The recall feature in Microsoft Outlook
tries to stop delivery and, optionally, replace an email message that
you have already sent to another Microsoft Exchange Server user within
your organization. Message recall is available after you click Send
and then realize that you forgot to attach a file, include information
in the message, or want to revise what was originally sent. You can’t
recall messages sent to email addresses outside your organization.
In addition to trying to recall a message, you can send a replacement
message. For example, if you forgot to include an attachment, you can
try to recall the message, and then send a replacement message that has
the attachment. The original message is removed from the mailboxes of
the recipients who have not yet opened it, and then is replaced with the
updated message.
To recall a message and then send a revised message, do the following:
The success or failure of a message recall depends on the recipients'
settings in Outlook. In the following table, five scenarios are
presented:
Four scenarios that explain what happens when message recall is tried in various situations
One scenario that describes what happens when the recall of a
message that was sent to a Microsoft Exchange public folder is tried
Action
Result
You send a message to someone. You recall the original message and replace it with a new one.
On the recipient's computer, under Tracking, the Automatically process requests and responses to meeting requests and polls check box is selected. Note To view this setting, click the File tab. Under Outlook, click Options, click Mail, and then scroll to the Tracking section.
Both the original message and the recall message are received in the recipient's Inbox.
Assuming the original message has not been read, the original
message is deleted and the recipient is informed that you, the sender,
deleted the message from his or her mailbox. Note If the original message is
marked as read (viewing in the Reading Pane is not reading in this
scenario) when the recall message is processed, the recipient is
informed that you, the sender, want to delete the message. However, the
message remains in the recipient's Outlook folder.
You send a message to someone. You recall the original message and replace it with a new one.
On the recipient's computer, under Tracking, the Automatically process requests and responses to meeting requests and polls check box is not selected. Note To view this setting, click the File tab. Under Outlook, click Options, click Mail, and then scroll to the Tracking section.
Both the original message and the recall message are received in the recipient's Inbox.
On the recipient's computer, one of the following results occurs:
If the recipient opens the recall message first, the
original message is deleted, and the recipient is informed that you, the
sender, have deleted the message from their mailbox.
If the recipient opens the original message first, the recall fails, and both the original and recall messages are available.
Note If the original message is
marked as read (viewing in the Reading Pane is not reading in this
scenario) when the recall message is processed, the recipient is
informed that you, the sender, want to delete the message. However, the
message remains in the recipient's Outlook folder.
You send a message to someone. You recall the original message and replace it with a new one.
On the recipient's computer, either by rule or by action of
the recipient, the original message is moved out of the Inbox to another
folder and the recall message remains in the Inbox (or it is moved to
another folder also).
If the recall message and the original message exist in
separate folders, the recipient receives a message that indicates a
recall attempt failed. This occurs regardless of the Outlook
configurations and the read status of the message.
The original message and the new message are both available to the recipient.
You send a message to someone. You recall the original message and replace it with a new one.
On the recipient's computer, either by rule or by action of
the recipient, both messages are moved to the same folder. This results
in behavior similar to what occurs when Outlook is not configured to
automatically process messages.
On the recipient's computer, one of the following results occurs:
If the recipient opens the recall message first, the
original message is deleted, and the recipient is informed that you, the
sender, deleted the message from his or her mailbox.
If the recipient opens the original message first, the recall fails, and both the old and new messages are available.
You send a message to a public folder. You recall the original message and replace it with a new one.
One of the following results occurs:
If the recipient who reads the recall message has read
access to all the items in the public folder but did not read the
original message, the recall succeeds, and only the new message remains.
You, the sender, receive a message that indicates the recall succeeded.
If the recipient has already marked the original message
as read, he or she is informed that the recall failed, and only the
recall message is deleted.
If a user who has any other public folder rights opens the
recall message, the recall fails, and the user receives a message that
states the recall failed. Both the old and new messages remain in the
public folder. Notes
If the recipient reads the original message and then marks it as unread, it is considered never read and recall is successful.
In the public folder, it is the reader's rights, not the sender's, that determine the success or failure of the recall.
Susan
Bulloch has been with IBM since 2000. Before that she worked in various
industries as a Lotus Domino Administrator. After spending six years on
the road as a Field Support Engineer, Susan settled into a new role in
2007, working as a Technical Enablement Engineer helping Business
Partners develop and deploy solutions for Lotus Notes and Domino. Susan
maintains a blog at http://notesgoddess.net, and she is a regular
speaker at technical conferences.
Summary: You asked for it, and now with IBM Lotus Notes and
Domino V8 you have the ability to recall mail messages. Learn how the
Message Recall feature works, how to configure and control it, and how
to deploy it.
The ability to recall mail messages is one of the most requested
features for IBM Lotus Notes and Domino V8. Enabled on the server and
client by default, this new feature lets you recall mail messages that
were sent in error. This article explains how Message Recall works,
discusses how it is configured and controlled, and covers the finer
points of planning and deploying the feature.
