You know the drama accompanied with the usual “Reply to All” email SNAFU. Let’s say, you wanted to reply a particular person within a threaded email conversation. Maybe you got carried away and said things that were kind of explicit. Before you know it, your flustered emotions have caused that accidental “Reply to All” clickity click! BAM – the entire team, organization or the company knows about the conversation. 

This is serious stuff – misuse of “Reply All” when you don’t really want it; this can get you fired. I remember a woman who lost her job because she gloated about her negative feelings for a coworker through the company’s email ID. Yes, the intended recipient of the email did get her reply, but so did the rest of the company’s employees. The next day she was fired.

Another scenario includes sexting. You or probably that specific member of the opposite sex developed feelings for each other over the course of few months. Admit it; you guys are dumb enough to start it in the first place. Then again, call it the lack of time or laziness but you were careless enough to reply to him/her on a dreaded day via the “Reply All” button. Imagine what would happen next!

How to Avoid Hitting “Reply to All” Button?

-          Hide the “reply to All” Button – Microsoft Outlook:

This is the best way to date. You can hide the ‘Reply to All’ button and then you wouldn’t have to worry about anything. I know a trick or two to hide that button in Microsoft Outlook; i.e. if you are using Outlook as your email client.

If you are using ‘Microsoft Outlook 2003’ or ‘Microsoft Outlook 2007’, you have to press the ‘Alt’ key and then drag the “Reply to All” button all the way off the main toolbar/ ribbon. It is more like dragging it and throwing it away. Or you can also click the ‘Down’ arrow and manually remove that button through the ‘Add or Remove Buttons’ option in the dropdown menu.

-          How to Hide the ‘Reply to All’ Button in Microsoft Outlook 2010:

If you upgraded your existing Outlook version to 2010, then you need a more technical approach to avoiding the ‘Reply to All’ button. Here’s how it works – just repeat the following steps and it’ll all be over soon:

• Click the ‘File Tab’ button and select the ‘Customize Ribbon’ option. You want to do this because the button actually appears in the toolbar ribbon at one side.
• Click the ‘Respond’ option and then select the ‘Remove’ button from the right pane. Depending on the area of your screen, the right pane may appear to the left side. You just need to look for the ‘Respond’ button here.
• Click the new group two times – this will enable the ‘Rename’ option. Once your cursor starts to blink, you have to rename the first group as “Respond” or whatever you like, and the other group as “Reply All”. Both of these names are now representing custom groups.
• At the top side of the left pane, there is a ‘Main tabs’ button.
• Expand the ‘Home and Respond’ option.
• In the right side, select the ‘Respond’ button. Remember, this ‘Respond’ button is representing your earlier group setting – the one you renamed.
• Now you have to add the “Forward”, “Meeting”, “More”, “IM”, “Post Reply” and “Reply” commands one by one.
• Repeat the above steps for the “Reply All” group. The only thing different to be done here is the addition of “Reply All” option. Once that is added, you are set to go.

How to Avoid ‘Reply to All’ in Gmail?

Gmail is better than Outlook in many ways. Again, this is my opinion – if you beg to differ, you have your own preferences. Anyhow, a lot of people use Gmail and regular email services, rather than relying on special email clients.

Gmail Settings | General Tab for ‘Undo Send’ Option

In Gmail, you can avoid hitting the ‘Reply to All’ button through the “Undo Send” feature. It is very handy as you can simply ‘Undo’ and the email will not show up at the recipient’s side. However, you will have to make sure that you use the ‘Undo Send’ feature within the first 30 seconds of sending that email.

To enable the ‘Undo Send’ feature, click the small ‘Gear’ icon at the top right corner of your main Gmail window. Select the ‘Settings’ option and go to the ‘General’ tab. Enable the ‘Undo Send’ feature here and then save changes. There you go, this option will now allow you to undo the sent email even if you accidentally replied to all in a threaded email conversation. 

This entry was posted on Friday, December 28th, 2012 at 11:19 AM and is filed under Computers, How To. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.