Gmail ignores reply-to header when responding to emails

Other Questions Gmail
1

I’m having trouble with Gmail not using the reply-to header correctly. I set up my ContactMailer like this:

def send_message(contact_form)
  mail(
    from: "[email protected]",
    to: "[email protected]", 
    subject: "New contact message",
    reply_to: contact_form.user.email_address
  )
end

The emails get delivered fine using my [email protected] account. When I check the email headers after receiving it, everything looks correct:

from: [email protected]
reply-to: [email protected]  
to: [email protected]

But here’s the weird part - when I click the reply button in Gmail, the recipient field shows “[email protected]” instead of “[email protected]” like it should. Is there something wrong with my setup or is this a Gmail issue?

2

gmail does this when the reply-to domain is different from the sender domain. its a security feature - gmail flags it as suspicious. try using a subdomain like [email protected] instead of noreply. that usually helps. also, check your dmarc policy isn’t too strict.

3

I encountered a similar issue with Gmail and its handling of reply-to headers. It seems that Gmail prioritizes the domain’s reputation over the header information when the sender is a noreply address. To resolve this, I changed the sender to a real email address, ensuring that emails come from [email protected] instead. This adjustment improved how Gmail recognized the reply-to header. Additionally, make sure your SPF and DKIM records are set up correctly; if email authentication fails, Gmail may ignore your specified headers.

4

This sounds like a Gmail client issue, not your code. I’ve seen this before - Gmail’s web interface sometimes caches reply addresses or has delays processing the reply-to header properly. Try refreshing your Gmail tab or logging out and back in. Also check if you’ve got any Gmail filters or rules that might be messing with reply-to processing. Test the same email in Outlook or Apple Mail to see if the reply-to header works there. If it works in other clients but not Gmail, then it’s definitely Gmail being weird, not your mailer setup.