Abstract: A method, article, and system for providing a sender of an electronic mail message (hereafter referred to as email) a means to specify to a recipient a reply length constraint for the text body of the reply message, as well as criteria for the size, number, and type of allowed attachments associated with the reply message. The sender specified reply length constraints for the text message body can be stated in terms of number of lines, number of sentences, and/or by word count. The sender reply attachment constraints can be specified in terms of number of attachment files, maximum size per attachment, and/or receiver supported file types. The method includes having the sender determine the desired reply message constraints or parameters prior to sending out a message, and appending the constraint parameters to the outgoing email.