Writing and staying in touch
Reply or forward, the difference
What you will be able to do In 5 minutes, you'll know how to choose between reply, reply all, and forward, without ever getting the recipient wrong again.
Under a received message there are often three buttons that look alike: reply, reply all, forward. Yet they go in very different directions. Reply writes only to the person who sent you the message. Reply all writes to that person and to everyone else who was already in the conversation. Forward sends the full message to someone new, who never heard about it before. Mixing up these three buttons can send a private reply to a whole group, or the other way around. We'll practice telling them apart on a screen we designed. Nothing here is real, no message goes out to anyone.
Simulated screen
I practice
This screen was drawn by us. Nothing is sent, nothing is installed, and no real brand is shown.
The situationA message from your hiking club arrives, sent to fifteen people at once. You just want to thank the organizer.
The interactive exercise needs JavaScript. The written step by step, just below, says exactly the same thing.
The written step by step
The same steps, in words, to read or print. This sheet works even without the exercise.
Replying to just one person
Your turn You want to thank only the organizer, not the whole group. Tap the right button.
The "Reply" button writes only to the person who sent the message, never to the other recipients.
The clues that don't lie
Your turn The reply screen opens. Tap what confirms, without reading the text, that this is indeed a reply.
The recipient already filled in with the sender's address, and the subject starting with "RE:", both signal a reply.
Writing to the whole group
Your turn This time, you want the whole group to see that you're coming too. Tap the right button.
"Reply all" sends the message to the organizer and to everyone else already in the conversation.
Letting someone new know
Your turn You want to forward this message to a friend who wasn't in the club. Tap what needs to be filled in first.
The recipient field, left empty, needs to receive the address of the person you're forwarding this message to, someone who wasn't already in the conversation.
Spotting it at a glance
Your turn Tonight, you sent two messages. Tap the one that went out to someone brand new, outside the club.
"RE:" means reply, within the conversation already known. "FWD:" means forward, to someone new. The first letters are enough to tell.
The sheet to keep
- Reply writes only to the person who sent the message.
- Reply all writes to that person and to everyone else who was already in the conversation.
- Forward sends the full message to someone new, who never heard about it before.
- In a reply, the recipient is already filled in. In a forward, this field is empty: it's up to you to fill it in.
- The subject gives an immediate clue: "RE:" for a reply, "FWD:" for a forward.
- Before tapping "Reply all", check that the whole group really needs to read your message.
The reflexes in this skill
I look at WHO is speaking
A displayed name is just text, so it can be copied. What matters is the exact address of the sender, or their phone number. A delivery announced from an unknown mobile number is not a delivery.
I make a copy of what matters
Photos, documents, contacts: anything that exists in only one place can disappear along with the device. A copy somewhere else turns a breakdown into a minor inconvenience.
Two questions to check
Nothing is graded, and nothing is saved anywhere except in your own browser.
A message was sent to you and ten colleagues at the same time. You want to reply to the sender alone, privately. What do you tap?
See the answer
Reply
"Reply" writes only to the person who sent the message, never to the other people who also received it.
You want a friend who has never seen this message to discover it in full, with its attachment. What do you tap?
See the answer
Forward
Forward sends the full message, attachments included, to someone brand new who wasn't in the original conversation.
I've done it
Check this box once you can do this skill on your own.
Your progress stays in your own browser.