Gmail
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What you can do with Gmail
What you can do with Gmail
With Gmail, your email is stored safely in the cloud. You can get to messages from any computer or device with a web browser. If your administrator allows, you can join or start a video meeting in Google Meet right from Gmail. Add Google Chat to your Gmail inbox and get all the features of Chat directly in Gmail. You can also quickly organize and find important email, as well as read and draft email without an internet connection.
Create and send email
Create and send email
On your computer, go to Gmail.
At the top left, click Compose.
In the "To" field, add recipients. You can also add recipients:
In the "Cc" and "Bcc" fields.
When you compose a message, with a "+ sign" or "@mention" and the contact's name in the text field.
Add a subject.
Write your message.
At the bottom of the page, click Send.
Tip: To add individual recipients and groups of contacts you created with labels, click To:.
Compose in a new window and resize
Compose in a new window and resize
Tip: To open the Compose window with a keyboard shortcut, just type c.
On your computer, go to Gmail.
On the left, click Compose.
(Optional) Choose a window size with the buttons in the top right:
Full screen
Exit full screen
Open in a new window Shift +
Add a subject and recipients (To, Cc, or Bcc).
Turn off conversation view
Turn off conversation view
When people reply to an email, Gmail groups responses together in conversations with the newest email on the bottom. However, if you prefer to list messages separately, you can turn Conversation view off. You can switch back at any time.
Open Gmail.
At the top right, click Settings See all settings.
Scroll to Conversation view.
Select Conversation view on or Conversation view off.
Reply and forward
Reply and forward
Change recipients or subjects
Change recipients or subjects
Add and remove recipients
Add and remove recipients
When composing your reply:
Add recipients—Click the To field and enter the recipient's email address.
Remove recipients—Next to the person's email address, click Remove .
Tip: You can also add a recipient in the body of an email, by typing + and the contact's name.
Edit an email subject
Edit an email subject
Next to Type of response , click the Down arrow Edit subject.
Enter a new subject.
Print an email
Print an email
If there are multiple emails within the same conversation, you can print just one of those emails.
On your computer, go to Gmail.
Open the email you want to print.
At the top right of the email, click More .
Click Print.
Save attachments
Save attachments
When you get an email with attachments...
See a full-screen view and print
See a full-screen view and print
Click the attachment to open a full-screen view. To print, click Print .
Download an attachment to your computer
Download an attachment to your computer
On your computer, go to Gmail.
Open a message.
At the bottom of the message, hover over the attachment.
Click Download .
Tips:
If you use Google Chrome, learn how to download a file on Chrome.
Your browser saves attachments to a download folder. Check your browser’s settings to find your downloads.
If your computer supports it, you can also drag photos and attachments to your desktop.
In other email programs, you might have stored email in folders. In Gmail, you use labels to categorize your email. Labels are like folders, but with a twist—you can apply several labels to an email, then later find the email by clicking any of its labels from the left panel. You can also search by label.
Use labels to...
Use labels to...
Track the status of people's tasks. For example, create the labels Laura: In Progress and Laura: Done to indicate email that Laura is working on or has completed.
Organize email by nesting labels like subfolders. For example, create the label Tasks. Under Tasks, create nested labels by person.
Identify email that needs follow-up.
Identify email that can be read later.
Creating Labels (Folders)
Creating Labels (Folders)
Create a label
On your computer, go to Gmail.
On the left, scroll down, then click More.
Click Create new label.
Name your label.
Click Create.
Label messages in your inbox
Label messages in your inbox
On your computer, go to Gmail.
Select the messages.
At the top, click Labels.
Select a label, or create a new one.
Create rules to filter your email
Create rules to filter your email
You can manage your incoming mail using Gmail’s filters for example, to send email to a label, or automatically archive, delete, or star incoming mail.
Open Gmail.
In the search box at the top, click Show search options .
Enter your search criteria. If you want to check that your search worked correctly, see what emails show up by clicking Search.
At the bottom of the search window, click Create filter.
Choose what you’d like the filter to do.
Click Create filter.
Note: When you create a filter to forward messages, only new messages will be affected. Additionally, when someone replies to a message you've filtered, the reply will only be filtered if it meets the same search criteria.
Tip: Try these Gmail filters for work.
Star important email
Star important email
When you star email in Gmail, you mark them as important. This helps you remember to look at them later.
