Whether I reply to or forward a message I only get a "reply arrow" (purple left-pointing arrow) depicted. So I can't differentiate between the two. I can tell I did something, but not specifically what.  I am not super knowledgeable about configuring Outlook so please answer with that in mind.

Hello,

I think your forward button/ribbon has been disabled because Forward button appears with the blue color arrow like Reply has violet color. So to enable the Forward button you need to customize the standard menu bar, and to do so, below are the mentioned steps:

• Right click on the Reply button.
• Click on Customise the ribbon.
• Click the main tab where you want to create the forward button.
• After that right click on the following button and click New group.
• After it rename as Forward.
• Then a blue arrow button with the name forward, will appear in your menu bar.

This is how you can also add or delete multiple buttons in Microsoft Outlook 2010.

Regards
Clark Kent

• Proposed as answer by Melon Chen CHNMicrosoft contingent staff, Moderator Monday, February 23, 2015 2:41 AM
• Marked as answer by Melon Chen CHNMicrosoft contingent staff, Moderator Tuesday, February 24, 2015 2:59 AM

Hi,

As we can see from this image below, the Reply button is purple and the Forward button is blue in Outlook 2010:

May I know how you clicked the button? I mean, you right clicked the message and selected "Reply", or opened the message and clicked the "Reply" button in the ribbon?

If the issue is you have a same icon for "Reply" and "Forward" button in Outlook, please answer the question above and provide a screenshot of the issue. To protect your private information, please send it to our email address:

ibsofc@microsoft.com

I'm not sure if the assumption from Clark was correct, but we can try the suggestion if it was your scenario.

Regards,

Melon Chen
TechNet Community Support

I have the same issue.  I have the icon displayed in Melon's answer.  Tool bar shows both reply and forward buttons active.  I have the email message highlighted in my inbox list of messages.  I left click on the forward button, an email window opens with the "FW" designator.  Type my message, it send, and instead of a blue arrow, I get a purple arrow displaying on the message in the list.