Why does some email forwarded have this symbol before each sentence > and what is it called?

Why does some forwarded email begin with this symbol > and what is it called

It's called "greater than". It's a mathematical symbol. Used in inequality equations.

For example, 4 > 0. That reads as "four is greater than zero."

The reason some forwarded e-mails use it is to indent plain text of the original e-mail. This is to show what was in the original e-mail.

For more information:

Greater Than Symbol: Definition and additional resources from ZDNet (http://dictionary.zdnet.com/definition/greater+than+symbol.html)

Bracket - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bracket#Uses_of_.E2.80.9C.3C.E2.80.9D_and_.E2.80.9 C.3E.E2.80.9D)

It works kind of like the quote bbcode this forum uses

Email:
>Quoted text
>Usually from a reply
>sometimes from a forward

Actual text sent to you doesn't have those...


Forum:



Quoted text
Usually from a reply
Sometimes from a forward


Actual message doesn't have any formatting.