# How can I reply a message in the thread?
**URL:** https://forum.mattermost.com/t/how-can-i-reply-a-message-in-the-thread/21974
**Category:** Uncategorized
**Created:** [December 24, 2024, 3:14pm UTC](https://forum.mattermost.com/t/how-can-i-reply-a-message-in-the-thread/21974 "2024-12-24T15:14:13Z")
**Posts on this page:** 14
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@sanders](https://forum.mattermost.com/u/sanders)
#### Post date: [December 24, 2024, 3:14pm UTC](https://forum.mattermost.com/t/how-can-i-reply-a-message-in-the-thread/21974/1 "2024-12-24T15:14:13Z")
Good day! I’m investigating the features/abilities of Mattermost and I can not find how can I reply to the message within the thread. I can not see such button if I tap the message in the thread. I suppose to be able to create a new thread (replying the message) or have some visible elements, which will show my message is a reply to the some specific message in the thread.
Maybe I missed something?
And one more question: can I quote a message (or it’s part) in the thread while replying?
Thank you.
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### Author:  [@john.oliver](https://forum.mattermost.com/u/john.oliver)
#### Post date: [December 24, 2024, 5:36pm UTC](https://forum.mattermost.com/t/how-can-i-reply-a-message-in-the-thread/21974/2 "2024-12-24T17:36:58Z")
Mouse over the thread in question. A box will pop up at its upper-left corner like:
The arrow next to the three dots is reply.
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### Author:  [@sanders](https://forum.mattermost.com/u/sanders)
#### Post date: [December 25, 2024, 6:25am UTC](https://forum.mattermost.com/t/how-can-i-reply-a-message-in-the-thread/21974/3 "2024-12-25T06:25:41Z")
There is no such arrow for reply for the message in the thread. Here is the link to the message:[Mattermost](https://community.mattermost.com/core/pl/qjifpgou7tftjnypmw7eixty6y)
And here is the screenshot:
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### Author:  [@john.oliver](https://forum.mattermost.com/u/john.oliver)
#### Post date: [December 25, 2024, 2:53pm UTC](https://forum.mattermost.com/t/how-can-i-reply-a-message-in-the-thread/21974/4 "2024-12-25T14:53:58Z")
Interesting. I don’t have admin on our community instance so I can’t look into that there. I suspect it’s a permissions issue. Have you tried in Town Square or Off Topic? Open a direct message to me (I’m john.oliver there) and I’ll see if I can invite you in to a specific channel.
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### Author:  [@sanders](https://forum.mattermost.com/u/sanders)
#### Post date: [December 26, 2024, 6:45am UTC](https://forum.mattermost.com/t/how-can-i-reply-a-message-in-the-thread/21974/5 "2024-12-26T06:45:01Z")
The same thing with Off Topic channel. So, I don’t think it is a permissions issue:
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### Author:  [@gdelia-pm](https://forum.mattermost.com/u/gdelia-pm)
#### Post date: [December 26, 2024, 1:31pm UTC](https://forum.mattermost.com/t/how-can-i-reply-a-message-in-the-thread/21974/6 "2024-12-26T13:31:01Z")
Hey Sanders,
I think i understand what you’re looking for but I don’t think it’s possible. Threads are at a single depth, so you can’t thread within a thread. So in the case you showed, you have the option to reply in the thread, but you won’t see a button to create a thread for a specific comment already in that thread. This is because a message is a message, and you can create a thread from a message, but you can not create 2 threads from the same message, and one a comment is part of a thread, a second thread can’t be made from it.
I think the best you’d be able to do is copy text from the post you want to reply to, and then use the quote function to make it clear that it’s specifically what you were responding to. Then folks (or even you) could reply to that new standalone message as a thread should they choose.
TLDR, i don’t think it’s a permissions issue, just that nested threads don’t exist in Mattermost (this is the case for many chat apps).
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### Author:  [@john.oliver](https://forum.mattermost.com/u/john.oliver)
#### Post date: [December 30, 2024, 2:14pm UTC](https://forum.mattermost.com/t/how-can-i-reply-a-message-in-the-thread/21974/7 "2024-12-30T14:14:44Z")
@gdelia-pm great catch! You’re right… no nested replies.
