Martin Sundstrm | Microsoft Certified Trainer | MCITP: Enterprise Messaging Administrator 2007/2010 | http://msundis.wordpress.com

Sorry to contradict you guys, but I don’t fully agree with the claim that recalling fails if the recipient mailbox is closed. I just ran a test here to double check. Sent an email and recalled it with the recipient mailbox closed. The recipient is accessing the mailbox directly (no cache mode). When opening the mailbox, if the user opens the recall request first, the recall will be completed successfully and the sender gets a Success response. However the recall does fail if the recipient is using cached mode and processing recalls automatically. Lastly if the recipient is using cached mode but not processing recalls automatically again the recall succeeds if the recall request is opened first. I wrote a couple of articles documenting how recalling works and reasons for it to fail here: How Exchange Message Recalling Works Message Recall Success! ...kind of Exchange Message Recalling Works! - http://www.windeveloper.com/recall/