Star an email
Star an email
On your computer, open Gmail.
From your inbox, go to the left of the message, then click Star . If the message is open, click More Add Star.
If you have multiple stars, keep clicking the star icon until you see the one you want to use.
See your starred messages
See your starred messages
On your computer, open Gmail.
On the left side of the page, click Starred. You may need to click More first.
Tip: To find starred messages, you can also use search operators in Gmail.
To find all starred messages, enter is:starred.
To find messages with a specific star, enter has: followed by the star's name. The names are based on your current star options in use:
has:yellow-star
has:orange-star
has:red-star
has:purple-star
has:blue-star
has:green-star
has:red-bang
has:orange-guillemet
has:yellow-bang
has:green-check
has:blue-info
has:purple-question
Use filters when you search
Use filters when you search
You can use filters at the beginning of your search or after you've searched to narrow your results. Below are the available search filters and what they do. You can combine multiple filters to narrow your search.
Label
Search for anything within a certain label you’ve created.
From
Search for anything that was sent from a certain email address.
To
Search for anything that you sent to a certain email address.
Attachment
Search for anything that has an attachment included or has a specific type of attachment like Google Docs, Google Sheets, or a PDF.
Date
Search for anything that was sent from a certain date range or specific date.
Is unread
Search for anything that is currently marked as “unread”.
Search for messages
Search for messages
Search your email, chats, or spaces
Search your email, chats, or spaces
Open Gmail.
At the top, in the search box, enter your search criteria.
Press Enter.
(Chat in Gmail enabled only) Choose where to search by clicking Mail, Conversations, or Spaces:
Mail searches your email.
Conversations searches existing messages in chats and spaces.
Spaces searches the names of spaces that you have joined and spaces that you can join.
Narrow your email search
Narrow your email search
At the top of your inbox, search for one or more keywords that appear anywhere in the email—in the subject, body, or sender name.
If you’re looking for something specific, click Show search options to use advanced search.
Example: Search for:
Senders—Example: From:(sam@your-company.com)
Date ranges—Example: after:2019/3/29 before:2019/4/5
Keywords—Example: Company confidential
Message attributes, such as attachments—Example: has:attachment
For using Advanced search options & operators please check:
Archive email instead of deleting
Archive email instead of deleting
Archived email messages move out of your inbox but stay under All Mail, so that you can find them later.
Archive an email
Archive an email
On your computer, open Gmail.
Open the message you want to archive.
At the top, click Archive .
Tips:
To archive multiple messages, click the box next to each message Archive .
To archive a message with keyboard shortcuts, press E. Learn more about keyboard shortcuts.
Find archived messages
Find archived messages
Important: When you search in Gmail, your results include archived messages. Learn more about search in Gmail.
On your computer, open Gmail.
On the left, click More.
Click All Mail.
Delete email permanently
Delete email permanently
When you delete a message, it stays in your trash for 30 days. After 30 days, the message is permanently deleted from your account and can't be recovered.
On your computer, go to Gmail.
On the left of each message you want to delete, check the box.
At the top, click Delete .
Choose your inbox type
You can...
Choose your inbox type
You can...
Sort less relevant emails onto tabs
Sort important, unread, or starred messages to the top
Sort emails by priority
Use multiple inboxes
On your computer, go to Gmail.
Click Settings .
Under "Inbox type," select:
Default
Important first
Unread first
Starred first
Priority Inbox
Multiple Inboxes
If you want to... Get tabs at the top of your inbox for sorting promotions, social notifications, and other less-relevant mail out of your primary inbox.
Choose: Default Inbox type ..... Learn how at the Gmail Help Center
If you want to... Split your inbox into two sections: "Important" at the top, and "Everything else" at the bottom.
Choose: Important first
If you want to... Split your inbox into two sections: "Unread" at the top, and "Everything else" at the bottom
Choose: Unread first
If you want to... Split your inbox into two sections: "Starred" at the top, and "Everything else" at the bottom
Choose: Starred first
If you want to... Let Gmail sort and prioritize your email for you
Choose: Priority Inbox
Learn how:
If you want to... Sort emails into separate inboxes, such as for:
Tasks that need to be done today, tomorrow
Emails from certain people, such as your manager or an important customer
Emails from different account
Choose: Multiple Inboxes
Learn how:
Add your profile picture
Add your profile picture
Open Gmail.