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### Author:  [@thomasvanderwoude](https://forum.mattermost.com/u/thomasvanderwoude)
#### Post date: [January 30, 2025, 6:56pm UTC](https://forum.mattermost.com/t/how-can-i-reply-a-message-in-the-thread/21974/9 "2025-01-30T18:56:14Z")
It would be really helpful if there was a quote option. This is what most modern messaging apps seem to do when hitting reply.
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### Author:  [@john.oliver](https://forum.mattermost.com/u/john.oliver)
#### Post date: [January 30, 2025, 7:07pm UTC](https://forum.mattermost.com/t/how-can-i-reply-a-message-in-the-thread/21974/10 "2025-01-30T19:07:28Z")
@thomasvanderwoude you can suggest this at [General: Hot (1203 ideas) – Mattermost Feature Proposal Forum](https://mattermost.uservoice.com/forums/306457-general) I think it’s a great suggestion and will vote for it!
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### Author:  [@thomasvanderwoude](https://forum.mattermost.com/u/thomasvanderwoude)
#### Post date: [January 30, 2025, 7:11pm UTC](https://forum.mattermost.com/t/how-can-i-reply-a-message-in-the-thread/21974/11 "2025-01-30T19:11:42Z")
It is there already I see: [Add quote reply in addition to collapsed threads – Mattermost Feature Proposal Forum](https://mattermost.uservoice.com/forums/306457-general/suggestions/48581450-add-quote-reply-in-addition-to-collapsed-threads)
I added this suggestion:
> Maybe it would be better to replace ‘Reply’ with ‘Begin Thread’ and use ‘Reply’ for a quotation option, as modern messaging apps seem to do.
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### Author:  [@anamikapandeyyy](https://forum.mattermost.com/u/anamikapandeyyy)
#### Post date: [January 31, 2025, 12:41pm UTC](https://forum.mattermost.com/t/how-can-i-reply-a-message-in-the-thread/21974/12 "2025-01-31T12:41:29Z")
ok i get it now
Threads are at a single depth, so you can’t thread within a thread.
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### Author:  [@almaceleste](https://forum.mattermost.com/u/almaceleste)
#### Post date: [April 14, 2025, 12:11pm UTC](https://forum.mattermost.com/t/how-can-i-reply-a-message-in-the-thread/21974/13 "2025-04-14T12:11:25Z")
There is a crooked, but more or less working way to tag a message you are replying to.
You need to copy the link to the tagged message, you are replying to, and paste the link into a new message.
As a result, it will look like a preview of the tagged message, and when you click on this preview, the tagged message will be highlighted.
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### Author:  [@rtfm98](https://forum.mattermost.com/u/rtfm98)
#### Post date: [April 14, 2025, 5:40pm UTC](https://forum.mattermost.com/t/how-can-i-reply-a-message-in-the-thread/21974/14 "2025-04-14T17:40:08Z")
> [@almaceleste](#):
>
> As a result, it will look like a preview of the tagged message
This has to be enabled in the System Console, depending on the actual config and the default values in config.json
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### Author:  [@ZILosoft](https://forum.mattermost.com/u/ZILosoft)
#### Post date: [March 16, 2026, 7:47pm UTC](https://forum.mattermost.com/t/how-can-i-reply-a-message-in-the-thread/21974/15 "2026-03-16T19:47:29Z")
Hi everyone,
I built a plugin to solve a pain point I kept running into in Mattermost: quoting a specific message or even a selected fragment of a message when replying.
It adds:
- a `Quote` action near the post actions
- quote-by-selection for highlighted text
- support for both center channel replies and RHS thread replies
- optional source links from the quote back to the original post
- admin settings for button labels, selection popup, and link behavior
Repo:
> **[GitHub - ZILosoft/mattermost-reply](https://github.com/ZILosoft/mattermost-reply)**
>
> Contribute to ZILosoft/mattermost-reply development by creating an account on GitHub.
If this workflow has been painful for you too, feel free to try it, open issues, or suggest improvements.