Conversations are a neat feature that can become our lifeline when managing communication on multiple topics across large number of emails. It unifies messages with the same subject and sender and lets you view them comfortably in one place.
Conversations were introduced quite a while ago, with smaller improvements, such as the Threads feature, added along the way. We’ve added even more Conversations settings as part of the version 10.4 release, so let’s take a look at all the current options to make Conversations work for you.
How are Conversations linked?
The eM Client app automatically creates conversations based on their subject, sender and recipient, and message ID. In other words, it keeps all related replies and forwards of a specific email together.
For Google and Exchange accounts, which have their own algorithms, conversations are synchronized from the server, so you have the same message threads connected no matter which device or app you check your emails on.
How to adjust Conversations settings
All Conversations settings, including advanced options, can be managed in Settings > Mail > Conversations. Basic options for quick change are accessible in Menu > View > Conversations (Windows) or View > Conversations (macOS).
Conversations can be shown in the message list and message detail (“All Views”), message detail only, or disabled altogether. This can be quickly changed using the View menu options if you need to change the conversation option on the fly.
Sort order of conversations in the message detail
The initial sort order is set to show the latest messages at the bottom of the message detail, so if you read from the start, you can chronologically go down until you get to the newest email:
To see the new replies at the top of your message detail instead, easily switch the sort order in the Settings or using the View option from main menu:
Conversation settings for the message list
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Exclude yourself from the participants list
In the message list, you’ll see all the participants displayed - including yourself. For a more streamlined display of other senders and recipients, you can switch off the option to “include me in the list of participants”.
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Order of participants in the message list
To quickly see who replied last in the conversation, change the order of participants in the message list - from latest to oldest. Or keep the default setting - from oldest to latest:
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Including messages from other folders
By default, conversations will include messages from other folders of a given account - so all relevant emails (for example from Inbox and Sent folder) will be displayed in the Threads view.
The Threads view adds the option to expand a conversation within the message list. This gives you a quick overview of the separate emails linked in this conversation, which can be especially useful when you need to view a single specific message or locate an attachment from a specific reply, etc. It’s available to all users with a paid license.
If you disable this option, the message list’s Thread view will only show the emails from the current folder (this does not affect which messages are visible in the message detail window):
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Expanding selected conversation threads in the message list
Threads will be collapsed until you manually expand them by clicking on the message counter for the given conversation. This can now be changed - enable the “Always expand selected conversations” in Settings > Mail > Conversations to always have a full overview of all your messages.
In the eM Client mobile app, you’ll find all of the Conversations settings in Settings > Mail > Conversations.
When enabled, Conversations group all related emails into a single, organized view. This makes it easy to review the full discussion, follow the flow of communication across multiple participants, and ensure nothing gets overlooked. By keeping everything together, it reduces inbox clutter and saves you time - so that you can focus on moving conversations forward instead of searching for them.
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