Recall Actions are the automated actions that fire when a submitter recalls their own approval request — typically reverting a Status field, unlocking the record, sending a notification. Less common than Initial Submission / Final Approval / Final Rejection actions because most orgs don't allow recall, but important when they do.
- Open Setup → Approval Processes → click into the relevant process
Recall Actions are configured per Approval Process.
- Confirm Allow Submitters to Recall is ticked
On the Approval Process detail page. Without this, submitters can't recall — Recall Actions never fire.
- Scroll to Recall Actions section
Below Final Rejection Actions.
- Click Add New → pick Action Type
Field Update / Email Alert / Task / Outbound Message. Field Update commonly reverts Status to Draft.
- Configure the Field Update
Pick field, new value ("Status = Draft"). Make sure to also Unlock the record — otherwise recalled records stay locked.
- Save the action
Action runs when submitter clicks Recall. Test in a sandbox by submitting and recalling a sample record.
Master toggle. Required for Recall Actions to fire.
Field Update / Email Alert / Task / Outbound Message.
Critical — otherwise recalled records stay locked.
- Recall Actions only fire if Allow Submitters to Recall is ON. Many orgs leave it OFF, making Recall Actions config dead code.
- Forgetting to unlock the record on recall leaves recalled records LOCKED — same issue as Final Rejection Actions. Always include an Unlock action.
- Recall is submitter-initiated, not approver-initiated. Approvers can't unilaterally recall a request — they can only approve / reject. Build a separate process if you need approver-initiated cancellation.