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How to Forward an Email as an Attachment in Microsoft Outlook

Dec 3, 2020

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Instead of forwarding several emails individually, you can send them all at once as attachments. You can do this with both Microsoft Outlook’s native desktop client and the online web app. Here’s how to forward emails as attachments in both.

Before we begin, note that this feature isn’t available in the Outlook mobile app for iPhone, iPad, or Android or on Outlook in mobile browsers.

Forward an Email as an Attachment Using Outlook’s Desktop Client

You can attach an email to a new email (or to an email you’re replying to) using Microsoft Outlook’s native desktop app for Windows and Mac.

RELATED: How to Stop Someone Forwarding a Meeting Request in Outlook

To do so, launch “Outlook” and then select the email you want to forward as an attachment by clicking it in the email list.

Next, in the “Respond” group of the “Home” tab, click “More” and then select “Forward As Attachment” from the drop-down menu.

Once selected, a new compose window will appear with the previously selected email as an attachment.

Alternatively, if you want to reply to an email with another email as an attachment, click the email from the email list you’d like to reply to and then click the “Reply” button.

Next, drag and drop the email you would like to attach to the body of the reply email from the list.

The email is now attached to the reply email.

Forward Emails as Attachments by Default

If you want Microsoft Outlook to attach an email to a new email by default whenever you click the “Forward” button of an email, it’s as simple as turning the setting on.

Open the “Outlook” app on your computer and click the “File” tab.

Select “Options” from the left-hand pane.

The “Outlook Options” window will appear. Here, click the “Mail” tab.

Next, select the arrow next to the “When Forwarding a Message” option in the “Replies and Forwards” section, and then click “Attach Original Message” from the drop-down menu.

Finally, select “OK” in the bottom-right corner of the window to apply the changes.

The next time you click the “Forward” button in an email, a new email will appear with that email attached.

If you prefer to use Outlook on the web instead of the native app, you can still forward emails as attachments, but the steps are a bit different.

Forward an Email as an Attachment Using Outlook’s Web App

Unlike Microsoft Outlook’s desktop client, there are no clickable options for forwarding emails as attachments in the web app, but you can still do it using the drag-and-drop method.

Open your web browser, navigate to the Outlook website and then log in to your Outlook account. Once logged in, you can either click “New Message” in the top-left corner of the window to draft a new email…

…or select an email to reply to with an email as an attachment by clicking the email and then choosing “Reply.”

No matter if you are replying to an email or creating a new one, the next step is the same. Just locate the email you would like to add as an attachment from the list of emails and then drag and drop the email to the body of the new email.

All that’s left to do now is add the recipient (if it’s a new email), type out a reply, and send the message on its way.

If you find yourself typing the same email over and over again, you can always create and use an email template to speed up the process.