Google Apps Tips: Unthread Conversations

Unthreaded Gmail

With the new Unthreaded Gmail feature, you can now switch between conversation view, where messages are threaded together in a single conversation, and the traditional, message-based, unthreaded view.

After switching to the unthreaded view, you will notice several changes in your Inbox. (1) The number of messages in your Inbox will increase (2) as messages are now considered as individual entries in your Inbox. (3) Threaded conversations, indicated in your Inbox as the number of threaded messages in brackets, are now interspersed throughout your Inbox (indicated by the red arrows below) based on the date the message was received.

Steps to enable Unthreaded Gmail (or disable Conversation View)

1. Click Settings
2. On the General tab, under Conversation View, click Conversation view off.
3. Click Save Changes.

Note: You can re-link your previously threaded messages and re-enable conversation view by clicking Conversation view on.

How Unthreaded Gmail Changes your Inbox

After disabling, or turning off, conversation view:

• Gmail reloads your Inbox and displays all messages in the unthreaded, message-based view, sorted in reverse chronological order. Based on the number of previously threaded messages in your inbox, you should notice the number of messages increase as each message becomes its own separate entry.
• Replies to messages you sent display as separate entries in your inbox.
• When replying to a message, the message will be sent to the recipient and to your Sent Mail label, and will not be linked to the original message.
• When viewing messages to which users have replied, you will see the entire contents of all replies in the body of the email.
• To find messages previously linked together based on a particular subject, search for the messages based on the subject or keywords contained within the subject.
• Unthreaded view has no effect on chats that display in your inbox.