To: Corporate Drones

From: KD

Re: Big Mistakes in Outlook Messaging

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I don't want to go off on a rant here, but let's say for a second that you've made a big mistake in Outlook.  Maybe you emailed the entire company DL on a trivial matter, or maybe you've replied all on a message and been critical of someone on that list.  Maybe you emailed a payroll file to a lot of people who have no business accessing that file.

You're freaking out.  We get it.  You start thinking about how recalling a message in Outlook works.

Don't do it dude. By recalling that message in Outlook, you're basically showing the world that they must read the previous message from you immediately.  Most of those people weren't going to read your message anyway.  Sure, the Gladis Kravitz's of the world will read it and make people aware, but you have to choose - do you want Gladis to spread the word, or do you want to tip everyone who got your message off that there's a career-ending mistake the email they got from before your recall request?

See this post for technical details of why most recall attempts fail at some level.

Just because you sent the recall request doesn't mean that it happens automatically.  You recalling the message actually does the opposite of what you intended.

Want a better path? Have a friend who's the Outlook administrator at your company. Go to them and tell them why it's mission critical that the message get wiped.  If the critical reason is more than just your embarrassment, you've got a chance to get that done.

Somebody sent me a recall message over the weekend from another company.  I read the email, because that's what humans do.  We ain't nothing but mammals.

And stop enabling "read receipt" why you're at it.  You know it's telling me you're requesting that, right?  Where's the trust? Where's the love?

See this article for a sad piece on how a former NBA 1st Round draft choice found himself trying to recall a message sent out to corporate America.  

Sad.