How To Forward Just One Part of an E-mail Chain in Gmail & Outlook

Jamie Read more July 15, 2021

Email chains are either a useful way to track a conversation or a nightmare of confusion that gets in the way. Chances are if you work for a large company or corporation, it’s the latter. If you’re involved with clubs or groups, it’s the former. Either way, you can forward just one part of an email chain in Gmail and Outlook so you can address specific points without all the confusion. This tutorial will show you how.

How To Forward Just One Part of an E-mail Chain in Gmail & Outlook

Email threads are particularly annoying when viewed on a phone. Both Gmail and Outlook do a credible job compressing them and highlighting the latest part of the conversation, but the email can still be an untidy mess that takes longer than it should to unravel.

If you want to expand on a point or address something specific, it is possible to forward a single email within an email chain. This helps you make your point and ensure everyone reading it can follow what’s going on. It’s a useful trick to know, wherever or however, you use email.

Forward a single part of an email chain in Gmail

Gmail does a pretty good job of taming email threads by compressing them. When you read an email, you will see the last two threads in the chain, along with a divider with a number in a circle. That number denotes the number of replies within the chain. You can click on the divider to open the chain and will see just the header for each. This does make navigating email chains easier but is still a hassle.

To forward just a single email in a chain, you can try this:

Open the email chain within Gmail.
Select the specific email you want to forward and open it.
Select the three dot menu icon to the right of the specific email.
Select Forward and complete the To field.
Add your text to the email body as you need and hit Send.

If you want to reply to a specific email within a thread, you can do the above but select the small black arrow instead of the three dots. This automatically sets up the reply for you.

This also works with the Gmail app, with the conversation divided between the counter and the last two messages displayed in the clear. You can open the individual mail you want to forward and hit the three-dot menu and forward from there.

Forward a single part of an email chain in Outlook

Outlook is another incredibly popular email app that is used a lot in business. As corporations are the most guilty of long email chains, it would be remiss of me not to include it here. If you’re using Outlook, you have to set up conversation grouping before you can forward an individual message.

In Outlook desktop or Office 365, try this:

Open Settings within the main Outlook window.
Select Reading and turn Caret Browsing to on.
Select the individual mail to forward and delete the rest.
Add the recipient and hit Send.

Deleting the rest of the mail is optional but does keep things tidy. It ensures the email you’re forwarding isn’t lost within the chain and stands out enough to be quickly read and understood.

You can do something similar in Outlook for the web:

Open your Outlook inbox.
Select the Settings gear icon in the top right.
Select All Outlook Settings at the bottom of the slider.
Select Show Emails as Individual Messages from Message Organization.
Select Save at the top of the settings window.

Once set, you should be able to select the individual email from your Inbox and forward it as you normally would. It will not include the other elements of the email chain, so it should be easier to understand and follow.

Frequently Asked Questions

There is always something new to learn about your email client. If we didn’t answer all of your questions, keep reading.

If I forward an email, and someone was copied or blind copied on it, will they also get the email?

No. When you forward an email, you’re essentially sending a brand new email with the original senders’ content. As long as the other recipients aren’t included in your new email, they will not see the content that you’ve forwarded. They also won’t receive any alerts or notifications that you forwarded the message.

How do I forward just one email in the Outlook mobile app?

If you’re using the Outlook mobile app you can easily forward just one email. All you need to do is tap on the message that you want to send. Then, tap on the three dots in the upper right-hand corner of that message. Tap ‘Forward’ and send the email as you usually would. ]

By tapping on the three dots and tapping on the option to forward the email, your recipient will only receive the message you selected rather than the entire thread.