Gmail is easily one of my most-used apps. From keeping up with work conversations and meetings to checking important updates, I rely on it pretty much every day. So, you’d think I’d know my way around the app by now, right? Well, apparently not.
I recently stumbled upon a feature that had been turned off in my Gmail settings all this time, and I had absolutely no idea what I was missing. Thankfully, my curiosity got the better of me, and after trying it out, I wish I’d discovered it sooner. If you haven’t come across it yet, you’re probably missing out, too.
Why type the same thing twice?
Gmail can do the boring part for me
The feature I’m talking about is called Templates, and it does pretty much what the name suggests. It lets me save emails I’ve written and reuse them whenever I need to send something similar. All I have to do is open the More options menu in Gmail’s compose window, save a message as a template, and insert it whenever I need it. I can even pair templates with Gmail’s filters to send automated replies to certain emails, which makes them even more useful.
For me, the biggest advantage is not having to write the same emails over and over again. As someone who spends a good chunk of the day replying to work emails, I often find myself typing out similar responses, whether I’m following up on a conversation, acknowledging an update, or sharing information someone has asked for. And while writing one of these emails barely takes a minute, doing it several times throughout the day gets tiring.
With templates, I can save a response I often use and insert it into a new email whenever I need it. I can still make changes depending on who I’m writing to, but at least I don’t have to start from scratch every single time.
I also like that Gmail doesn’t restrict me to plain text. I can include hyperlinks, bullet points, formatted text, and even links to files in Google Drive. So, if I’m regularly sharing the same instructions or information with different people, I can have everything ready in a template instead of hunting down those links every time. And since this is a built-in Gmail feature, I don’t need to install another extension or pay for a third-party tool.
Of course, a few things are worth keeping in mind. Gmail lets you save up to 50 templates, which is more than enough for the handful of responses I regularly send. However, these aren’t particularly advanced templates, so you can’t automatically personalize each email with someone’s name or other details like you would with a mail merge tool.
There’s also a small annoyance with signatures. If Gmail automatically adds your email signature, you need to remove it before saving a template, or you could end up with the same signature appearing twice. And if you’re hoping to share your templates with an entire team, Gmail doesn’t make that particularly easy either. Still, for someone like me who just wants to spend less time writing repetitive emails, these limitations aren’t much of a dealbreaker.
Your inbox could use a helping hand
Two more Gmail tricks I discovered along the way
If you also spend a good part of your day replying to emails, I’d recommend trying templates. Once you start using it, you’ll probably wonder why you typed the same responses all this time. The only catch is that the feature is available through Gmail’s desktop website, so you’ll need to open it in your browser. Here’s how to turn it on:
- Open Gmail on your computer.
- Click the Settings icon in the top-right corner and select See all settings.
- Head over to the Advanced tab.
- Look for Templates among the available features.
- Select Enable, scroll down, and click Save Changes.
And that’s it! You can now start saving emails as templates and reuse them whenever you need to. While exploring this section, I also came across two other features that caught my attention: Custom keyboard shortcuts and the Unread message icon. Since I spend so much time in Gmail anyway, I figured I might as well try those, too.
Custom keyboard shortcuts let me assign my preferred keys to different Gmail actions, which is quite handy when I’m trying to get through a crowded inbox without constantly reaching for the mouse. The unread message icon is another addition I appreciate. It shows the number of unread emails right on Gmail’s browser tab icon, so I can quickly check whether something needs my attention without switching tabs.
Five minutes in Gmail’s Settings well spent
I’ve always used Gmail without paying much attention to its settings, mostly because everything worked the way I needed it to. But discovering Templates has made me want to explore what else I’ve been overlooking. After all, when you use an app almost every day, it’s easy to get comfortable with the way things are and never check whether there’s a better way to do them. I’m glad I finally did, and I’d suggest spending a few minutes exploring these settings yourself. You might be surprised by what’s been there all along.