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Reply & Forward Email Tools

This document describes the reply_email and forward_email tools for the EWS MCP Server.

Overview

These tools enable AI assistants to reply to and forward emails while preserving:

  • Full email body content (including conversation threads)
  • Inline images (signatures with logos, embedded images)
  • Proper header formatting (Outlook-style)
  • Conversation threading metadata

reply_email Tool

Description

Reply to an existing email while preserving the conversation thread. Uses Exchange's built-in reply mechanism to maintain In-Reply-To headers, conversation ID, and thread relationship.

Parameters

Parameter Type Required Description
message_id string Yes The Exchange message ID of the email to reply to
body string Yes The reply body (HTML supported)
reply_all boolean No If true, reply to all recipients; if false, reply only to sender (default: false)
attachments array No File paths to attach to the reply
target_mailbox string No Email address to reply from (requires impersonation/delegate access)

Response

{
  "status": "success",
  "message": "Reply sent successfully",
  "original_subject": "Original Email Subject",
  "reply_to": ["sender@example.com"],
  "reply_all": false,
  "attachments_count": 0,
  "inline_attachments_preserved": 2,
  "mailbox": "user@example.com"
}

Example Usage

# Simple reply
reply_email(
    message_id="AAMkADc3MWUy...",
    body="Thank you for your email. I'll review and get back to you."
)

# Reply all with HTML
reply_email(
    message_id="AAMkADc3MWUy...",
    body="<p>Sounds good! I'm <b>available</b> on Tuesday.</p>",
    reply_all=True
)

# Reply with attachment
reply_email(
    message_id="AAMkADc3MWUy...",
    body="Please find the updated document attached.",
    attachments=["/path/to/document.pdf"]
)

# Reply on behalf of another user (impersonation)
reply_email(
    message_id="AAMkADc3MWUy...",
    body="Thank you for contacting our team.",
    target_mailbox="shared@company.com"
)

forward_email Tool

Description

Forward an existing email to new recipients while preserving the original content, formatting, and attachments.

Parameters

Parameter Type Required Description
message_id string Yes The Exchange message ID of the email to forward
to array Yes List of recipient email addresses
body string No Optional message to add before the forwarded content
cc array No CC recipients
bcc array No BCC recipients
attachments array No Additional file paths to attach
target_mailbox string No Email address to forward from (requires impersonation/delegate access)

Response

{
  "status": "success",
  "message": "Email forwarded successfully",
  "original_subject": "Original Email Subject",
  "forwarded_to": ["recipient@example.com"],
  "cc": null,
  "bcc": null,
  "attachments_included": 3,
  "inline_attachments_preserved": 2,
  "additional_attachments": 1,
  "mailbox": "user@example.com"
}

Example Usage

# Simple forward
forward_email(
    message_id="AAMkADc3MWUy...",
    to=["colleague@company.com"]
)

# Forward with a message
forward_email(
    message_id="AAMkADc3MWUy...",
    to=["manager@company.com"],
    body="FYI - Please see the email below regarding the project update."
)

# Forward to multiple recipients with CC
forward_email(
    message_id="AAMkADc3MWUy...",
    to=["team-lead@company.com"],
    cc=["team@company.com"],
    body="<p>Please review the attached proposal.</p>"
)

# Forward with additional attachment
forward_email(
    message_id="AAMkADc3MWUy...",
    to=["client@external.com"],
    body="Here's the information you requested, along with our latest brochure.",
    attachments=["/path/to/brochure.pdf"]
)

# Forward on behalf of another user (impersonation)
forward_email(
    message_id="AAMkADc3MWUy...",
    to=["recipient@company.com"],
    target_mailbox="shared@company.com"
)

Header Formatting

Both tools format headers in Outlook-style:

HTML Format

<hr style="border: none; border-top: 1px solid #ccc; margin: 20px 0;">
<div style="color: #1f497d; font-family: Calibri, Arial, sans-serif;">
<b>From:</b> John Doe <john.doe@company.com><br>
<b>Sent:</b> Sunday, December 07, 2025 10:30:45 AM<br>
<b>To:</b> Jane Smith <jane.smith@company.com>; Bob Wilson <bob@company.com><br>
<b>Cc:</b> Team Lead <lead@company.com><br>
<b>Subject:</b> Project Update
</div>
<br>
[Original email body here]

Plain Text Format

────────────────────────────────────────
From: John Doe <john.doe@company.com>
Sent: Sunday, December 07, 2025 10:30:45 AM
To: Jane Smith <jane.smith@company.com>; Bob Wilson <bob@company.com>
Cc: Team Lead <lead@company.com>
Subject: Project Update

[Original email body here]

Inline Image Preservation

Email signatures and embedded images are preserved correctly:

How It Works

  1. Original email contains inline images referenced by cid: (Content-ID):

    <img src="cid:image001.png@01DC676B.768520B0">

  2. When forwarding/replying, the tools copy attachments with:

    • content_id - The unique identifier for cid: references
    • is_inline - Flag marking the attachment as embedded

  3. The recipient sees the images inline, not as broken icons

Supported Elements

  • Company logos in signatures
  • Social media icons
  • Certification badges
  • Personal photos
  • Any embedded image

Conversation Threading

Both tools preserve conversation metadata:

Metadata Description
In-Reply-To References the original message ID
References Chain of message IDs in the conversation
Conversation-ID Exchange's conversation tracking ID
Thread-Index Thread position indicator

This ensures emails appear correctly grouped in:

  • Outlook conversation view
  • Gmail threading
  • Apple Mail threads
  • Most email clients

RTL (Right-to-Left) Support

Full support for Arabic, Hebrew, and other RTL languages:

  • Original RTL formatting is preserved
  • Headers maintain proper direction
  • Unicode characters display correctly

Error Handling

Common Errors

Error Cause Solution
message_id is required Missing message ID Provide a valid message ID
body is required Empty reply body Provide reply content
to recipients are required No forward recipients Specify at least one recipient
Message not found Invalid message ID Verify the message exists
Attachment file not found Invalid file path Check the attachment path
Permission denied File read error Check file permissions
Impersonation not enabled Missing config Enable impersonation in .env

Best Practices

1. Use HTML for Rich Content

reply_email(
    message_id="...",
    body="<p>I <b>agree</b> with the proposal.</p><ul><li>Point 1</li><li>Point 2</li></ul>"
)

2. Check Message ID Before Reply/Forward

# First get the message details
details = get_email_details(message_id="...")

# Then reply
reply_email(message_id=details["message_id"], body="...")

3. Use Reply All Carefully

# Only use reply_all when all original recipients need the response
reply_email(
    message_id="...",
    body="...",
    reply_all=True  # Everyone on the original email will receive this
)

4. Add Context When Forwarding

forward_email(
    message_id="...",
    to=["manager@company.com"],
    body="For your review - this relates to the budget discussion from last week."
)

Technical Details

Body Extraction

The tools correctly extract HTML content from Exchange's HTMLBody object:

# Exchange returns: message.body (HTMLBody object)
# Actual content is: message.body.body (string)

def extract_body_html(message):
    body = message.body
    if hasattr(body, 'body') and body.body:
        return body.body  # The actual HTML string
    return str(body) if body else ""

Attachment Copying

Attachments are copied with all properties preserved:

new_attachment = FileAttachment(
    name=original.name,
    content=original.content,
    content_type=original.content_type,
    content_id=original.content_id,    # For cid: references
    is_inline=original.is_inline       # Embedded vs attached
)

See Also