Message Recall is simple to use from a user's point of
view. You simply open the Sent view of your Lotus Notes V8 mail file,
highlight the mail you want to recall, and click the Recall Message
button in the Action bar (see figure 1).
After you click OK, the recall request is acknowledged
with a dialog box. If everything is set up properly, the messages are
removed from the recipients’ mail. You receive a report telling you
which messages were recalled (and whether they had been read) and
whether any messages could not be recalled and why. Now let's
investigate what’s behind this simple process.
Lotus Notes and Domino V8 ship with Message Recall
enabled. Whether you build a new system from scratch or upgrade servers
and users, this feature is ready to use. If you have a large system that
will be upgraded over a period of time, you may want to disable the
feature at first, to allow time to plan for user support and training.
The Server Configuration document is used to configure
Message Recall. This central location lets you easily allow or disallow
it for all servers. Mail Policy documents can further refine the
settings, as can individual user preferences.
If you do not have any Server Configuration documents,
Message Recall is still turned on by default, and the default settings,
listed here, apply:
Message Recall: Enabled
Allow recall of messages with unread status: Unread Only
Do not allow recall of messages older than: 14 days
If your deployment plan calls for the feature to be
rolled out later, you must create a Server Configuration document to
turn it off for now.
To disable Message Recall, simply open the Lotus Domino
V8 Server Configuration document and change the Message Recall setting
from Enabled, as seen in Figure 3, to Disabled.
A Lotus Domino V8 or later server containing the mail to be recalled.
A mail file based on a Lotus Notes V8 or later mail template with which to recall the message.
A copy of the mail message in the sender’s mail
file. (This is usually found in the Sent view, but the Message Recall
button is also found in the All Documents view.)
Permission given at the server to perform Message
Recall (and optionally at the policy and the recipient’s mail-file
level, where the feature can be turned off).
Message Recall not only works with these minimal
requirements but also works even if the recalling user is on a server
that is not Lotus Domino V8. All that is required is a Lotus Notes V8
mail template containing the button to recall the message and that the
message being called resides on a Domino V8 server. Moreover, interim
servers between the recaller and the recipient can be any version
because the request at that point is simply an email message.
Message Recall works only on mail that is routed over
NRPC. This means that neither mail routed to the Internet nor internal
mail routed over SMTP can be successfully recalled.
If a Mail Policy exists that limits the use of this
feature for a user, this policy applies and can limit the feature’s
functionality. If there is no policy, or if the policy allows a user to
change the recall setting, each user can choose to disable the feature
in his or her Mail Preferences.
Only mail that resides on a Lotus Domino V8 or later
server can be successfully recalled. The Lotus Domino V8 router does the
work, so a recall request sent to a Lotus Domino V7 server does not
succeed, and the recalling user receives a report stating that the
server does not support Message Recall.
A copy of the message must be saved in the sender’s mail
file to recall it successfully. If the sender did not save the message
when it was sent, Message Recall cannot be used. Because signatures are
checked (for security purposes), mail must be recalled from the mail
file from which it was sent, by the original sender. A delegatee can
recall a message from another user’s mail file, but only if the
delegatee sent it. This means that a Lotus Notes Administrator or an
administrative assistant is not able to recall a message sent by another
user, unless that person has access to the user’s ID and password.
If a message has been forwarded by a recipient, the
forwarded message is not recalled by the original sender’s recall
request because the UNID differs from that of the original. In other
words, Message Recall does not chase down forwarded copies of an email.
Any forwarded copies must be recalled by the person who forwarded them.
Message Recall is not available with IBM Lotus Domino Web
Access. Mail sent to a Lotus Domino Web Access user can be recalled if
it is on a Lotus Domino V8 server and the recalling user has a Lotus
Notes V8 mail template to use to initiate the recall.
Message Recall works only for email, not for Calendar and
To Do items. Users see a pop-up box stating "This message type cannot
be recalled" if they attempt to recall a Calendar or To Do item. These
items can be cancelled or changed using the Reschedule or Cancel options
that exist in all versions of Lotus Notes calendars.
When the original sender clicks the Recall Message button
from the Sent (or All Documents) view, the Lotus Notes client creates a
recall request for the highlighted message. This request is mailed to
each recipient or group that the user chooses. (Note in figure 2 that
the addresses of Internet users are displayed, and a recall request can
be mailed, but Message Recall does not succeed for these users.)
Tip
If you plan to run a mixed-version system for a while, consider putting a
mail rule on your pre-Lotus Domino V8 SMTP servers to reject these
messages. Otherwise, recall reports are sent to the Internet, where they
may cause confusion for the recipient. Such a mail rule can be set to
not accept messages with a form containing "recall." You can then
disable this rule when the SMTP server is upgraded to Lotus Domino V8.
