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Tips for reading email
Change the density of your Gmail inbox
You can choose how spacious or compact you'd like to list messages in your inbox. Just change the density of your inbox.
- Open Gmail.
- At the top right, click Settings .
- Under Density, choose an option:
- Default
- Comfortable
- Compact
Note: If you choose Default, you'll get a preview of your attachments from your inbox.
Get more space for labels
In Gmail, you can create more space on the left for your labels. Just move the Chat panel to the right side of your inbox.
Change the position of the Chat panel in Gmail
You can move the Chat panel to the right or left side of your Gmail inbox.
- On your computer, open Gmail.
- At the top right, click Settings See all settings.
- At the top, click Chat and Meet.
- Next to “Chat position,” select Left side of the inbox or Right side of the inbox.
- Click Save Changes.
View spaces and your inbox at the same time
In Gmail, spaces open in full-screen mode. Instead, open a space in a pop-up so you can multitask in Gmail while keeping an eye on the space activity.
Open a space as a pop-up
- On a computer, open Gmail.
- Do one of the following actions:
- On the left, go to ChatSpaces, point to a space and click Open in pop-up .
- If a space pop-up is already open, click Expand to open the chat message in a full screen.
See new messages at the top of a thread
By default, Gmail shows the most recent message in a conversation at the bottom of the thread. If you want to see new messages at the top of the thread, you can install an extension from the Chrome Web Store.
Reverse messages in a conversation thread
- Open the Chrome Web Store.
- On the left, in the search box, enter a search term, such as Gmail reverse conversation.
- When you find the extension that you want, click Add to Chrome. Some extensions might need certain permissions or data.
- Click Add extension to confirm.
Prevent horizontal scrolling in an email
Sometimes, you might need to scroll horizontally to see an entire message due to a large image or table. You can avoid having other people scroll horizontally in your messages by checking a few things before you hit Send.
Prevent scrolling in messages you send
- In Gmail, open the message.
- If there’s a table in your message or if you’re pasting text, check if it has a fixed width.
- If you use an email signature, make sure there isn’t an image in it that’s causing a wide signature.
Remember to follow up with nudges
You can choose whether to see old messages at the top of your inbox with a suggestion to reply or follow up. Show or hide these suggestions by going to your Gmail settings.
Show or hide nudges
- On your computer, go to Gmail.
- At the top right, click Settings See all settings.
- On the General tab, scroll to Nudges and check or uncheck the two options.
- At the bottom, click Save Changes.
Get email from another email platform
Starting in Fall of 2024, Google Workspace accounts will no longer support less secure apps, third-party apps or devices that ask you to sign in to your Google Account using only your username and password. For exact dates, visit Google Workspace Updates. To access apps, you must use OAuth. To prepare for this change, review the details in Transition from less secure apps to OAuth.
To get email from another app, your administrator needs to turn on IMAP and POP.
In Gmail, you can get email from another app, such as Microsoft Outlook or Apple Mail. To get email from another app, you need to turn on IMAP, remove folder size limits on IMAP messages, and show all IMAP folders that you want to include from the other app.
Turn on IMAP, remove folder size limits, and show all folders
- Open Gmail.
- At the top right, click Settings See all settings.
- Click Forwarding and POP/IMAP.
- Next to IMAP access, select Enable IMAP.
- Under Folder size limits, select Do not limit the number of messages in an IMAP folder (default).
- Click Save Changes.
- Click Settings See all settings.
- Click Labels.
- Next to the label for the folders that you want to include, check the Show in IMAP box.
Tips for sending email
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
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.
Save time—message large groups with one address
If you send email or event invites to the same people all the time, create a Google Group for them. The next time you compose a message, send email to the group to reach everyone at once. You can use the same group to schedule Google Calendar meetings.
Create a group email address
- Sign in to Google Groups.
- At the top, click Create group.
- Enter information and choose settings for the group. Here are some suggested settings:
- Who can view conversations: Only members of the team (if you want to keep project communications private.
- Group members: Email address of each person on the project team
- Group managers: Email address of any team member who might need to add others to the team later.
- Directly add members: Turn this option On so you can control who joins the group.
- Click Create group.
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 .
Sign a document using an electronic signature
Use electronic signatures for a convenient and legally binding way to sign documents without the hassle of printing, scanning, and mailing. You can choose an electronic signature add-on in the Google Workspace Marketplace that’s compatible with your Gmail account.
Customize Gmail with an electronic signature add-on
- In Gmail, on the right, click Get Add-ons to open the Google Workspace Marketplace.
- In the search box, enter signature add-on.
- Select an add-on from the list and click Install.
- Follow any online instructions.
Working with attachments
Send large attachments in Drive
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
- 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.
Save and download attachments
When you receive a file in Gmail, you can download it to your computer or save a copy of it to Google Drive.
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.
Save a copy of Gmail attachments to Drive
Important: You can’t add certain attachments to Google Drive. Learn about files you can store in Drive.
- On your computer, go to Gmail.
- Open a message.
- At the bottom of the message, hover over the attachment.
- Click Add to Drive .
Forward an email as an attachment
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.
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.
Use Gmail to send a PDF from Acrobat
You can send Adobe PDF files directly from Adobe Acrobat or Acrobat Reader using Gmail. To do this, you have to allow access to your Gmail account. For security reasons, your administrator might have disabled this option.
Note: Your company's IT policies must allow you to send files from Acrobat using webmail. If you're not able to use Gmail with Acrobat, contact your IT team.
- In Acrobat, open your PDF file.
- At the top, click FileShare file or FileSend files or Attach to an email.
- Click Attach to Email or Send as attachment.
- Select Webmail.
- Click Select optionAdd Gmail.
- Enter your email address and click OK.
- (Optional) To use Gmail as your default webmail account for Acrobat, check the Remember my choice box if prompted.
- Click Send.
- If you’re using Acrobat Reader, click Yes.
- If you’re using Acrobat, choose an option:
- To send a link for the attachment, click Send a link (URL) to the PDF file on the Web.
- To attach the PDF to the message, click Send a copy of the entire PDF file as an attachment.
- Click Next.
- If your email address doesn’t already appear, enter it and click Next.
- Enter your password and click Sign in.
- Click Allow.
Your message will open as a draft with the PDF attached. - In the Gmail draft message, add any other text and click Send.
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