Outlook Tip: Use the Resend This Message Command

June 13, 2015

Here is an Outlook tip I suspect half of you already know about, but it you don’t I think you’ll find it quite useful. It’s using the Resend This Message command in Outlook.

The scenario to use this is if you have sent an e-mail, and then realize that you need to resend it, maybe to someone else. Rather than manually copying the contents of the old e-mail into a new one, do this (these steps are for Windows Outlook 2010 and 2013, but similar steps work in older versions of Outlook):

  1. Go to the Sent Items folder and open the e-mail
  2. Find the Move section of the Message ribbon (just to the right of the Quick Steps section) as shown in the Outlook 2013 image above.
  3. Click the third icon down (it’s labeled Actions if your e-mail window is large enough)
  4. Choose Resend This Message (also shown above).

That opens the message in it’s original sent state with the To field editable, and you can now address it to someone else. Note that the Send button is active so you can send it again.

There are other ways to do this, but I think this is by far the quickest. I use it all the time!

Michael

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11 Responses to Outlook Tip: Use the Resend This Message Command

  1. Roland says:

    I usually do this just using Reply (ctrl/r) on the orginal message and replacing the addressee, I find that significantly simpler and faster.

  2. Michael Linenberger says:

    Roland, thanks. Yes, of course just hitting reply works and is easy, but it’s not a true copy of the original email. For example, it creates a header at the top of the resulting email that shows the recipient that you are sending them a reply. And replied text gets treated differently by many email systems (formatting, etc). In a business environment all this can seem sloppy and confusing. Also, doing that doesn’t pick up any attachments that you sent originally. Using the Resend command solves all that–it now truly is a brand new message and an exact copy of the original, with attachments, no headers, no weird reply text. It looks like an original message. There are lot’s of times when that is needed. But there are also lots of times it is not, and of course just using reply is fine then (thanks for pointing that out!). Michael

  3. Don says:

    We use Outlook from Office 2010 at work, and I can’t find any “resend this message” command in the list. I have always used the “forward” command to resend messages; it seems to keep the message the same and keeps attachments intact.

    • Michael Linenberger says:

      Don, in Outlook 2010, the Resend this Message command is in the same place as it is in 2013. Try following the steps above again, exactly. The Forward command has the same formatting issues I described for the Reply command. It inserts a large header above the text, and the text formatting might get trashed depending on recipient’s system. For example, some systems insert carats in front of each line of replied/forwarded text–not a very pretty email to be sending to clients, or anyone for that matter! Remember, this is inserted by the recipients system, so you won’t see it in your message when you send it. The one advantage of the Forward command (compared to Reply) is it does pick up attachments. But otherwise it is not equivalent to the Resend this Message command in creating a clean, original-looking message. Michael

      • Don says:

        OK, I found it. I thought you were talking about the main ribbon, not the ribbon on the individual email. Neat trick!

  4. Pat says:

    How to get the icon for “Resend this message”?

  5. Pat says:

    How to get the Icon/Button for “Resend this message” in the ribbon ?

    • Michael Linenberger says:

      It’s in the ribbon at the top of the email message (not the main Outlook ribbon). Should be plainly visible. Michael

  6. Jolanda J Munro says:

    I have Office 365 and several months ago “resend this message” no longer works…it resends original message, and does not accept my additions/changes. I have used this feature for many years successfully!

  7. Henry Larry says:

    This Resend This Message command is a revelation. I can not believe I have been manually copying emails all this time. Your tip is pure gold Michael. Cheers for making my Outlook experience a lot smoother.
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  8. buckshot says:

    This feature is particularly useful buckshot roulette when you need to resend an email to someone else without manually copying its contents into a new email.

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