How To Add Someone To Email Thread? The Bon Ton Of Email Etiquette in 2023

Adding someone to an email thread can be tricky, mainly because they haven’t been ‘there’ from the start.

You want to ensure the person you’re adding can see the conversation and add their input. At the same time, you want to avoid clogging up the thread with unnecessary messages.

Luckily, there are ways you can use to add someone to an email thread without causing problems for the rest.

Keep reading to find out how to add someone to an ongoing email conversation.

What is An Email Thread?

An email thread is a chain of email messages. The first message in the thread is the original one, and each subsequent message is a reply to the original one.

When you reply to an email, your reply becomes part of the thread – and it’s automatically sent to everyone involved, i.e., all existent recipients of the thread.

Furthermore, the simplest way to imagine email threads is by referring them to as an ongoing conversation through email. What’s more, threads are helpful. This is because they allow you to see the entire history of the conversation in one place.

Fact: All messages in the thread are considered as a single unit, which is why the messages in the thread are displayed chronologically.

Thus, tracking down an important piece of information or a specific part of the conversation isn’t a problem when using threads.

How To Add Someone In Email Thread?

Most email providers have the ‘Forward all’ option which is familiarly connected to the string of messages – commonly known in the email communication slang.

But, let’s go through the steps of each popular email provider without risking some parts staying uncertain.

• Adding Someone In an Email Thread – Gmail

• Log into your Gmail account > select the conversation you wish to send.

Tip: Email conversations and a string of messages are usually shown as a single email.

• Then, click on the three vertical dots in the bar located in the upper central part of the screen. From here, choose ‘Forward all.’

Note: The ‘Forward all’ button is NOT available in single conversation emails. Thus, making it easier for users to get around in Gmail’s forwarding options and recognize threads from the other messages.

This will put the entire conversation and its attachments in a single email message, allowing you to forward it to as many recipients as you wish.

• Simply write their emails/ names in the ‘To’ section – the ‘CC’ and ‘Bcc’ section doesn’t guarantee that the recipient will stay or be visible in the email thread circle.
• Finish by clicking ‘Send.’

• Adding someone in an email thread – Outlook

Adding recipients to an existing conversation in Microsoft Outlook is quite distinctive (compared to the previously mentioned process).

In Outlook, you can send the entire conversation as separate attachments, ordered chronologically.

• Once in your Outlook Inbox, select a message from the conversation you wish to forward.

• Then, right-click on it, select Find related > choose Messages in this conversation.

• You’ll see all the messages listed in the mail list. To select all of them at once, just press Ctrl+A.
• Then, press the button Home > Forward.

The next screen that appears is your outgoing message – it contains all the emails from the attached thread in the form of attachments.

• It’s time to write the names/ emails of the people you want to send this to – and finish by clicking ‘Send.’

• Adding Recipient To a Mail Thread in Apple Mail

This feature in Apple Mail is more popular as “Conversations” instead of Threads. And Apple Mail (Yahoo Mail too) have this same option.

• There’s a built-in preset that already activates ‘Conversation mode’ — this enables all messages tied and connected to appear under the same subject.

Once this ‘Conversation mode’ is turned ON – adding someone to your conversation isn’t such a big deal.

• • Just press ‘Forward’ and enter the recipient’s name, or add multiple recipients!

• Adding Someone To Email Thread in Yahoo Mail

As we just mentioned, Yahoo and Apple Mail’s ‘email chain’ or ‘email thread’ option is known as ‘Group by conversation’ mode.

• Once enabled (from the standard Settings of your email account) – all you need to do is forward the thread – the selected email message.

Otherwise, it will appear as a single message while it contains an entire ongoing conversation.

• Select the thread > right-click > Forward.

How To Remove Someone From Email Thread?

Removing a person from an email thread is like ‘banning’ them from the conversation they were present about a while ago. And it might be an awkward social situation, despite not happening face-to-face.

However, no matter what the reason may be – out of courtesy and business bon-ton, it’s best first to notify the recipient you’re about to exclude from your email thread’s future recipients. You can also let the rest of your group know why and who will be excluded.

That said, the steps for removing someone from further receiving emails from the thread are done almost identically in all email providers.

• First, you need to click on ‘Reply to all.’ For instance, when using Gmail, you can find it at the bottom of an email.

