How to turn off conversation view in Gmail

Gmail tries to help you navigate huge email chains by grouping replies into a single conversation thread where replies are listed sequentially. If you want to see each answer individually, however, you’ll need to turn this option off. That’s how.

Turn off conversation view in Gmail on a Windows PC or Mac

To disable “conversation view” (or grouped email threads) in Gmail on your Windows 10 PC or Mac, you’ll need to do this from the Gmail website. Start by opening the Gmail website in your browser and logging in.

After logging in, click the settings gear icon in the top right corner.

The Quick Settings menu panel will open. Scroll through the menu options and uncheck the “Conversation View” checkbox at the bottom.

Gmail will need to reload at this point, so hit the “Reload” button in the pop-up window to allow this.

Once updated, your Gmail inbox will change, separating each email response from any linked email chain. Alternatively, you can disable conversation view from the main Gmail settings menu.

To do this, select the settings gear icon, then click on the “View all settings” option.

On the ‘General’ tab of Gmail’s ‘Settings’ menu, scroll down to the ‘Conversation View’ section, then click the ‘Conversation View Off’ option.

Once selected, scroll down and click “Save Changes” to confirm the change.

Gmail will automatically reload your inbox, showing each email separate from any previously linked threads.

Turn off conversation view in Gmail on mobile devices

If you’re using the Gmail app on your iPhone, iPad, or Android device, you can quickly turn off conversation view in the app’s settings menu.

To disable the conversation view on Android, open the Gmail app and tap the hamburger menu icon in the top left corner.

From the overflow menu, tap the “Settings” option at the bottom.

In the “Settings” menu, you will see a list of Google accounts that you are signed in to.

Android users will see a “General Settings” option, which allows you to change settings for all accounts at the same time (including conversation view). Tap this option if you want to disable conversation view for all signed in email accounts.

Otherwise, select one of the account email addresses from the list instead. This will apply the change to that account only, leaving conversation view enabled for other mailboxes.

In the “General Settings” menu (or in the individual settings menu for a specific email account), scroll down and find the “Conversation View” option.

Tap the checkbox to disable the setting.

The change will be applied immediately, so tap back and go back to your inbox. This will remove email threading and ensure that each email received is listed separately.

Turn off conversation view in Gmail on iPhone and iPad

The steps to disable conversation view in the Gmail app on iPhone and iPad are similar to the steps for Android users, but the menus differ slightly. For example, if you are using an iPhone or iPad, you will only see the email accounts listed and you will not be able to disable conversation view for all accounts at the same time.

To get started, open the Gmail app on your Apple device and tap the hamburger menu icon in the top left corner.

From the menu panel, tap the “Settings” option.

You will need to tap one of the accounts listed in the “Settings” menu to disable conversation view.

In the settings menu for your chosen email account, tap the slider next to the Conversation View option. This will immediately disable email threading.

Once you’ve changed the setting, tap back to view your inbox. If you want to apply this change to all accounts, you’ll need to repeat these steps for each additional account later.