Section 157. Reply or Forward a Message

157. Reply or Forward a Message

BEFORE YOU BEGIN

154 Get Your Email

SEE ALSO

156 Send a Message

Instead of composing an original message, you might want to reply to a message you've been sent. When replying, you can choose to send your reply only to the originator of the message, or to the originator and all other recipients of the original message. When you reply to a message, the original text is typically copied into the new message (depending on your email settings) so that your recipients will know what you're referring to.

If a message is interesting and you want to share it with someone who did not receive it originally, you can forward the message. When you forward a message, the text of the original message is copied into the new message, or simply attached (depending on your email settings). You can easily add your own comments as desired and then send the resulting message.

TIPS

To change how the original text is treated when you forward a message, choose Tools, Options , and on the Composition page, open the Forward messages list and choose As Attachment or Inline .

To change how original text is handled in replies, choose Tools, Account Settings and display the Composition & Addressing page for the email account you want to change. Enable the Automatically quote the original message when replying option to copy the text, and then select where you want the text placed (at the bottom of the new message, for instance) from the Then list.

1.	Click Reply, Reply All, or Forward Select the message you want to forward or reply to, and then click the appropriate button on the Mail toolbar: Reply (to send a reply to the originator of the message), Reply All (to send a reply to the originator plus all recipients), or Forward (to send the message along to a new recipient).
2.	Type To Address if Needed If you're sending a Reply or a Reply All message, the new message is automatically addressed for you. If you're forwarding a message, click in the To box and type an email address, or display the Contacts list (by clicking the Contacts button) and insert an address by selecting the address from those listed and clicking the Add to To button at the bottom of the Contacts sidebar. 157. Reply or Forward a Message
3.	Edit Subject if Desired When you reply to a message, the Subject line is copied from the original message and the letters Re: are added in front of it so that the message is easy to identify as a reply. Likewise, a forwarded message uses the same subject line as the original preceded by Fwd . Still, you can edit the Subject line if you like.
4.	Type Message If you're replying to a message, the message text appears in the message pane, typically with the cursor positioned below the copied text. If you're forwarding a message, the original message is attached and the message pane is empty. Type your message in the message area. Assuming that your recipient uses an HTML compatible email program (most are), you can add formatting to your text as desired using the tools on the Formatting toolbar.
5.	Click Send If you want to attach a file to the message, do so now. See 158 Attach a File to a Message . Click the Send button to send the message. If prompted, select the message format to use: text, HTML, or both. Copies of message you send are placed in the Sent folder (unless you've configured Thunderbird to do something else).

TIPS

Click the Spell button to check your spelling before sending the message. Better yet, set up Thunderbird to check the spelling of all messages automatically. Choose Tools, Options , display the Composition page, and enable the Check spelling before sending option.

Messages you've replied to appear with a special icon in the Inbox: an envelope with a green arrow that sweeps to the left. Forwarded messages are marked with an icon with an envelope and a purple arrow that sweeps to the right.