Clean Forward - Gmail Add-on

Transform messy email threads into beautifully formatted, chronological conversations.

Clean Forward is a Gmail add-on that strips quoted text, reply headers, and signatures from email threads, then presents them in a clean, timeline-style format. Perfect for forwarding long conversations without the clutter.

✨ Features

• Smart Quote Removal: Automatically strips quoted text, reply headers, and email signatures
• Timeline View: Beautiful, chronological display with visual timeline dots
• Participant Summary: Shows all unique participants in the conversation
• Attachment De-duplication: Collects all attachments without duplicates
• URL Linkification: Automatically converts URLs to clickable links
• Clean Formatting: Preserves lists, structure, and intentional formatting
• One-Click Access: Opens draft directly from the add-on
• Modern Design: Professional, readable layout with consistent styling

📸 Screenshots

Before

Cluttered email with quoted text, reply headers, and signatures taking up most of the space.

After

Clean, timeline-style conversation showing only the important content from each participant.

🚀 Installation

Prerequisites

• A Google account with Gmail access
• clasp installed (npm install -g @google/clasp)

Setup

1. Clone the repository

   git clone https://github.com/573dave/clean-forward-gmail.git
   cd clean-forward-gmail

2. Login to clasp

   clasp login

3. Create a new Google Apps Script project

   clasp create --type standalone --title "Clean Forward"

4. Push the code

   clasp push

5. Deploy the add-on

   clasp deploy

6. Enable the add-on in Gmail

   • Open the Google Apps Script dashboard
   • Find your "Clean Forward" project
   • Click "Deploy" → "Test deployments"
   • Install the test deployment

Alternative Installation (No clasp required)

If you prefer not to use clasp, you can set up the add-on directly in the browser:

1. Create a new Apps Script project

   • Visit script.new in your browser
   • This creates a new Google Apps Script project

2. Rename the project

   • Click "Untitled project" at the top
   • Rename it to "Clean Forward"

3. Enable manifest file visibility

   • Click the gear icon (Project Settings) in the left sidebar
   • Check the box "Show appsscript.json in editor"

4. Add the main code file

   • In the editor, you should see Code.gs
   • Copy the entire contents of src/Code.js from this repository
   • Paste it into the Code.gs file, replacing any existing content
   • Save with Ctrl+S (Windows/Linux) or Cmd+S (Mac)

5. Update the manifest

   • Click on appsscript.json in the left sidebar
   • Copy the entire contents of src/appsscript.json from this repository
   • Paste it into the appsscript.json file, replacing any existing content
   • Save with Ctrl+S (Windows/Linux) or Cmd+S (Mac)

6. Deploy the add-on

   • Click "Deploy" → "Test deployments" at the top right
   • Click "Install" to install the test deployment
   • Authorize the app when prompted (it needs Gmail access)

7. Use the add-on

   • Open Gmail
   • Open any email thread
   • Look for the "Clean Forward" icon in the right sidebar
   • Click it to start using the add-on!

💡 Usage

1. Open any email thread in Gmail
2. Click the "Clean Forward" icon in the sidebar
3. Click "Create clean forward draft"
4. Click "View Draft" to open your cleaned-up email
5. Edit and send as needed!

The add-on will:

• Remove all quoted text and reply headers
• Sort messages chronologically (oldest to newest)
• Display each message in a clean card format
• Include a participant summary at the top
• Preserve and de-duplicate all attachments
• Convert URLs to clickable links

🏗️ Architecture

Core Components

• buildAddOn(e): Entry point that builds the Gmail sidebar UI
• createCleanForwardFromContext(e): Main action handler for draft creation
• stripQuotedText_(plainBody): Core text cleaning engine
• createCleanForwardDraftFromThread_(thread): Processes thread and generates HTML
• cleanUnicodeArtifacts_(text): Handles encoding issues and emoji
• collapseSoftLineBreaks_(text): Preserves intentional formatting

Text Processing Pipeline

1. Unicode Normalization: cleanUnicodeArtifacts_
2. Plain Text Cleanup: cleanPlainTextArtifacts_
3. Quote Detection: stripQuotedText_ with 20+ regex patterns
4. Structure Preservation: collapseSoftLineBreaks_
5. HTML Generation: textToHtml_ with URL linkification

🎨 Customization

Styling

The HTML output uses inline styles for maximum compatibility. To customize the appearance, edit the CSS in createCleanForwardDraftFromThread_():

• Colors: Modify the color hex codes (e.g., #2563eb for blue accent)
• Fonts: Change the font-family stack
• Spacing: Adjust padding and margin values
• Timeline: Customize the dot size and colors in dotColor

Quote Detection

To add custom quote patterns, update the REGEX_PATTERNS_ object:

const REGEX_PATTERNS_ = {
  // Add your custom pattern
  customPattern: /^your regex here$/i,
  // ... existing patterns
};

Then add detection logic in stripQuotedText_().

🔧 Development

Project Structure

clean-forward-gmail/
├── src/
│   ├── Code.js             # Main add-on code
│   └── appsscript.json     # Add-on manifest
├── .clasp.json             # Clasp configuration
├── .gitignore              # Git ignore rules
├── LICENSE                 # MIT License
├── README.md               # This file
└── CONTRIBUTING.md         # Contribution guidelines

Commands

# Push code to Google Apps Script
clasp push

# Pull latest from Google Apps Script
clasp pull

# Open project in browser
clasp open

# View logs
clasp logs

Testing

1. Make changes to src/Code.js
2. Run clasp push to deploy
3. Test in Gmail by opening an email thread
4. Check logs with clasp logs if issues occur

🤝 Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please see CONTRIBUTING.md for guidelines.

Areas for Improvement

• Support for inline replies (extracting text between quotes)
• Optional LLM integration for even smarter cleaning
• Customizable styling via user preferences
• Support for multiple languages
• Thread summarization for very long conversations
• Export to other formats (Markdown, PDF)

📋 Requirements

• Google Workspace account (personal Gmail works too)
• Gmail enabled
• Google Apps Script access

OAuth Scopes

The add-on requires the following scopes:

• gmail.addons.execute - Run as a Gmail add-on
• gmail.readonly - Read email threads
• gmail.compose - Create draft emails

🐛 Known Issues

• Very long threads (100+ messages) may take a few seconds to process
• Some exotic email clients may have unrecognized quote patterns
• Attachments are de-duplicated by name+size (not content hash)

📜 License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.

👤 Author

573dave

• GitHub: @573dave

🙏 Acknowledgments

• Built with Google Apps Script
• Deployed with clasp

📞 Support

If you encounter issues or have questions:

1. Check the Issues page
2. Create a new issue with details about your problem
3. Include:
   • Steps to reproduce
   • Expected vs actual behavior
   • Screenshot if applicable
   • Logs from clasp logs

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Made with ❤️ for everyone tired of forwarding messy email threads