How to Forward an Email and Reply to It With Confidence

You send and receive emails every day. Surely, email-related tasks are permanently on your to-do list. But do you do it correctly and in line with email etiquette?

In previous lessons, you’ve learned what the most common email mistakes are and how to improve your work when using your inbox. Today, you’ll learn how to forward and reply to an email the correct way. As it turns out, it’s not always obvious what is and isn’t correct.

Let’s look at some tips for forwarding and replying to emails.

10 min read

When should you forward an email instead of replying to it?

You should forward your email instead of replying to it if you didn’t include the recipient in the original email message. It’s as simple as that. Many online communication professionals will agree with this, and so will I, since I send many emails every day, both internally and externally. Hopefully, now you won’t have any dilemmas when hitting the “forward” button.

What happens when you forward an email?

Forwarding an email allows a new recipient to see the email sent if they weren’t originally included in the email chain. Also, forwarding an email message means that you send the message to another person or group, including all the content, text formatting, and attachments contained in the original email message. If you don’t change the email elements before forwarding it, the person or group to whom it’s forwarded will see all the details of the original message.

When you forward an email, does the original sender see it?

If your original sender uses traditional email, it’s simple. In this case, if you forward an email, the sender of the original message will never find out that you forwarded the message to another recipient. Only when you put the original sender’s email address in the “Cc” or “Bcc” field in the forwarded email message will it result in the sender receiving a copy of the email.

Now, I covered the case where the original sender uses traditional email. There’s also the case when the sender uses an email open tracking tool or other CRM software dedicated to email marketing. Some email solutions allow the sender to embed the code in the email to know precisely when and how many times the recipient opened the email.

Best practices for forwarding email

Nobody likes to receive clumsy and messy emails. It’s harder to understand their meaning. The only thing you see when you first look at it is chaos. Regardless of whether you send or forward a message, the email must be perfect and indicate your professionalism. So, what should you do before forwarding professional emails to others?

Use the ‘Forward’ button exactly where you are

Always forward an email from the current message you’re reading. By doing so, your recipients will immediately spot the message that you want them to see. They won’t have to wade through the dozens of previous answers. Trust me, it really makes communication easier and faster.

Add your comment

If you forward a message, always include your thoughts on the email. Refer to the information in the message by leaving a comment at the top. Express your opinion, suggest solutions or further steps. That shows you put in the time to read the whole thread. It’s also a signal to other people that the message is worth taking a look at.

Adjust the subject line

Remove ‘Fw: Fw: Fw: Fw:’ and anything else that is unnecessary from the subject line. It just looks bad. Change the email subject, and write one that shows a hint of your reply. This will also help speed up the response time, especially if you indicate that it is time sensitive.

In Gmail, you can easily change the email subject. Follow these steps to do so:

Open email in Gmail -> ‘Forward’ -> ‘Type of response’ -> ‘Edit subject’

So, instead of sending “Fw: Fw: Negotiating a contract with XYZ,” try to write something like this “[Attachment] New terms of cooperation with company XYZ.”

Formatting the text of a message

The first time someone forwards a message, it looks just fine. However, when it’s done over and over again, the message looks unorganized, and it’s difficult to read. It’s possible that, at this point, it’s just a random mix of text with bold and italics, and in several font sizes. Don’t send an email when it looks like this. Fix it by editing those things out.

Be careful when formatting a message that contains images. After using the ‘Plain text mode,’ the images will be deleted.

Recheck it or regret it

Before clicking on the ‘Forward’ button, make sure that everything in the email is appropriate for who it is being sent to. A friendly exchange of opinions in an email happens, but watch out for content that isn’t appropriate for everyone. The way we talk to people we have a personal relationship with is different. With those people, we talk less formally.

Privacy is important

Is it OK to forward an email without the original sender’s permission? That depends. According to email etiquette, it’s recommended to ask the sender first if you want to forward a message they sent.

‘To,’ ‘Cc,’ and ‘Bcc’

Every time you send an email to more than one person, consider if the recipients are related to the case and whether or not the message will be helpful to them. Try the fields ‘To’, ‘Cc,’ or ‘Bcc’ that are available in your inbox.

Watch out for ‘Reply’ and ‘Reply to all’

The difference between ‘Reply’ and ‘Reply to all’ is childishly simple. Through ‘Reply,’ your message is sent to one person. That person can be someone who sent you the original email or someone who sent the last message in the thread you’re going to answer.

With ‘Reply to all,’ you literally respond to everyone. Every person in the thread can see what you’ve written, and this also applies to all email addresses in the ‘To’ and ‘Cc’ fields.

Summary

I hope that after this lesson you’ll be able to forward and reply to email messages much faster. Practice makes perfect. There are a few more things you should try after reading this article:

Clean up your email before forwarding it. Format your message to get rid of irrelevant information.
Always add your comment to the email. Summarize what you’ve read. Describe briefly your understanding of the message.
If necessary, update the subject to reflect your answer.
Double-check your message. It only confirms your professional attitude.
Remember to use the ‘To,’ ‘Cc,’ and ‘Bcc’ fields when appropriate.
Only reply to those people who can actually benefit from the information in the message.