How to Remove Previous Names Before Forwarding Email

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Delete previous senders and recipients from your forwarded emails with this simple guide

Co-authored by wikiHow Staff

Last Updated: October 19, 2025 Tested

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• Removing Names on a Mobile Device
|
• Removing Names on a Desktop
|
• Q&A
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• Tips

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This article will discuss the removal of a sender’s contact information from forwarded mail on both desktop and mobile clients. Making sure that the names and addresses of previous senders are removed before passing it on is a matter of security, privacy, and courtesy. These instructions allow you to easily protect personal information no matter what platform you are emailing from.

Things You Should Know

• Click the forward button on an email within any email app to get started.
• Highlight the text you want to delete, including the fields where undesired senders/recipients are located.
• Tap or click to delete the highlighted text.

Steps

Method 1

Method 1 of 2:

Removing Names on a Mobile Device

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1. 
   1
   Access your mail on mobile. The Mail app for iOS and Gmail app for Android are the two most popular mobile mail clients. Setting them up is as easy as entering in the address and password.

   • On iOS, the Mail app can be accessed from the button on the home screen. By default it is displayed in the static dock at the bottom.
   • On Android, the interface will vary between device brands, but Gmail can always be found listed in All Apps. The typical the home screen button to access this is a grid icon.
2. 
   2
   Tap the forward button in an open email. The forward email is created with new formatting. The content of the email is now part of the text in your email composition.
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3. 
   3
   Select the desired text to remove. Tap and hold around the area you wish to highlight. After a moment a text selector appears. Tap and drag each end of the selector until the text you wish to remove is highlighted.
4. 
   4
   Delete the undesired names and emails. Tap the delete key to remove the text.

   • If you are having trouble using touch to highlight, you can instead tap the screen at the location of the last letter of the name/address you want to remove and hold the delete key until all of the desired text is removed.
5. 
   5
   Forward your email. Enter your recipients, add personal message to the email and press “Send”.
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Method 2

Method 2 of 2:

Removing Names on a Desktop

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1. 
   1
   Click the “Forward” button in the email. The forward email is created and the content of the previous email is now formatted into text in your composition.
2. 
   2
   Select the text you want to remove. Click and drag the mouse cursor to highlight the names and email addresses you wish to remove.
3. 
   3
   Remove the undesired text. Press ← Backspace or Delete or go to Edit > Cut to remove whatever text is highlighted.

   • Keep in mind when forwarding a conversation or a previously forwarded email that names and addresses may be displayed on multiple lines of the forwarded text.
4. 
   4
   Personalize and send the email. Add your own message above the forwarding text, enter your recipient(s), and press “Send”.

   • If this message has been forwarded to you from someone else, you may want to clean up the subject line. A “Fwd” tag is added every time the message is forwarded, which can make the subject line look cluttered.
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Community Q&A

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• Question

  How do I remove the senders' names from emails on my Kindle Fire?

  

  Community Answer

  Email clients on Kindle should function like other mobile devices. Launch the email client, highlight the emails you want to remove, and delete them from the forward email body.

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Tips

• If you happen to delete more than you intended, don't panic. Before doing anything else go to the menu line at the top and click Edit > Undo, (on Windows, you can press Ctrl + Z; on Mac, you can press ⌘ Cmd + Z) to reset the last action you took.
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• When forwarding emails to multiple people, use the BCC field to protect the privacy of everyone involved.
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