The document UNID is used to identify the message in the
recipient’s mail file. If the server is capable of performing a recall,
the message is located and deleted. The router removes the message
completely and leaves only a deletion stub, allowing the message to be
removed from replica copies as well. Even if the recipient has soft
deletions enabled, the message is never left in the Trash folder.
Because the UNID of the document is used to locate the message, any
copies that have been moved to folders are also removed.
The recalling user receives a report with the results of
the recall attempt. If the message was successfully deleted, the report
contains this information, noting whether or not the message was read.
If the recall attempt fails, the report states the reason it failed. The
recalling user has two very similar notices in his or her mail file,
one in the Sent folder and one in the Inbox, after the message is
recalled. Both are needed to properly inform the user which messages
were recalled, so users need to be told to retain both notices until
they are satisfied with the results of the recall. Both notices can then
be deleted.
The recipient of the original message is not notified
that a recall has occurred. The message is simply no longer in the
recipient's mail file.
If you attempt to recall a message that was sent using
SMTP, the Lotus Domino V8 router sends you a Non-Delivery Report stating
“Message Recall Requests cannot be routed via SMTP.”
Although the Message Recall feature is enabled, disabled,
and configured at the server level, it can be refined and controlled at
other points, providing companies the flexibility to use the feature
the way they want.
Controls start at the Server Configuration document, in
which the feature is enabled or disabled; selections are available to
allow the recall of read, unread, or both; and time limits are available
ranging from weeks down to minutes.
Mail Policy control is available for Lotus Notes
Administrators. The Message Recall options are as follows and are shown
in figure 4:
User is allowed to recall sent messages: yes or no.
Other users are allowed to recall messages they sent to this user: yes or no.
Allow recall of messages with unread status: Unread only or Both read and unread.
Do not allow recall of messages older than: specify number of weeks, days, hours, or minutes.
The Mail Policy can be applied to a subset of users who
may be under legal obligation to keep all messages, or perhaps applied
to limit who is allowed to recall messages at all. The Mail Policy
overrides the settings in the Server Configuration document. For
instance, if the server allows unread mail to be recalled, but the Mail
Policy applied to a user allows unread and read mail to be recalled, the
Mail Policy applies, and both unread mail and read mail can be
recalled. This provides very specific control for individual users.
Unless Mail Recall is disabled at the server or via a
policy, users can also control Message Recall. Under User Preferences -
Basics, they can select or deselect “Allow others to recall mail sent to
me.” If the user deselects this option, the setting causes a notice to
be sent back to the recalling user stating that the message cannot be
recalled.
Message Recall is a new concept to many organizations
that use Lotus Notes and Domino. Questions have arisen over whether this
new feature conflicts with legal requirements, specifically many of the
newer laws concerning the retention of email.
Solutions that are designed for compliance purposes
usually require that all mail be journaled as it is sent, before it
arrives at the recipient’s file. Message Recall does not affect this
type of solution. In fact, not only is the original message journaled,
the recall request is journaled also.
If the original message is ever needed for compliance
purposes, it is in the mail journal and in the off-site storage that is
part of your compliance solution. As added assurance, Message Recall
requests themselves cannot be recalled. Thus, a robust mail compliance
solution should have no problem dealing with Message Recall, and many
companies already have custom-built or other mail recall solutions that
are fully compliant.
Because Lotus Notes mail can be read offline, with the
user disconnected from a network, the read and unread status of a local
replica of a mail file can be different from that of a server-based copy
until replication takes place. Thus, a recall request sent to the
server may report that a message was unread when, in fact, the user read
it offline.
Mobile devices can present a challenge to users wishing
to recall all copies of a message. Unless a handheld device is
configured to process deletions from the server-based mail, messages are
not removed from the handheld device. The owner of the handheld device
controls this setting. Also, depending on the vendor, Message Recall may
not be possible from the device itself.
Mail sent to users with ambiguous names is not recalled;
the recall message cannot determine which recipient was the one selected
by the sender originally.
Mail can be recalled from groups successfully, but if the
group membership changes between the time the mail was sent and
recalled, recall notices may not be sent to original recipients who have
since been removed from the group, and recall notices may be sent to
users who never got the original message. Also, you may recall messages
from groups that include Internet addresses, but only those users in the
group with valid Lotus Notes addresses receive a recall notice. The
other requests result in failure notices.
Finally, messages can always be printed and forwarded or
even have screenshots made of them. Message Recall is not effective in
these cases. Message Recall is not guaranteed to get rid of any and all
traces of a message; rather, it is intended to give users the ability to
recover from errors made in sending messages.
Lotus Notes and Domino V8 Message Recall is yet another
tool for users, and one that may become quite popular. When or if you
choose to deploy the feature, consider offering training to your users
so they are able to use it effectively.
I don't see the Recall This Message command
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