Ten Gmail Settings You Should Know

by Bob Cohen

Most of us use email every day, but we rarely spend much time looking at the settings behind it.

Gmail arrives ready to use, so it is easy to assume that what you see is how Gmail works. But Google gives you quite a bit of control over how your inbox looks, how messages are organized, and even what happens after you click Send.

You do not need to change dozens of settings. These ten are some of the most useful ones I recommend knowing about.

Most of these instructions are for Gmail on a computer at mail.google.com. Some Gmail settings differ or aren't available in the mobile app.

1. Give Yourself More Time With Undo Send

Have you ever clicked Send and immediately noticed a spelling mistake, forgotten an attachment, or realized you sent the message to the wrong person?

Gmail's Undo Send feature can give you up to 30 seconds to change your mind.

Technically, Gmail is not retrieving a message that has already reached someone's inbox. It simply waits a few seconds before actually sending it.

How to increase the Undo Send time.

1. Open Gmail on your computer.

2. Click the gear-shaped Settings icon in the upper-right corner.

3. Click See all settings.

4. Make sure you are on the General tab.

5. Find Undo Send.

6. Next to Send cancellation period, choose 30 seconds.

7. Scroll to the bottom of the page.

8. Click Save Changes.

Google currently offers cancellation periods of 5, 10, 20, or 30 seconds.

The next time you send a message, watch the lower-left corner of the screen. You will briefly see Message sent along with an Undo button.

I recommend 30 seconds. There is very little downside, and those extra seconds can occasionally save you from an embarrassing mistake.

2. Decide Whether Emails Should Be Grouped Into Conversations

When you and another person exchange several messages about the same subject, Gmail normally groups those messages.

Google calls this Conversation View.

Instead of seeing six separate emails, you see one conversation containing the original message and all of its replies.

Some people love this. Others would rather see every email separately.

How to change Conversation View

1. Click the Settings gear.

2. Select See all settings.

3. Stay on the General tab.

4. Scroll down to Conversation View.

5. Select either:

• Conversation view on

• Conversation view off

• Scroll to the bottom.

• Click Save Changes.

When Conversation View is on, Gmail keeps related replies together, generally with the newest message at the bottom of the thread.

There is no right choice here. If you sometimes feel like messages are disappearing in long email conversations, try turning it off for a few days.

3. Control Your Primary, Promotions, Social, and Other Tabs

Gmail can automatically divide incoming mail into categories.

The familiar ones include:

• Primary — personal messages and email Gmail considers most important.

• Promotions — sales, marketing messages, and offers

• Social — messages from social networks and similar services

• Updates — confirmations, statements, notices, and automated updates

• Forums — mailing lists and discussion groups

You don't have to use all of them.

How to choose your categories

1. Click the Settings gear.

2. Under Quick settings, make sure your Inbox type is Default.

3. Look for the section that lets you customize the inbox categories.

You can also use:

1. Settings

2. See all settings

3. Select the Inbox tab.

4. Find Categories.

5. Check the categories you want.

6. Uncheck the ones you do not want.

7. Save your changes if Gmail asks.

For example, if you turn off Promotions, those emails aren't deleted. They return to your regular inbox.

I usually suggest trying Gmail's categories before turning them all off. They can keep newsletters, sales messages, and social notifications from overwhelming your main inbox.

4. Change Which Messages Gmail Shows First

Gmail does not have to display messages strictly in the traditional newest-to-oldest arrangement.

The Inbox type setting can reorganize your inbox around the way you work.

Among the available choices are:

• Default

• Important first

• Unread first

• Starred first

• Priority Inbox

• Multiple Inboxes

How to change your Inbox type

1. Open Gmail.

2. Click the Settings gear.

3. In the Quick settings panel, look for Inbox type.

4. Select the layout you want.

For additional choices:

1. Click See all settings.

2. Select Inbox.

3. Find Inbox type.

4. Choose the type you want.

5. Adjust any additional options that appear.

6. Save your changes.

Google currently includes Default, Important first, Unread first, Starred first, Priority Inbox, and Multiple Inboxes on the desktop version.

One particularly useful choice is Unread first. If you tend to leave messages unread as a reminder to deal with them later, this puts them together at the top of the inbox.

5. Turn On the Reading Pane

This is one of my favorite settings for anyone who receives a lot of email.

Normally, you click a message, Gmail opens it, and then you return to the inbox to select another message.

With the Reading pane, Gmail can display your message list on one side and the message itself on the other.

It works somewhat like the layout many people are familiar with in Microsoft Outlook.

How to turn on the Reading pane

1. Click the Settings gear.

2. Click See all settings.

3. Select the Inbox tab.

4. Scroll to Reading pane.

5. Enable the Reading pane.

6. Choose:

• No split

• Right of inbox

• Below inbox

• Scroll down and click Save Changes.

Google also makes Reading pane choices available through Quick settings on many Gmail accounts.

Try Right of inbox first. On a larger computer screen, it can make going through email considerably faster.

6. Make Your Normal Email Text Easier to Read

You can change the font Gmail uses automatically when you start a new message.

This is called the Default text style.

You can change the font, size, and color so you do not have to format every new email individually.

How to change your default text

1. Click the Settings gear.

2. Select See all settings.

3. Stay on the General tab.

4. Scroll to Default text style.

5. Use the formatting controls to choose your preferred:

• Font

• Text size

• Text color

• Scroll to the bottom.

• Click Save Changes.

The new style will automatically apply when you start writing new messages.

I would be conservative here. A slightly larger, easy-to-read font can be helpful. Huge type, unusual fonts, and bright colors can make messages harder for other people to read.

7. Automatically Add an Email Signature

An email signature is the information Gmail can automatically add to the bottom of messages you send.