• Then, click anywhere out of the email addresses field and wait for the CC and ‘To’ to appear. Simultaneously, an ‘x’ will appear at the end of each email address.
• You need to click on this option if you want someone (or multiple people) removed from further receiving emails in that same thread.

• You can manage to exclude yourself from further receiving messages from a specific thread.

You’re on vacation, but somehow, your manager forgot to take you out of the conversation – and you keep getting unnecessary news.

Mute the email conversation – as simple as that.

And here’s how it’s done:

• After opening your inbox – select the threaded email conversation you no longer wish to participate in.
• Then, click on the ‘More’ button – somewhere above your emails, and select ‘Mute.’

By doing this – you don’t receive the messages in your inbox since they’re not in your focus anymore. But you can always come back to them.

How To Download An Email Thread As PDF?

Email is a quick and convenient way to communicate with clients and co-workers. However, there might still be times when you need an email thread saved as a PDF file.

Fortunately, saving an email thread as a PDF file is a relatively simple process offered by most popular email programs (Gmail and Outlook).

Moreover, you can always find this option by selecting the printing option of the email/ thread and further finding the Save as PDF option instead of printing the thread.

• In Gmail, saving a conversation as a PDF file has some rather unusual steps to follow.

1. Open the email thread you need to convert and download. Then click on the screen’s print icon in the top right corner.

1. Next, you need to change the document’s destination from the dialogue menu that opens up.

1. Now, select Save as a PDF.

1. Confirm with Save. And you can also adjust some other settings (if needed) in this window before confirming.

1. Here’s what your final on-screen menu will look like — this is where you should search for your PDF download.

• Outlook has the same approach of saving threads as PDF.

1. First, open the latest email and ensure you’re entering the entire conversation. You can check this from the top menu, as shown in the image below.
2. The Show in conversation window needs to be marked with the check sign.

1. In the following conversation window  that appears, select This folder or All mailboxes option – based on your preferences.

1. If you select All mailboxes – all messages that have been in a thread will be categorized in conversations.
2. If you select only This folder – only the specified folder (e.g., Inbox) will be classified into conversations.
3. Now, select the conversation you want to download as a PDF and select All the emails. Follow by pressing File > Print.
4. In the next screen, follow this order of executing commands:

1. After clicking ‘Print,’ you’ll be automatically taken to the next screen where you can adjust when and how ‘the file’ to be saved.
2. Choose your location, then your file format, and don’t forget to click Save before exiting.

How To Respond To An Email Thread?

Responding to a message in a thread can either be meant to Reply to all or Reply to a single person – the one that sends the email.

This depends primarily on the situation:

• If what you have to say affects the majority of your group – better click Reply all.

• BUT, if you want to discuss something more profound with the person sending the mail (for example) – choose only Reply.

The difference is:

• By clicking ‘Reply all,’ your answer to the latest message is sent to all recipients in the conversation.

• Whereas clicking only ‘Reply’ is meant solely for the recipient who sent the email.

Here’s their location in different popular email providers:

• Outlook:

• Gmail:

How To Reply To A Specific Email In A Thread?

When replying to a specific email inside a thread, it’s essential to include the original message in your reply – so the context is clear. However, it would be better to remove the rest of the conversation.

1. To achieve this – click ‘Reply’ on the original email and delete any extraneous text at the top of the message.

Or, you can simply highlight the text you’re focusing on.

Additionally, remember to change the subject line of your reply, so it’s clear that you’re responding to a specific message (e.g., RE [old subject line]).

Note: Even though the images shown as examples are screenshots from a Gmail conversation — it’s the same for other well-known email providers.

This is why we felt it unnecessary to add images with the same content.

Some Final Piece Of Advice

Email threads can be really resourceful on many occasions – especially if you’re introducing a new team member to a project, a new employee, etc.

Instead of forwarding messages or re-writing everything to each recipient individually – it’s best to hit one simple ‘Forward all’ button and let them catch up in no time.

AND – don’t forget to include the recipient you’re adding in the ‘To’ field – every other option, such as ‘CC’ or ‘Bcc,’ might not be suitable for the team and the long-term communication dialogue.

If you find yourself struggling to follow a thread – try breaking it up into smaller parts by starting new threads for related topics. This will help you stay organized and avoid getting lost in the conversation.