At the top right, click your profile picture.
Click Manage your Google Account.
At left, click Personal info.
Under Basic info, click your profile picture.
Select a photo.
(Optional) Crop the photo.
Click Set as profile photo.
Create a signature
Create a signature
Open Gmail.
At the top right, click Settings See all settings.
In the General tab, scroll to Signature and click Create new.
Name your signature, then click Create.
This name is not your actual signature, but is a name for the signature template.In the text box at the right, add your signature text.
(Optional) To add text colors, links, and images, use the format bar.
At the bottom, click Save Changes.
Set up Gmail notifications
Set up Gmail notifications
At the top right, click Settings See all settings.
Scroll down to the Desktop notifications section.
Click Click here to enable desktop notifications for <your organization>.
Select New mail notifications on or Important mail notifications on.
At the bottom of the page, click Save Changes.
Notifications appear on Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, and Apple Safari when you're signed in to Gmail and have it open.
Set up Gmail to use without an Internet connection
Set up Gmail to use without an Internet connection
Chrome Browser only
You can read, respond to, and search your Gmail messages even when you aren't connected to the Internet by visiting mail.google.com.
Enable Gmail offline
Enable Gmail offline
This feature must be enabled by your administrator. If you are an admin, see Use Gmail offline in your organization.
On your computer, make sure you've downloaded Chrome. You can only use Gmail offline in a Chrome browser window, not using Incognito mode.
Go to Gmail offline settings.
Check "Enable offline mail."
Choose your settings, such as how many days of messages you want to sync.
Click Save changes.
Enable Gmail offline on each device for which you want offline access.
Use your vacation responder (Out Of Office)
Use your vacation responder (Out Of Office)
Open Gmail .
At the top right, click Settings See all settings.
Scroll down to Vacation responder and select Vacation responder on or Vacation responder off.
If you turned on the vacation responder, enter the dates you're away and add a message. Then, select who should get a response.
At the bottom, click Save Changes.
Recall an email you just sent
Recall an email you just sent
If you decide you don't want to send an email, you have a short time after to cancel it. Right after you send a message, you can retract it:
Recall an email with Undo Send
In the bottom left, you'll see "Message sent" and the option to "Undo" or "View message".
Click Undo.
Choose an amount of time to recall a message
On your computer, go to Gmail.
In the top right, click Settings See all settings.
Next to "Undo Send," select a Send cancellation period of 5, 10, 20, or 30 seconds.
At the bottom, click Save changes.
Send pre-written emails with email templates
Send pre-written emails with email templates
Tired of typing the same reply every time someone sends you email with a common question? Compose your reply once and save the email as a template. You can also include your signature. Later, you can open the template and send it again with just a few clicks.
Note: Email templates are available only in Gmail on the web. Templates aren't available in Gmail mobile apps.
Enable templates
Open Gmail.
At the top right, click Settings See all settings.
At the top, click Advanced.
In the Templates section, select Enable.
At the bottom, click Save Changes.
Create or change a template
Open Gmail and click Compose.
In the Compose window, enter your template text.
Click More Templates.
Choose an option:
To create a new template, click Save draft as templateSave as new template.
To change a previously saved template, click Save draft as template and under Overwrite Template, choose a template and click Save to overwrite it.
(Optional) To send an email, compose your message and click Send.
Insert a template
Open Gmail and click Compose.
Click More Templates.
To insert a template, under Insert template, choose a saved template to insert in your email.
Compose the rest of your message and click Send.
Type in another language
Type in another language
You can type in languages like Hindi, Arabic, or Chinese using input tools, including special keyboards. There are different types of input tools for different languages.
Enable input tools
Open Gmail.
In the top right, click Settings .
Click See all settings.
In the "Language" section, next to “Enable input tools,” check the box.
Click Edit tools.
Select the language input tools you want to use.
Click Ok.
At the bottom of the page, click Save Changes.
Open your inbox.
In the top right next to Settings , click the language icon.
To switch among multiple input tools, click the down arrow
Send large attachments
Send large attachments
When you're sending a file, you can add attachments in Gmail up to 25 MB—but what if you have larger files such as videos? Save these large files in Google Drive, then insert a link to the Drive or shared drive file in your email.
