Switch from Microsoft Outlook to Gmail

Organize & archive email

This guide helps you switch from Outlook to Gmail on computer. If you're switching to Gmail on mobile, or need detailed instructions for troubleshooting, visit these Gmail topics instead.

In Gmail, use labels and filters to organize your email. You can also star, snooze, archive, and delete messages to keep your inbox clear.

On this page

Note: The instructions in this guide are primarily web only. Get switching information for mobile devices.

Organize email

  • In Outlook: Use folders, rules, and categories.
  • In Gmail: Use labels and search filters (Gmail doesn't use folders). You can drag messages into labels, similar to the way you drag items into folders. Also, you can apply multiple labels to a message, and find messages by clicking any of their labels in the left panel.

Learn how

 Create a label

  1. On your computer, go to Gmail.
  2. On the left, scroll down, then click More.
  3. Click Create new label.
  4. Name your label.
  5. Click Create.

Label messages in your inbox

  1. On your computer, go to Gmail.
  2. Select the messages.
  3. At the top, click Labels.
  4. Select a label, or create a new one.
Tip: To apply a label to multiple messages at the same time, check the boxes to the left of the messages, then choose a label above the inbox.

Learn more at the Gmail Help Center

 Create a filter

  1. Open Gmail.
  2. In the search box at the top, click Show search options photos tune .
  3. Enter your search criteria. If you want to check that your search worked correctly, see what emails show up by clicking Search. 
  4. At the bottom of the search window, click Create filter.
  5. Choose what you’d like the filter to do.
  6. 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. 

Learn more about filters

Mark email for follow-up

  • In Outlook: Use flags to track important messages you receive.
  • In Gmail: Star, snooze, or mark messages you receive as important.

Learn how

Star an email to make it stand out

  1. On your computer, open Gmail.
  2. From your inbox, go to the left of the message, then click Star . If the message is open, click More and then Add Star.
  3. If you have multiple stars, keep clicking the star icon until you see the one you want to use.

View email you've starred

  1. On your computer, open Gmail.
  2. 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

Snooze an email until later

  1. On your computer, go to Gmail.
  2. Point to the email.
  3. On the right, click Snooze .
  4. Choose a later day and time to get the email.

Tip: To snooze multiple messages:

  1. Select the messages.
  2. At the top, click Snooze .
    • If you can’t find "Snooze," click More and then Snooze.

Tip: To apply a label to multiple messages at the same time, check the boxes to the left of the messages, then choose a label above the inbox.

 Learn more at the Gmail Help Center

Save attachments 

  • In Outlook: Save attachments to your computer.
  • In Gmail: Upload attachments to Google Drive.

Learn how

Save attachments

Important: You can’t add certain attachments to Google Drive. Learn about files you can store in Drive.

  1. On your computer, go to Gmail.
  2. Open a message.
  3. At the bottom of the message, hover over the attachment.
  4. Click Add to Drive .

Learn more at the Gmail Help Center

Get rid of unimportant email 

Hide unimportant threads

Sometimes you might receive an email and decide you don't want to see any more messages in the conversation. You can mute the conversation to have replies automatically skip the inbox and go directly to the archive.

  • In Outlook: Ignore conversations.
  • In Gmail: Mute conversations. 

Learn how

Mute email threads

  1. On your computer, open Gmail.
  2. Open a message.
  3. At the top, click More More and then Mute or Unmute.

Tips:

  • At the top of the Gmail search box, to find all messages with the “Muted” label, enter is:muted.
  • To mute a message with keyboard shortcuts, press M. Learn more about keyboard shortcuts.

Learn more at the Gmail Help Center

Get rid of spam

  • In Outlook: Mark as email junk and choose settings for junk email.
  • In Gmail: Report messages as spam, move messages to the spam folder, and block senders.

Learn how

Report spam

  1. On your computer, open Gmail.
  2. Select one or more emails.
  3. Click Report spam .

Block senders 

  1. On your computer, open Gmail.
  2. Open the message from the sender.
  3. At the top right, click More More.
  4. Click Block "{sender}" or Unblock "{sender}."

Learn more at the Gmail Help Center

Archive email

  • In Outlook: Set up rules to periodically move messages from your inbox to the Outlook Archive file.
  • In Gmail: Archive messages, or set up filters to automatically move messages to the archive. No need to schedule rules to run at regular intervals. After you archive messages, you can still find them under the label, All Mail.

Learn how

 Archive email

  1. On your computer, open Gmail.
  2. Open the message you want to archive.
  3. At the top, click Archive .

Tips:

Find archived email

Important: When you search in Gmail, your results include archived messages. Learn more about search in Gmail.

  1. On your computer, open Gmail.
  2. On the left, click More.
  3. Click All Mail.
Note: If you don’t see All Mail or Trash, scroll to the bottom of the left sidebar and click More.

Move archived email back to your inbox

  1. On your computer, open Gmail.
  2. Find the archived message.
  3. Next to the message, check the box.
  4. At the top, click Move to Inbox .

Delete email

  • In Outlook: Move messages to the deleted items folder and use mailbox cleanup.
  • In Gmail: Move messages to the trash. If you don't see Trash, in the main menu, click Moreand thenTrash. Trashed messages are automatically deleted after 30 days. 

Learn how

Delete email 

  1. On your computer, go to Gmail.
  2. On the left of each message you want to delete, check the box.
  3. At the top, click Delete .

Note: If you don’t see All Mail or Trash, scroll to the bottom of the left sidebar and click More.

Delete multiple messages

  1. On your computer, go to Gmail.
  2. On the left, select your inbox, label, or another category.
  3. At the top left, above your messages, check the Select box. 
    • A notification that shows the number of selected conversations is displayed. To select all messages, click the link in the notification.
  4. At the top, click Delete .

Delete email forever

  1. On your computer, go to Gmail.
  2. On the left, click More and then Trash.
  3. On the left of each message you want to permanently delete, check the box.
  4. At the top, click Delete forever.

Tip: To delete all messages in your trash, in the notification, click Empty Trash now.

Recover email from the trash

  1. On your computer, go to Gmail.
  2. On the left, click More and then Trash.
  3. On the left of each message you want to recover, check the box.
  4. At the top, click Move to .
  5. In the “Move to” menu, choose where you want to move the messages.

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