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If you, like me, find yourself writing the same email over and over again or copying and pasting the same message multiple times, Gmail gives you an easier option. By creating and saving email templates, you can insert them the next time you compose a message and save yourself some time.
You can store up to 50 templates at a time, so it’s easy to create different templates for different situations. Here’s how.
Create an email template:
Click on the cog icon in the top right corner of your screen.
Select “See all settings.”
Open the “Advanced” tab.
Scroll down to “Templates” and select “Enable.”
Make sure you’ve selected “Enable” under “Templates.”
Click “Save Changes” at the bottom of the menu.
This will take you back to your inbox. Click the “Compose” button.
Now, start drafting your template. When you’re ready to save it, click on the three dots toward the bottom right-hand corner of the window.
Select “Template” from the options.
Click “Save draft as template.”
Click “Save as new template.”
After writing a message, you can save it as a template.
Type in a name for your template in the window that pops up. That name will appear as the subject line in your email. Click “Save.”
Name your template so you can easily retrieve it later.
If you want to make changes to a template, you have to overwrite it. Write a corrected email, and then after clicking “Save draft as template,” click the name of the template you’d like to change under “Overwrite Template.”
You can overwrite a template if you want to edit or change it.
Click “Save” in the pop-up window.
Confirm the changes by clicking “Save” in the pop-up window.
To delete a template, click on “Delete template” under the “Templates” options. Click “Delete” in the pop-up window.
You can delete templates using the template options in the compose view.
Use a saved template
Click “Compose” to start a new message.
Select the three dots in the bottom right-hand corner.
Open “Templates.”
Choose the template.
Insert a saved template by going to the template options when you’re writing a new message.
That template will now appear as your new message, and you can edit it before sending.
Click “Send” when you’re ready!
Send templates automatically
You can set up filters that automatically send out a specific template as a reply when certain emails come in. You do this by creating a filter that specifies which emails you want to address and then assigning a particular template to that. Here’s how:
Click the search icon in the right side of the search bar at the top of the screen.
Fill in the fields. For example, if you want this template to be automatically sent to emails from certain contacts, enter those contacts in the “From” box. If you want it sent to anyone whose email asked you to subscribe to something, put the word “subscribe” in the field “Has the words.”
Click “Create filter.”
Use the search bar to set a template to send out automatically.
Check the box next to “Send template.” Click “Choose template” and select the template you want to use from the drop-down menu.
You can choose which template is automatically sent out.
Click “Create filter.”
If at any time you want to change the filter — or delete it — it’s simple.
Click on the cog icon in the top right corner of your screen.
Select “See all settings.”
Click on the “Filters and Blocked Addresses” tab.
You’ll see a list of all your filters. Find the one you want to change, and click on either “Edit” or “Delete” to the right of that filter.
Update February 15th, 2022, 4:00PM ET: This article was originally published on July 10th, 2020, and has been updated to add directions on editing or deleting a filter.