Obtain a link to a specific email in GMail

Question

How can I obtain a link (a URL) to a specific email in GMail? I want to click that link and open the specific email.

Ousley

Answer 1

I don't know about a specific "email", but you can view a specific thread (which is usually one email) by clicking in the URL bar and copying that. Then, change the label to "all".

So if the url is "https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/#inbox/abc123def456", you would change "#inbox" to say "#all" like this: "https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/#all/abc123def456"

Now the link will work, even after you archive it and it's not in your inbox.

Janiecejanifer

For specific email use mail.google.com/mail/… – Polonium

this is a great and simple solution – Trotskyism

This solution has one flaw: if you use more than one email account (personal vs. work for example), sometimes gmail just switch the 2 email accounts (that part of the URL with /u/0), and all your saved links simple stop working – Alate

Could you add the info about needing to disable split that was suggested by B. Farr? – Petepetechia

@EvertonJ.Carpes My solution for that has been to replace u/0/ with u/[email protected]/ in the link -- which works. And then, I have a Choosy rule set to route the URLs by that user to the proper Chrome profile. It is hack-a-licious. But it works. – Bummalo

unfortunatelly does not work with Android app :/ – Julienne

Answer 2

I don't think Gmail can show one email, it always shows a thread. You can look for one message, but still will see the whole thread.

If this is OK for you, the URL is

https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/#search/rfc822msgid: 

followed by the message ID (can be found by looking at "show original").

See this question for some more details.

Florencia

use the entire message ID string including the <> signs. Something like <[e-mail]> – Spalato

How does this work if the user, that you want to send the link to, has 2 google accounts. For him: u/0 = private and u/1 = work. For me: u/0 = work and u/1 = private? Does this work at all in that case? If not this is only useful if you want to bookmark this link only for your self. – Markova

Note that Google uses lots of punctuation in their msgIDs, which you will likely have to URL encode. E.g., turn + into %2B. – Filler

Answer 3

To clarify on the answer provided by Kevin Patel you can get the link directly from your browser, however you must have the reading pane set to "No split", otherwise you get a generic URL.

Scuttle

Hah! Thank you. I thought it was just an old answer broken due to changes in the interface. – Thaumatrope

Answer 4

You can specify the inbox email address in the link to open the email in the correct inbox.

if [email protected] is your inbox email

Create the link as follows

https://mail.google.com/mail/u/[email protected]/#all/YOUR_EMAIL_ID

Fader

Answer 5

If you are happy with a bookmarklet that copies a link to the current email to your clipboard, you can try adding this to your bookmarks:

javascript:(function()%7Basync%20function%20copyPermalink()%20%7Btry%20%7BsearchURL%20%3D%20'https%3A%2F%2Fmail.google.com%2Fmail%2Fu%2F0%2F%23search%2Fmsgid%253A'%3BmessageId%20%3D%20document.querySelector('div%5Bdata-message-id%5D').getAttribute('data-message-id').substring(7)%3Bawait%20navigator.clipboard.writeText(searchURL%20%2B%20messageId)%3Bconsole.log('Mail%20message%20permalink%20copied%20to%20clipboard')%3B%7D%20catch%20(err)%20%7Bconsole.error('Failed%20to%20copy%3A%20'%2C%20err)%3B%7D%7DcopyPermalink()%7D)()

It essentially searches the currently focussed email for its data-message-id attribute, and then converts that into a search url using the msgid predicate (this doesn't seem to be documented, but was quite guessable.). The full link is then copied to your clipboard.

Caveat: Seems to work with or without a preview pane, but this hasn't been extensively tested.

Hecklau

Here's a slightly modified version to work with multiple google accounts: javascript:(function(){async function copyPermalink() {try {user = location.pathname.match(/\/u\/(\d)/)[1];searchURL = 'https://mail.google.com/mail/u/' + user +'/#search/msgid%3A';messageId = document.querySelector('div[data-message-id]').getAttribute('data-message-id').substring(7);await navigator.clipboard.writeText(searchURL + messageId);console.log('Mail message permalink copied to clipboard');} catch (err) {console.error('Failed to copy: ', err);}}copyPermalink()})() – Thundercloud

