How to use Conversation View in iOS Mail app

ios-9-mail-app-icon-full-size

In iOS 9, you could organize emails in Apple’s stock Mail application by thread but that was pretty much it. iOS 10 introducedĀ a pair of new settingsĀ for simplifying inbox management.

The first tells Mail to arrange emails in a thread in the order they were received, with the most recent ones at the top. The other prompts the app to unify threadsĀ by includingĀ relevant emails from other mailboxes.

In this tutorial, we’re going to teach you how to enable and use Conversation View in Mail and leverage the aforesaid toggles to bring some order to your inbox.

What is Conversation View?

Conversation View in Mail is just that, a viewā€”one that collates relevantĀ emails and replies based on their SUBJECT field.

Conversation ViewĀ does not move your emails around. ItĀ won’tĀ mess up your mailbox structure nor will it file messages in folders or create copies of emails. Threaded messages appearĀ as normal emails in the inbox list.

Tapping a thread shows youĀ its emailsĀ listed one after another. You’ll notice that repliesĀ to the original messageĀ in a thread are shortened for clarity (quoted replies are hidden) and toĀ make browsing and managing threaded exchanges easier.

iOS 10 Mail Conversation View iPhone screenshot 008

Tapping a blue See More link at the bottom expands the message. To expand and see all of the response in a thread,Ā tap aĀ disclosure triangle next to any message.

You can, of course, swipe left or right on any message in a thread to reveal actions. To change the swipe settings and cherry-pick the actions you want to appear in the menus, go to SettingsĀ ā†’ MailĀ ā†’ Swipe Options.

How to organize emails by thread

As mentioned, MailĀ organizes emails by thread. This featureĀ should be enabled by default though it doesn’t hurt double-checking that it has been turned on.

On your iPhone, iPad or iPod touch, go to Settings ā†’ Mail and slide the switch Organize by Thread underneath the Threading headline to the ON position.

iOS 10 Mail Conversation View iPhone screenshot 002

Disable the switchĀ and Mail reverts back to showing threaded emails in the order they were received, which makes following threaded conversations unnecessarily cumbersome.

Completing your threads

MailĀ normally excludes from threads any messages that you may have manually moved to other mailboxes. To change this behavior, do the following:

Go to Settings ā†’ Mail on your iPhone, iPad or iPod touch and slide the switch Complete Threads underneath the Threading headline to the ON position.

iOS 10 Mail Conversation View iPhone screenshot 004

This tells the appĀ to show a complete thread in one verticallyĀ scrollableĀ view, regardless of whether some ofĀ itsĀ emails were movedĀ to other mailboxes.

Every message in a thread that was moved to a different mailbox shows aĀ heading saying ā€œFound in [MAILBOX NAME]ā€ at the top. As demonstratedĀ below, Mail informs meĀ that myĀ message to Twelve South’s PR was foundĀ inĀ the ā€œiDB Sentā€ mailbox.

iOS 10 Mail Conversation View iPhone screenshot 001

The Complete Threads setting only controls how Mail displays emails in a thread so rest assured that anyĀ moved messages shall remain in the mailboxes you moved them to.

ShowingĀ most recent messages on top

Mail defaults to showing threaded messages in chronologically reversed order.

iOS 10 Mail Conversation View iPhone screenshot 006

To prevent Mail from surfacing the oldest messages atĀ the top of a thread, go to Settings ā†’ Mail on your iPhone, iPad or iPod touch and slide the switch Most Recent Message on Top underneath the Threading headline to the ON position.

iOS 10 Mail Conversation View iPhone screenshot 003

Mail shallĀ now display theĀ most recentĀ emailsĀ at the top of a thread.

iOS 10 Mail Conversation View iPhone screenshot 007

I personally prefer havingĀ the most recent emails shown at the top of the tread.

Before iOS 10, you had to scroll down to a thread’s bottom to see the latestĀ emails which was incredibly frustratingĀ when browsing very long threads.

No more scrolling with the Most Recent Message on Top setting turned on!

iOS 10 Mail Conversation View iPhone screenshot 005

Summing up, you’ll wholeheartedly recommended to take advantage of Conversation View in Mail. But don’t you just go inĀ Mail expecting everything isĀ already set up the way it’s described in this how-to.

You’llĀ needĀ to hopĀ to Settings and toggle thoseĀ switchesĀ thatĀ tellĀ MailĀ toĀ collate emails in threads no matter the mailbox they’re in and show the most recent ones at the top.

Related tutorials

You may find the following Mail for iOS how-tos useful:

For the complete listĀ of 100+ new features in iOS 10, see our monster post here.

That’s a wrap-up

And that concludes our tour of threads in Mail.

We believe everyone should take advantage of theĀ new organization options in Mail for iOS 10. Email threads not only save you time, they also make youĀ moreĀ productive. With Conversation View, you’ll be on top of things like important business exchanges, planning trips with your friends and longĀ conversations that yield responses from multiple people.

Simply put, Conversation View in Mail makes managing the back-and-forth and wrangling unwieldy inboxes easier than ever before.

Do you like Conversation ViewĀ in Mail? AreĀ threaded conversations better from a usability standpoint than the traditional inbox organization, do you think?

Chime in with your thoughtsĀ in the comments below and don’t forget you can send us your submissions for future tutorial coverage at tips@iDownloadBlog.com.