How to Edit an Email in Outlook: Received Messages, Drafts, and Sent Items

Editing an email in Outlook isn't always straightforward — and that's because "editing an email" can mean several different things depending on what stage that email is at. Are you fixing a draft before you send it? Editing a received message for your own records? Recalling and replacing something you already sent? Each scenario works differently, and Outlook handles them in distinct ways.

Editing a Draft Email in Outlook

This is the simplest case. If you've saved a message as a draft and want to make changes before sending:

1. Open Outlook and go to the Drafts folder in your left navigation panel.
2. Double-click the email to open it.
3. Click directly into the message body or subject line and edit as needed.
4. When you're done, either Send the message or close it to save the updated draft.

Drafts are fully editable — subject line, body, recipients, attachments — with no restrictions. This works the same way in Outlook for Windows, Outlook for Mac, and Outlook on the web (formerly OWA).

Editing a Received Email in Outlook ✏️

This surprises many users: Outlook actually lets you edit the content of a received email and save those changes locally. This is useful for annotating messages, removing unnecessary quoted text, or keeping a cleaner version for reference.

Here's how it works in Outlook for Windows (desktop):

1. Open the received email by double-clicking it.
2. In the ribbon, click the Actions button (under the Message tab).
3. Select Edit Message.
4. The email body becomes editable — make your changes.
5. Close the window and Outlook will prompt you to save. Click Yes.

A few important points about this feature:

• This only changes your local copy. The sender's original message is not affected, and no one else sees your edits.
• This option is generally only available in the full Outlook desktop app (Windows). Outlook on the web and the Outlook mobile apps don't offer an "Edit Message" feature for received emails.
• Changes are saved to your mailbox folder. If your mailbox is synced via Exchange or Microsoft 365, edits may sync to your server-side copy depending on your organization's settings.

Editing and Recalling a Sent Email

Once an email is sent, you can't directly edit it in the traditional sense — but Outlook offers a Recall This Message feature for Exchange and Microsoft 365 accounts. This attempts to delete the original email from the recipient's inbox and optionally replace it with a corrected version.

To use it:

1. Go to your Sent Items folder.
2. Double-click the sent message to open it in a separate window.
3. In the ribbon, click Actions → Recall This Message.
4. Choose whether to Delete unread copies only, or Delete and replace with a new message.
5. If replacing, a new compose window opens where you write the corrected version.

The success of a recall depends on several variables:

Recall is not a guaranteed fix — it's a best-effort attempt. Many IT professionals treat it as unreliable for anything outside a tightly controlled internal Exchange environment.

Editing a Sent Email Without Recall (Resend)

If recall isn't available or isn't appropriate, Resend This Message is an alternative:

1. Open the sent message from Sent Items.
2. Click Actions → Resend This Message.
3. A copy of the original opens as a new draft — edit it, correct the error, and send.

This doesn't remove the original email from anyone's inbox, but it's a clean way to send a corrected version with a note explaining the update.

Key Differences Across Outlook Versions 🖥️

Not all Outlook versions offer the same editing capabilities:

• Outlook for Windows (Microsoft 365 / standalone): Full feature set — Edit Message, Recall, Resend all available.
• Outlook for Mac: More limited. "Edit Message" for received emails is not available in the same way. Recall is available for Microsoft 365 accounts.
• Outlook on the Web (OWA): Drafts are fully editable. Recall is available for some Microsoft 365 configurations. Editing received messages locally is not supported.
• New Outlook for Windows (the modernized version): Some legacy features like "Edit Message" are not present in the current version as of recent releases — this is an area where functionality between old and new Outlook diverges noticeably.
• Outlook Mobile (iOS/Android): Editing is limited to drafts only.

Variables That Affect Your Options

Whether a particular editing method works for you comes down to:

• Your Outlook version — classic desktop app, new Outlook, web, or mobile
• Your account type — Microsoft 365, Exchange, IMAP, or POP3 (recall only works with Exchange/Microsoft 365)
• Your organization's IT configuration — some features may be disabled by admins
• Whether the recipient has already opened the message — critical for recall scenarios
• The recipient's email platform — recall is Exchange-to-Exchange; it won't work across providers

The right approach to "editing" an email in Outlook really depends on which of these variables applies to your specific situation — and they don't all point to the same answer.