The subject line is the first part of your email that your recipients will see, so it’s important to get it right. Here’s how to change it in Gmail.
Do you spend hours crafting the perfect subject line for your emails? Or do you just type the first thing that pops into your head?
A subject line that made sense at the start of a thread can become useless the longer you type. If the tone of your email doesn’t suit your subject line, your email won’t reach the right target.
That’s why it’s important to know how to edit the subject line in Gmail. Here’s what you’ll need to do.
Why change the subject line in Gmail?
An email subject line tells the recipient what to expect from the content of the email. Why would you need to change it?
There are a number of situations where changing the subject line of an email makes sense. Some of the most common include:
- An error in the original subject line
- Thread has strayed from the original subject line
- The subject line contains a date that is no longer relevant
- The subject line is missing crucial information
- In order to make the thread easier to find in the future
Why isn’t it obvious to edit the subject line in Gmail?
On some email clients, it’s obvious to change the subject line of any email you send. This is not the case with Gmail.
The reason editing the subject line in Gmail is less obvious is because of the way Gmail handles conversation threads. All messages under the same subject line are considered part of a long chain of emails. In other email clients, threads can be viewed as a group, but each message remains an individual email.
When you edit the subject line in Gmail, the entire conversation becomes a new thread under the new subject line, but all conversation history will be retained.
How to change the subject line in Gmail
If you want to change the subject line in Gmail, it’s quick and easy to do once you know how.
To edit the subject line in Gmail:
- Open the conversation thread whose subject you want to edit.
- Click on Answer Where Reply to all at the bottom of the page.
- press the Response Type button.
- Click on Edit subject.
- You will now see the subject line highlighted.
- Edit the subject of your new subject line.
- Hurry Send.
Your email will now be sent with the new subject line. All previous posts will be part of a new thread with the updated subject line.
Take control of your Gmail inbox
Changing the subject line in Gmail isn’t easy, but once you know how, it’s easy to do.
There’s a lot more you can do to take control of your Gmail account. You can change your name in Gmail if you want it to appear differently in messages. Once you’ve done that, you can also change your Gmail signature. You can even change the font in Gmail to make your messages stand out.
