Getting Started with Email Sharing: A Complete Guide
Sharing emails has never been easier. Whether you need to share a newsletter with your team, forward a receipt to your accountant, showcase a beautifully designed email campaign, or document an important client communication, EmailShot makes it possible with just one click.
This guide walks you through everything you need to know — from installing EmailShot to creating your first shareable link and exploring the advanced features that make email sharing secure and private.
Why Share Emails?
Email remains the backbone of business communication. Yet sharing an email with someone outside the conversation has always been surprisingly difficult. Let's look at the common scenarios where email sharing matters.
Team Collaboration
When a client sends an important request, your whole team might need to see it — not just the person on the To line. Traditionally, you'd forward the email, cluttering everyone's inbox with yet another message. With EmailShot, you generate a link and paste it in Slack, Jira, or your team wiki. Everyone sees the same email, in its original formatting, without the inbox noise.
Record Keeping
Receipts, booking confirmations, shipping notifications, contract approvals — these transactional emails often need to be shared or stored outside your inbox. EmailShot creates permanent, shareable links that preserve the full email content, including attachments. Share a link with your accountant, or save it in your records alongside the relevant project.
Showcasing Email Design
If you're an email marketer or designer, showcasing your work is a constant challenge. Static screenshots don't do justice to responsive designs, and asking someone to "check their inbox" for a test email is clunky. EmailShot lets you create a shareable link to any email, so stakeholders can view your design in their browser — exactly as it would appear in an inbox.
Customer Support
Support teams frequently need to share customer email threads with engineering, product, or management for context. Instead of forwarding long chains (which often get truncated or reformatted), share an EmailShot link. The recipient sees the full email in seconds, without any forwarding artifacts.
Legal and Compliance
In some industries, preserving the exact content of an email — headers, timestamps, and all — is essential for compliance. EmailShot preserves the complete email structure, making it suitable for documentation and audit trails.
How EmailShot Works
EmailShot is a Gmail add-on that creates a shareable link for any email in your inbox. Here's what happens behind the scenes:
- You select an email in Gmail and click the EmailShot icon
- EmailShot processes that specific email (and only that email — it never accesses your entire inbox)
- A unique, secure URL is generated
- You copy and share that URL with anyone
The recipient clicks the link and sees the email content on a nicely formatted single page — no Gmail account required, no login needed. The email appears with its original formatting, images, links, and even attachments.
Step-by-Step: Creating Your First EmailShot
Step 1: Install the Add-on
Head to the Google Workspace Marketplace and install EmailShot. The installation takes less than 30 seconds and works with all Gmail accounts, including personal (@gmail.com) and Google Workspace (business) accounts.
For organizations that want to roll out EmailShot to the entire team, administrators can perform a domain-wide installation from the Workspace admin console.
Step 2: Open Any Email
Navigate to the email you want to share in Gmail. On desktop, you'll see the EmailShot icon in the add-on panel on the right side of your screen. If the panel is collapsed, click the small arrow or the add-ons icon to expand it.
On mobile, the add-on appears at the bottom of the email — see our mobile sharing guide for detailed instructions.
Step 3: Configure Sharing Options
Before generating the link, you can customize several sharing options:
- Retention period: Choose how long the shared email remains accessible — from 24 hours to indefinitely
- Privacy settings: Anonymize the sender and/or recipient information if needed
- Password protection: Add a password for an extra layer of security on sensitive emails
These settings can be configured per-email, or you can set defaults in the add-on's general settings page.
Step 4: Click to Share
Click the EmailShot icon (or the "Create" button), and a shareable link is generated instantly. The link is copied to your clipboard and ready to paste anywhere — Slack, WhatsApp, Jira, Google Docs, email, or any other platform.
That's it. Four steps, a few seconds, and your email is shareable.
What the Recipient Sees
When someone clicks your EmailShot link, they see a clean, well-formatted page displaying:
- The email subject line prominently at the top
- Sender and recipient information (unless you've chosen to anonymize it)
- The date and time the email was sent
- The full email body with all original formatting, images, and styling preserved
- Attachments listed and available for download
- Interactive links — any links in the original email remain clickable
The page is responsive, so it looks great on desktop, tablet, and mobile browsers. No app download or account creation is needed to view an EmailShot.
Privacy and Security
Your privacy matters, and EmailShot is designed with security as a priority.
What EmailShot Accesses
EmailShot only processes the specific email you choose to share. It never:
- Scans your entire inbox
- Stores your Gmail credentials
- Reads emails you haven't explicitly chosen to share
- Shares data with third parties
You can review the specific OAuth scopes that EmailShot requests and why each one is needed.
Privacy Controls
EmailShot gives you granular control over what information is shared:
- Anonymize sender: Hide the sender's name and email address
- Anonymize recipients: Remove all To, CC, and BCC information
- Password protection: Require a password to view the shared email
- Expiration: Set the email to automatically become inaccessible after a set period
These controls make EmailShot suitable for sharing even sensitive communications, as long as you configure the appropriate settings.
Data Policy
EmailShot adheres to Google's API Services User Data Policy, including the Limited Use requirements. Your data is handled with care and in compliance with Google's strict guidelines.
Advanced Features
Once you're comfortable with basic email sharing, explore these advanced capabilities:
Smart Chips in Google Workspace
If your team uses Google Workspace, EmailShot links automatically convert to Smart Chips when pasted into Google Docs, Sheets, or Slides. This creates a rich inline preview showing the email's subject line, sender, and date — much more informative than a bare URL.
OpenGraph Previews
EmailShot links include OpenGraph metadata, which means they generate rich previews on platforms like Slack, WhatsApp, Notion, Twitter/X, LinkedIn, and more. When you paste an EmailShot link, the platform automatically shows a card with the email subject and a preview — no extra effort needed.
Sharing on Mobile
EmailShot works seamlessly on both iOS and Android through the Gmail app. Check out our dedicated guide on how to share emails on mobile devices for a detailed walkthrough.
Domain-Wide Deployment
For organizations, EmailShot can be installed domain-wide so every team member has instant access. This is ideal for teams that regularly share emails as part of their workflow.
Common Use Cases by Industry
Different industries use EmailShot in different ways:
| Industry | Common Use Case |
|---|---|
| Marketing | Sharing campaign emails, competitor newsletters, and design reviews |
| Sales | Sharing prospect responses, deal-related communications, and client sign-offs |
| Support | Escalating customer issues with full email context |
| Legal | Preserving email evidence, sharing communications with external counsel |
| HR | Documenting candidate communications, sharing policy acknowledgments |
| Finance | Sharing receipts, invoice confirmations, and vendor communications |
Frequently Asked Questions
Do recipients need a Gmail account to view shared emails? No. Anyone with the link can view the email in their browser — no account needed.
How long do shared emails stay available? It depends on the retention period you set when creating the EmailShot. Options range from 24 hours to indefinite.
Can I share emails with attachments? Yes! Attachments are preserved and downloadable from the shared email page.
Is EmailShot free? Yes, EmailShot is free to use. Install it now from the Google Workspace Marketplace.
What's Next?
Now that you know the basics, here are some resources to help you get more from EmailShot:
- Knowledge Base: Detailed documentation on every feature
- Email Sharing Best Practices for Teams: Optimize your team's email sharing workflow
- Creative Ways to Use Email Screenshots: Inspiration for getting more out of EmailShot
- How to Share Emails on Mobile: Step-by-step mobile guide
- FAQ: Answers to common questions
Share any email easily with a simple direct link in just one click.
Install EmailShot