How to Quote and Reply to a Specific Message in Google Chat

Quoting and replying to specific messages in Google Chat is now straightforward thanks to a new built-in feature. This eliminates the need for previous workarounds and enhances communication clarity in your conversations.

Quoting and replying to messages using Google Chat’s new feature

Open your preferred web browser on your desktop and navigate to chat.google.com.

From the left sidebar, select the conversation where you want to quote and reply to a message. You can access any chat, whether it’s in full screen or as a pop-up window; the feature works consistently across all interfaces.

Locate the specific message you wish to reply to. Hover your cursor over that message to reveal a set of options on the right side.

Click on the ‘Quote to Reply’ button, which looks like an arrow, to quote the message in your reply.

The quoted message will appear in the text input field. Type your response below the quoted text.

Press Enter to send your message. Your reply will include the quoted message for context.

If you decide not to reply to the quoted message, you can remove it by clicking the ‘X’ button next to the quoted text in the input field.

Note that using this method, you can only quote and reply to one message at a time.

If you need to quote multiple messages in a single reply, you can use one of the alternative methods below.

Manually quoting messages using backticks

Although the built-in feature only allows quoting one message at a time, you can manually quote multiple messages using backticks to format them as code blocks. This method involves a few extra steps but can be useful when you need to reference several messages in your reply.

Find the first message you want to quote. Double-click to select the text, right-click, and choose ‘Copy’ from the context menu.

In the message input area, type three backticks ``` to begin a code block.

Paste the copied message after the backticks.

Type three more backticks ``` to close the code block.

Note: In this example, `Shift + Enter` was used to format the message for clarity, but it’s not necessary.

Press Shift + Enter to add a new line, then type your reply below the quoted message.

Repeat these steps for any additional messages you wish to quote.

When you’re done, press Enter to send your message. The quoted messages will appear formatted as code blocks.

This method allows you to include multiple quotes and interleave your responses as needed.

Using a Chrome extension to enhance quoting features

For even more functionality, you can use a third-party Chrome extension to quote specific messages in Google Chat, allowing for quick quoting of multiple messages and threads.

Open Google Chrome and go to the Chrome Web Store.

In the search bar on the left, type “Google Chat thread links & quote reply” and press Enter.

Click on the extension named “Google Chat thread links & quote reply” from the search results, or access it directly using the link below:

Click the ‘Add to Chrome’ button to install the extension.

A confirmation dialog will appear. Click ‘Add extension’ to confirm the installation.

After installation, you can verify the extension by clicking the ‘Extensions’ icon next to the Chrome address bar. The extension should be listed there.

Utilizing the extension in Google Chat

Open Google Chat and go to the conversation where you want to use the enhanced quoting feature.

Hover over the message you wish to quote. You will see a new option to quote and reply to the message.

New quoting option added by the extension

Click the quote button to include the message in your reply. You can repeat this for multiple messages, allowing you to quote several messages in one response.

This extension enhances your ability to reference multiple messages and can improve the clarity of your conversations.

With these methods, quoting and replying to specific messages in Google Chat becomes more efficient, allowing for better communication and understanding within your chats.