Mar 29, 2026

How to Create Email Templates in Gmail (Step-by-Step, 2026)

Gmail Email Templates Canned Responses How-to Email Productivity

Gmail has a built-in Templates feature (formerly called Canned Responses) that lets you save email drafts and reuse them whenever you need to send a similar message. It’s useful for responses you send repeatedly — follow-ups, meeting confirmations, support replies, onboarding emails, or any message where you’re typing the same thing over and over. Templates are a desktop-only feature and need to be enabled before you can use them.

1. Enable Templates in Gmail

Templates are turned off by default. You need to enable them in Gmail’s advanced settings first.

Open Gmail and click the gear icon in the top-right corner.
Click See all settings.
Go to the Advanced tab (the last tab in the settings menu).
Find Templates in the list.
Select Enable.
Scroll to the bottom and click Save Changes.

Gmail reloads. The Templates option is now available in the compose window’s three-dot menu.

Note: The Advanced tab is only available in Gmail on the web (desktop). You cannot enable or manage templates from the Gmail mobile app.

2. Save a Draft as a Template

Once templates are enabled, you can save any composed email as a reusable template.

Click Compose to open a new email.
Write the email content you want to save — body text, formatting, links, and any attachments you want included in the template.
You can add a subject line too — it will be saved as part of the template.
Click the three-dot menu (More options) in the bottom-right corner of the compose window.
Hover over Templates.
Hover over Save draft as template.
Click Save as new template.
Enter a name for your template (e.g., “Meeting follow-up” or “Invoice reminder”).
Click Save.

Your template is now stored in Gmail and available from any compose window. You don’t need to send the email — you can close the compose window after saving.

3. Insert a Template Into a New Email

Click Compose (or open a reply/forward).
Click the three-dot menu in the bottom-right of the compose window.
Hover over Templates.
Under the Insert template section, click the name of the template you want.

The template content — including the subject line, body text, formatting, and attachments — loads into the compose window. It replaces the current body content, so insert the template before you start typing additional text.

Edit the To, Cc, Bcc, subject, and body as needed.
Click Send (or schedule it for later).

4. Overwrite / Update an Existing Template

Gmail doesn’t have a dedicated “edit template” screen. To update a template, you overwrite it:

Click Compose to open a new email.
Insert the existing template you want to update (three-dot menu > Templates > select it).
Make your changes to the content, subject, or formatting.
Click the three-dot menu again.
Hover over Templates > Save draft as template.
Instead of clicking “Save as new template,” click the name of the existing template you want to overwrite.
Gmail asks you to confirm: “Save template?” Click Save to overwrite.

The old version of the template is replaced with the updated content. There’s no version history — the previous version is gone.

5. Delete a Template

Click Compose to open a new email.
Click the three-dot menu in the bottom-right.
Hover over Templates.
Hover over Delete template.
Click the name of the template you want to remove.
Confirm the deletion when prompted.

The template is permanently deleted. There’s no undo or trash — if you need it back, you’ll have to recreate it.

6. Combine Templates With Filters for Auto-Replies

You can pair templates with Gmail’s filter system to automatically send a template as a reply to emails that match certain criteria. This is useful for sending auto-acknowledgments, standard responses to common inquiries, or out-of-office-style replies to specific senders.

Go to Settings > See all settings > Filters and Blocked Addresses tab.
Click Create a new filter.
Set your filter criteria (e.g., emails from a specific address, with a specific subject, or to a particular alias).
Click Create filter.
Check Send template and select the template you want Gmail to send automatically.
Optionally check other actions like Skip the Inbox, Apply the label, or Mark as read.
Click Create filter.

When an email matches the filter, Gmail sends the selected template as an automatic reply. The reply goes out once per thread — Gmail won’t keep sending the template every time the same person replies within the same conversation.

7. Limitations

There are a few constraints to keep in mind:

50 template limit. Gmail allows a maximum of 50 saved templates per account. If you hit the cap, delete unused templates before creating new ones.
Desktop only for managing. You can only create, edit, and delete templates in Gmail on the web. The Gmail mobile app can’t access or insert templates.
Templates include formatting and attachments. Images, bold/italic text, links, and file attachments are all preserved in templates. However, inline images hosted externally can break if the source URL changes.
No shared templates. Templates are per-account. There’s no native way to share templates across a team in Gmail. Google Workspace admins sometimes work around this with shared Google Docs or third-party tools.
Subject line behavior. When you insert a template, it overwrites the current subject line with the template’s saved subject. If your template has no subject, the existing subject stays in place.
No template folders or categories. All 50 templates live in a flat list. Name them descriptively so you can find the right one quickly.

8. Quick Reference

Action	How to do it
Enable templates	Settings > See all settings > Advanced tab > Templates > Enable > Save Changes
Save a new template	Compose > write content > three-dot menu > Templates > Save draft as template > Save as new template
Insert a template	Compose > three-dot menu > Templates > click template name
Update a template	Insert template > edit > three-dot menu > Templates > Save draft as template > click existing template name > Save
Delete a template	Compose > three-dot menu > Templates > Delete template > click template name
Auto-reply with template	Settings > Filters and Blocked Addresses > Create a new filter > set criteria > Send template > select template
Template limit	50 per account
Available platforms	Gmail on the web (desktop only)

Templates handle the repetitive emails, but if you want something that drafts replies, manages your inbox, and handles scheduling across your tools, Carly is an AI assistant that connects to Gmail and 200+ other apps to take care of the routine work.

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