How to Forward a Complete Thread of Emails in Gmail

It's easy to forward a conversation with up to 100 emails in Gmail

by
Heinz Tschabitscher
Heinz Tschabitscher
Writer
A former freelance contributor who has reviewed hundreds of email programs and services since 1997.
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Heinz Tschabitscher
Updated on March 08, 2021
reviewed by
Ryan Perian headshot
Ryan Perian
Lifewire Tech Review Board Member
Ryan Perian is a certified IT specialist who holds numerous IT certifications and has 12+ years' experience working in the IT industry support and management positions.
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Article reviewed on May 17, 2020
Ryan Perian

What To Know

  • To forward an email thread, Conversation View must be enabled in Gmail. Conversation View is the default setting, but make sure it's on.
  • In your Gmail inbox screen, select Settings (gear). Scroll to the bottom and check Conversation View under Email Threading.
  • To forward a conversation, find it in your inbox. Select it, and press More > Forward All. Add comments, and press Send.

This article explains how to enable Conversation View in Gmail and use it to forward entire conversation threads at once. With Conversation View enabled, Gmail groups all emails with the same subject line (Gmail ignores prefixes such as Re: and Fwd:) into one conversation, so you can forward them as if they were one email.

Enable Conversation View

To enable Conversation View in Gmail:

  1. In the Gmail inbox screen, select Settings (gear icon).

    Gmail screen with Settings (gear icon) highlighted

    Conversation View is enabled by default on newer Gmail accounts. Use these steps to ensure that it is enabled.

  2. Scroll to the bottom of the box until you see Email Threading, then place a check in the box next to Conversation View.

    Gmail settings box with Email Threading highlighted

  3. You'll see a message that Gmail must reload to turn on Conversation View. Select Reload.

    Gmail conversation view screen with Reload highlighted

  4. You've enabled Gmail Conversation View.

    Gmail Settings with Conversation View checked and highlighted

    With Conversation View off, each email appears in your inbox by itself in reverse chronological order.

Forward a Complete Thread or Conversation of Emails in Gmail

To forward an entire conversation in one message with Gmail:

  1. Go to your inbox and click on the conversation you want to forward.

    Gmail conversation thread

  2. Go to the toolbar and select More (three dots).

    Gmail toolbar with More (three dots) highlighted

  3. Choose Forward all.

    Gmail conversation thread with Forward All highlighted

  4. Gmail displays the contents of the new email, which is entitled Forwarded Conversation.

    Gmail email thread being forwarded with Forwarded Conversation highlighted

  5. Add any comments to the email and address the message. Select Send to send the conversation along with your comments.

    Gmail forwarded conversation thread with Send highlighted

    You can also forward multiple messages from one conversation or many as attachments in Gmail.

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