How to Format Gmail Quoted Replies

Whenever you chose to reply, Gmail adds the original message below your mail as an indented quote. You cannot do much customizations with Gmail quoted replies but there are few formatting techniques that we can use to draft better replies.

#. How to remove greater than symbol “>” from mail trails?

When mail conversations happen between various programs (Gmail, Outlook, Apple), each of them apply a special character to indicate start of the original message and its depth in hierarchy. Outlook prefixes each line with greater than symbol “>” while Apple uses Vertical Bar “|” which makes quoted content distinctive but also difficult to read.

To remove these characters, head over to this or this tool. Paste your content and format it to original readable text.

#. How to remove quoted entire mail chain while replying?

Unfortunately, you will have to manually remove the entire reply chain. First click on 3 dots to display entire chain, then press Ctrl+A to select all text and then press delete key. I wish there was a easy way to not quote text as in Gmail’s android app.

#. How to include your signature before quoted reply?

By default, Gmail will include your signature at end of the mail which will be mostly ignored. If you want to include it just after your reply, go to Gmail settings > General > Signature section and select the option “Insert this signature before quoted text in replies and remove the dashes that precedes it”

#. How to quote only a specific part of the mail or reply inline?

Often, quoting entire mail content is unnecessary and we just need to include only few lines in our reply. In such situations of replying inline, we should make use of “Quote Selected Text” lab feature.

Go to Gmail Setting > Labs and enable “Quote Selected Text”. Save and then refresh Gmail’s window.

Now, highlight the words you want to quote and then click the reply button. Only the selected words will be quoted.

#. How to reply automatically only to selected email addresses?

Vacation auto-responder replies to all the incoming mails. But if you want to selectively auto- reply only to few people, then you can use the canned response feature along with filters.

First, go to Gmail settings > Labs and enable Canned Response feature. Save settings and refresh the page. Now, go to Gmail settings > Filters and create a new filter by specifying email addresses and then selecting “Send Canned Response” in next screen.

Once the filter is set up, your mailbox will automatically reply to selected email addresses.

#. Can replies be tracked?

Yes, you can track if your email has been read or not.

#. How to strike through text when you reply

The only method is to strike through the text in Microsoft Word or other word utility and then paste it in Gmail’s reply box. Though this method is painful, but unfortunately it’s the only trick in the box.

# Can you use more fonts than provided in Gmail?

Yes, you can use all Windows fonts in Gmail by following our guide to change default fonts in Gmail. But please be cautious that the recipients also uses Windows else the message text will get garbled.

We also have few more articles that will help you with Gmail:

#. Scheduling emails
#. Setting self-reminding emails
#. Using multiple “From” addresses
#. Make “Reply to All” as default option
#. Delegating emails