Note: If your recipients don’t have viewing permissions for the file, Gmail will let you grant them access before sending.
Insert Drive files in your Gmail messages
Send a Google Drive attachment
Send a Google Drive attachment
On your computer, open Gmail.
At the top left, click Compose.
At the bottom of the message, click Insert files using Drive .
Select the files you want to attach.
At the bottom of the page, decide how you want to send the file:
Drive link: This works for any files stored in Drive, including files created using Google Docs, Sheets, Slides, or Forms.
Attachment: This only works for files that weren't created using Google Docs, Sheets, Slides, or Forms.
Click Insert.
Forward an email as an attachment
Forward an email as an attachment
Reply to an email with an attached mail
On your computer, go to Gmail.
Open the email.
Click Reply .
At the top right, click Open in a pop-up .
From your inbox, select the email you want to attach.
Drag the email into the body of your message.
At the bottom, click Send.
With Gmail, you can attach an email to a new message instead of forwarding separate messages. You can also attach multiple messages to one email.
Forward one email as an attachment
On your computer, go to Gmail.
Next to each email you want to forward, select the checkbox.
At the top, click More Forward as attachment.
In the “To” field, add recipients.
Optional: You can add recipients in the “Cc” and “Bcc” fields.
In the “Subject” field, add a subject.
Under the “Subject” field, write your message.
At the bottom, click Send.
Tip: To forward an email as an attachment, you can also:
Right-click an email.
Drag and drop the file into the body of your message.
Forward multiple emails as attachments
Open Gmail.
Click Compose.
Check the boxes next to the messages that you want to attach and drag them to the new message window.
Enter a recipient, subject, and any message text.
Click Send.
Snooze an email until later
Snooze an email until later
For confirmation emails with dates and times, snooze them until exactly when you need them. Your email will come back to the top of your inbox when you want it to, whether that's tomorrow, next week, or this evening.
On your computer, go to Gmail.
Point to the email.
On the right, click Snooze .
Choose a later day and time to get the email.
Tip: To snooze multiple messages:
Select the messages.
At the top, click Snooze .
If you can’t find "Snooze," click More Snooze.
Know when a recipient reads your email
Know when a recipient reads your email
If you’re sending an important email to someone, find out when they’ve opened it by setting up a read receipt. A read request is sent to every recipient in the To and Cc fields, but not to recipients in the Bcc field, mailing lists, or aliases.
On your computer, open Gmail.
Click Compose.
Compose your email as you normally would.
At the bottom right, click More options Request read receipt.
Click Send.
Return a read receipt
On your computer, open Gmail.
Check your emails as you normally would.
If a message tells you a sender has requested a read receipt, choose an option:
To send the receipt now, click Send receipts.
To send the receipt later, click Not now. You'll be asked to send the receipt the next time you open the message.
Protect email with confidential mode
Protect email with confidential mode
Need to send sensitive content to people? With confidential mode in Gmail, you can protect sensitive information from unauthorized access. Set an expiration date for messages, revoke access to messages and attachments at any time, and disable recipients' access to forward, copy, print, and download material.
On your computer, go to Gmail.
Click Compose.
In the bottom right of the window, click Toggle confidential mode .
If you've already turned on confidential mode, go to the bottom of the email, then click Edit.
Set an expiration date and passcode. These settings impact both the message text and any attachments.
If you choose "No SMS passcode," recipients using the Gmail app will be able to open it directly. Recipients who don't use Gmail will get emailed a passcode.
If you choose "SMS passcode," recipients will get a passcode by text message. Make sure you enter the recipient's phone number, not your own.
Click Save.
Add an importance marker to a message
Add an importance marker to a message
Gmail uses several signals to decide which messages to automatically mark as important. You can also add or remove importance markers, yourself.
Use importance markers
Next to emails that Gmail thinks is important, you'll see a yellow Importance marker . If an email hasn't been marked as important, the marker will be empty.
To see all your emails that are marked as important, search Gmail for is:important.
You can also click a message's importance marker to mark the message as important yourself.
Block email from unwanted senders
Block email from unwanted senders
When you block a sender, messages they send you go to Spam.
On your computer, go to Gmail.
Open the message.
In the top right, click More .
Click Block [sender].
Tip: If you blocked someone by mistake, you can unblock them using the same steps.
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