The Gmail API uses Thread
resources
to group email replies with their original message into a single conversation or
thread. This allows you to retrieve all messages in a conversation, in order,
making it easier to have context for a message or to refine search results.
Like messages, threads may also have labels applied to them. However, unlike messages, threads cannot be created, only deleted. Messages can, however, be inserted into a thread.
Contents
Retrieving threads
Threads provide a simple way of retrieving messages in a conversation in order.
By listing a set of threads you can choose to group messages by conversation
and provide additional context. You can retrieve a list of threads using the
threads.list
method, or retrieve
a specific thread with
threads.get
. You can also
filter threads using the same query parameters as
for the Message
resource. If any
message in a thread matches the query, that thread is returned in the result.
The code sample below demonstrates how to use both methods in a sample that
displays the most chatty threads in your inbox. The threads.list
method
fetches all thread IDs, then threads.get
grabs all messages in each thread.
For those with 3 or more replies, we extract the Subject
line and display the
non-empty ones plus the number of messages in the thread. You'll also find this
code sample featured in the corresponding DevByte video.
Python
Adding drafts and messages to threads
If you are sending or migrating messages that are a response to another email or part of a conversation, your application should add that message to the related thread. This makes it easier for Gmail users who are participating in the conversation to keep the message in context.
A draft can be added to a thread as part of creating, updating, or sending a draft message. You can also add a message to a thread as part of inserting or sending a message.
In order to be part of a thread, a message or draft must meet the following criteria:
- The requested
threadId
must be specified on theMessage
orDraft.Message
you supply with your request. - The
References
andIn-Reply-To
headers must be set in compliance with the RFC 2822 standard. - The
Subject
headers must match.
Take a look at the creating a draft or sending a
message examples. In both cases, you would simply
add a threadId
key paired with a thread ID to a message's metadata, the
message
object.