How to Open an Email in Its Own Window in Gmail

Open emails in separate windows without distracting elements

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by Heinz Tschabitscher
An independent writer who has reviewed hundreds of email programs and services since 1997.
Updated August 10, 2019

Open your Gmail messages and conversations in separate browser tabs or windows to eliminate distracting elements and view several emails at the same time. You can open as many messages in new windows or tabs as your browser allows, and you can continue to read the emails even after you delete them from or archive them in your inbox.

If you have a pop-up blocker enabled, you may have to disable it for this Gmail feature to work properly.

Opening an Email in Its Own Gmail Window

To open each message in a separate browser window with Gmail, hold down Shift while clicking the message. You can arrange the windows and view them simultaneously. Use this simple method if you don't use Conversation View, which collects every message in a thread into one place.

Multiple emails in their own windows in Gmail

Conversation View will pop out the entire thread when you click on it with the Shift key, so if you have a long conversation going, you won't be able to pull out an individual message. But you can get around this by turning off Conversation View in the Settings menu.

How to Disable Conversation View

To open individual messages in separate windows instead of conversations, first make sure conversation view is disabled in Gmail:

  1. Click the Gmail Settings gear icon.

    Turn off Gmail conversation view

  2. Select Settings from the drop-down menu that appears.

    Turn off Gmail Conversation View

  3. Go to the General tab. Make sure Conversation view off is selected under Conversation View.

    Turn off Gmail Conversation View

  4. Click Save Changes at the bottom of the screen to turn off Conversation View.

Use Print View to Open Individual Emails from Conversations

As an alternative to disabling Conversation View, you can leave it turned on and use Print View to open individual emails in separate browser windows or tabs.

  1. Open the conversation that contains the message. If you see a Show trimmed content ellipsis button (…) at the bottom of the conversation, click it to display all of the emails in the conversation.

    A Gmail conversation with the

  2. Click the email you want to pop out to expand it, and then click the More icon to the right of the Reply arrow.

    Don't click the Print All button in the conversation window; that will print the whole thread.

    A conversation in Gmail with the More button highlighted

  3. Select Print from the drop-down menu that appears.

    A conversation in Gmail with the Print option highlighted

  4. Cancel the browser's print dialog when it appears to leave the email in a separate window or tab.