It might contain something as simple as:

Bob Cohen
Bobology
Technology Made Understandable

Or you could include a phone number, website, job title, or other contact information.

How to create a signature

1. Click the Settings gear.

2. Select See all settings.

3. Stay on the General tab.

4. Scroll down to Signature.

5. Click Create new.

6. Give the signature a name. This name is just for you so Gmail can identify it.

7. Type the actual signature in the editing box.

8. Format it if desired.

9. Under Signature defaults, choose when Gmail should insert it automatically.

10. Scroll to the bottom.

11. Click Save Changes.

Gmail can store more than one signature, which is useful if you want one for business messages and another for personal email.

After setting it up, click Compose and make sure it appears the way you expect.

8. Try Smart Compose and Smart Reply

Gmail includes a couple of features designed to help you write messages faster.

Smart Compose tries to predict what you are typing. You might start a familiar sentence and see Gmail suggest the rest.

Smart Reply offers short suggested responses to certain incoming messages.

For example, Gmail might suggest something similar to:

• Thanks!

• Sounds good.

• I'll take a look.

How to control Smart Compose

1. Click Settings.

2. Select See all settings.

3. Stay on General.

4. Find Smart Compose.

5. Select Writing suggestions on or Writing suggestions off.

How to control Smart Reply

1. Stay on the General settings page.

2. Find Smart Reply.

3. Turn Smart Reply on or off.

4. Scroll down.

5. Save your changes.

Google describes Smart Compose as a writing-assistance feature rather than a source of factual answers, so you should still read a suggestion before accepting it.

These features are completely optional. Try them for a week. If the suggestions help, keep them. If they annoy you, turn them off.

9. Use Filters to Organize Email Automatically

Filters are one of Gmail's most powerful features.

Think of a filter as a rule you give Gmail:

“Whenever an email like this arrives, automatically do this with it.”

For example, suppose you receive weekly messages from a club or organization. You could tell Gmail:

“When a message arrives from this organization, put the label ‘Club' on it.”

You can build filters using the sender, subject, particular words, and other information.

How to create a filter

One of the easiest methods is from Gmail's search box.

1. Open Gmail on a computer.

2. Find the large search box at the top of Gmail.

3. Click the Show search options icon on the right side of the search box.

4. Enter your criteria. For example, type someone's email address in the From box.

5. Click Search first to make sure Gmail finds the messages you expect.

6. Open the search options again if necessary.

7. Click Create filter.

8. Choose what Gmail should do with matching messages.

Options can include:

• Apply a label

• Skip the Inbox and archive the message.

• Mark it as read

• Star it

• Delete it

• Never send it to Spam.

1. Click Create filter.

Gmail's Filters and Blocked Addresses settings page also lets you review, edit, or delete filters you previously created.

What about blocked senders?

Blocking works somewhat differently.

If you block a sender, future messages from that address are normally sent to Spam.

To review blocked addresses:

1. Click Settings.

2. Select See all settings.

3. Select Filters and Blocked Addresses.

4. Scroll through the blocked-address list.

5. Select an address and choose Unblock if you want to receive its messages again.

One caution: blocking is not the best solution for ordinary newsletters or legitimate promotional email. Whenever possible, use the newsletter's Unsubscribe option instead.

10. Use Gmail Without an Internet Connection

This is a feature many Gmail users don't realize exists.

Gmail can store recent email on your computer so you can read, search, and write messages even when you temporarily have no Internet connection.

It is called Gmail Offline.

This could be useful when traveling, working somewhere with an unreliable connection, or spending time on an airplane.

How to enable Gmail Offline

Gmail Offline currently works through the Chrome browser on a computer and cannot be used in a Chrome Incognito window.

1. Open Gmail in Google Chrome.

2. Click the Settings gear.

3. Select See all settings.

4. Select the Offline tab.

5. Check Enable offline mail.

6. Choose how many days of email you want Gmail to store.

7. Review the security choices for what happens to offline information when you sign out.

8. Click Save Changes.

You can also bookmark Gmail in Chrome, so it is easy to open when you are offline.

If you write an email without an Internet connection, Gmail places it in an Outbox. When your computer reconnects to the Internet, Gmail sends the message automatically.

One important security consideration: I would only enable this on a computer you personally control. You generally don't want to set this up on a public or shared computer.

Why It Matters

None of these settings will completely transform email. That isn't really the point.

The benefit is that Gmail can work a little more the way you want it to.

You can give yourself 30 seconds to catch a mistake. You can make unread mail easier to find. You can simplify the inbox, make messages easier to read, automatically organize incoming mail, or preview messages more efficiently.

And you do not have to change all ten settings at once.

My suggestion is to start with three:

• Change Undo Send to 30 seconds.

• Experiment with Unread first or the Reading pane.

• Create one simple filter for email you receive regularly.

Use those for a while and then explore the others.

The important lesson is that you don't have to accept Gmail exactly the way Google initially sets it up. Spend a few minutes in Settings, and you may find several small changes that make email easier to manage every day.

Frequently Asked Questions

Will changing these Gmail settings affect my existing email?

For the most part, no. Settings such as text style, Reading pane, Conversation View, and Inbox type change how Gmail displays or handles your mail. They don't erase your existing messages. Filters deserve a little more attention because a filter can automatically archive, label, or even delete messages if you tell Gmail to do that.

Do these same settings appear in the Gmail app on my phone?

Not always. The Gmail apps for Android and iPhone have their own settings, and some desktop features are unavailable or located somewhere different on a phone. For these ten settings, I recommend making the changes from Gmail on a computer first.

Can I change a setting back if I don't like it?

Yes. That is one reason I encourage experimenting. Try turning Conversation View off, switch to Unread first, or turn on the Reading pane. If you don't like the result, return to Settings and switch it back. You are not making a permanent commitment.