I couldn't get the above to work with msgid links, so here's a modified version which links directly rather than using the search function: Gist here: gist.github.com/alangrainger/ef52d535f7b1cc4c0c1b23da4e91806d Or code: javascript:(async function(){try{messageId=document.querySelector('div[data-legacy-message-id]').getAttribute('data-legacy-message-id');user=location.pathname.match(/\/u\/(\d)/)[1];await navigator.clipboard.writeText('https://mail.google.com/mail/u/'+user+'/#inbox/'+messageId)}catch(e){console.error(e)}})() – Personalize

Answer 6

Since Google introduced the integration of Google Tasks and Gmail a few weeks ago, one way you can get the URL of a specific Gmail email us:

1. Turn a given Gmail email into a Google Task;
2. Open the task editing window (you can't perform the next task from the task display, it only seems to work when the task editing function is invoked);
3. Hover over the link to the originating Gmail email in the next task you just created (the link is at the bottom of the task display);
4. Use that URL to access the specific Gmail email by clicking on the link in the corresponding Google task or just pop the URL into the URL bar of any browser or other workflow (of course, the session must be logged in to the relevant Google account).

Enjoy!

Sheff

This is actually ends up being the same link as the https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/#all/abc123def456 suggestion above, but it is good to know it is consistent and there is an easy way to get the link without diving into the nightmare that is "All Mail" with the hundreds if not thousands of unread messages in there. – Grate

Answer 7

Gmail Sharable Link Creator

Site Link: GmailLink.GitHub.io

Steps to Follow to generate the Link

1. Get the Message ID Of Mail Thread (Mail > 3 dot menu in Right side (⋮) > Click on Show Original > See the MessageID).

2. Copy the Message-Id

3. Use the MessageId & click On Submit to generate the Mail Sharable Link.

https://mcmap.net/q/266888/-create-a-gmail-share-link

Shuma

Answer 8

You just have to click on "show original" and copy the URL.

Wean

This may not be the most pleasing way to view an email, but this is the most straightforward and, I think, reliable answer to the question so far. – Hoang

Answer 9

If you want a link that redirects you to a gmail page where you can write a mail to that particular account then you can use:

"https://mail.google.com/mail/?view=cm&fs=1&[email protected]"

replace the "user" with some user's valid username.

Benzofuran

Answer 10

You can open up an email that you want in Gmail and after that, you can simply copy the link location from the search bar of your browser. It will create a unique weblink for every single email. It is as simple as that.

Efflorescent

See also the answer from @B. Farr here https://mcmap.net/q/266028/-obtain-a-link-to-a-specific-email-in-gmail, it includes an important detail. – Dismast

Answer 11

Actually, get a single email link, without the full thread, seems not to be directly supported;

apart from manual url rewriting or coding tricks, that require time or specific skills, the faster workarounds I know are:

Copy the URL from the tab that opens clicking on one of these 2 entry on the email menu:

1. print - CONS: It also open the print popup, that you have to dismiss
2. show original - CONS: The email is not formatted, you see original sources, so images and formatting are missed, and messy code are added

Underskirt

Answer 12

There's an easier way to do this. Click "add to tasks" to add the email to Google tasks. Google tasks panel will open up on the right with a task created that has a clickable link. Click that link, then copy the URL that is produced in the address field. Feel free to get rid of the task.

Loam

Answer 13

How about this Chrome Extension

https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/gmail-message-url/bkdmmijcdflpcjchjglegcipjiabagei/related

Irrational

Answer 14

If you "star" the email, then click on the thread in "Starred" you'll see the thread with the email of interest already opened (assuming just one email in the thread is starred). Copy the URL there - even though "starred" is in the URL it should still route you to the email.

Therron

Answer 15

This method will show you the same view as when a message is clipped and you click the button "View entire message".

The link format is:

https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/?ui=2&ik=<ik>&view=lg&permmsgid=msg-f:<msg_f>&ser=1

where the items in <> need replaced.

To get these (ik and msg_f), go to the email in question, and click the print button.

In the new window that appears, close the print menu and look in the url in the address bar for the parameters ik and simpl. These are the values you need. For msg_f, you just need the number past the colon (ex: simpl=msg-f:1111111111111111111).

Petepetechia

Answer 16

Most of above worked fine, but not on mobile devices.

For me the workaround was to turn on desktop site mode in the browser. My brave browser on android seemed to memorize the setting per domain, so once you turn that on, it'll persist for any gmail links.

Rosenthal

Answer 17

Use cloudHQ's email links app: https://workspace.google.com/marketplace/app/share_emails_via_url_link_by_cloudhq/842929301805

You can share the email thread, or a specific email within the email thread, and you can share it from your mobile or desktop.

Vincenty