Keep Your Inbox Organized with Gmail Labels: Complete Guide | Gmelius

Do you know how much of your working day you spend looking for information in your inbox?

according to mckinsey, nearly 20% of employees’ time is spent searching for information. that’s the equivalent of a full day at the office.

And since office workers receive an average of 121 emails a day, it’s more than likely that they spend a lot of their time checking emails and attachments.

Luckily, email labels are Gmail’s secret weapon for fighting inbox clutter. They allow you to quickly organize your inbox, reducing the time it takes to track information.

This guide will walk you through the step-by-step process of creating a neat, actionable, and well-organized inbox.

Ready to take your labels to the next level? come on.

1. what are gmail tags?

Labels are an easy way to organize and declutter your inbox. In Gmail, you can create a label to categorize emails that are sent, received, or composed.

Your gmail labels can be accessed from the left sidebar, displayed with an arrow icon (more on how to color them later).

gmail tags vs. folders

Just like the folders you can use with other email clients, you can create a label in gmail to group relevant emails together. but unlike email folders, you can add multiple labels to an email for more flexibility. because an email can be part of multiple workflows, right?

For example, sales teams can use email labels to organize their inbox by creating different labels like “leads,” “contacts,” and “deals.”

Project admins, on the other hand, can create one label for a given project and another label to classify emails with a third-party provider.

2. how to create a tag

It is very easy to create a tag. any connected gmail user has 3 options:

1. From within an email, you can select the “label as” icon at the top of the window. then select ‘create new tag’ and name the tag accordingly.
2. from the left menu you can select ‘create new tag’ and enter the category name and if required, the subcategory.
3. From the top right of the window, you can select the gear icon and then select ‘settings’ from the dropdown menu that appears. then select ‘tags’ then ‘create new tag’.

3. how to automatically add gmail labels with filters

While you can always add a tag manually, automating this process will save you a lot of time. Depending on your use case, there are several ways to automatically add a label to an email.

use filters to add a tag

you can add a tag using a filter. it’s quick, easy, and lets you automate your inbox categorization:

1. within gmail, click the gear icon and select ‘settings’.
2. then click ‘filters and blocked addresses’ at the top.
3. select ‘create’ to apply a new filter.
4. select how you want the mail to be filtered. for example, it can be by included words or by the name of the sender.
5. click ‘create filter’ with this search.
6. check ‘bypass inbox’ and ‘apply’ to apply the tag.
7. do click on ‘create filter. ‘

bulk add or remove tags

You can also easily add or remove tags from multiple emails at once by following these simple steps:

1. select the emails you would like to add or remove labels from.
2. click the “label as” icon at the top.
3. select or deselect any tag.
4. click “apply”.

use the “move to” button to apply a tag

To archive emails and keep your inbox uncluttered, you can move emails from your inbox to another folder or label in just a couple of clicks:

1. Open the email you want to move to.
2. select the ‘move to’ icon at the top.
3. select the folder or label you would like to move the email to.

or simply select multiple emails and drag them onto the chosen tag.

add labels to outgoing emails

The above options are related to adding labels to the emails in your inbox. but you can also add labels to your outgoing emails! to do it:

1. compose a message in gmail.
2. select the ‘more options’ icon (the three stacked dots to the right) in the toolbar at the bottom of the window drafting.
3. choose ‘tags’ in the new menu that opens.
4. another menu will appear with the available tags, check the ones you want to use. or select ‘create new’ and enter your new tag name.
5. You can also choose to ‘star’ the message from the same menu if needed.
6. select the body of your message again to close all menus.
7. compose your message and press send as usual. the labels you choose will be applied to the message and any ongoing email threads.

add a tag using advanced automation

gmail is great, possibly the most feature rich email provider on the market. but like most email solutions, it lacks advanced automation features like email templates and sequences.

To automate your scope, you can use gmelius. We allow you to create, share, and send personalized email templates and automated follow-up sequences based on your recipients’ interactions.

create email templates with tag automation

To do this, first install gmelius and create an email template using the “label as” function. now whenever you select that template in your compose window, the tag will be applied automatically.

create email sequences with automated tag categorization

Sequences can also be used as a more advanced automation feature. when creating an automated sequence, you can tell gmelius to add tags at certain stages of the workflow.

All your email templates, sequences, and conversations are synced in real-time across your entire team and all your devices, so once you get a reply, you’ll find the email with your chosen label.

4. how to edit your tags

once you create a label in gmail, you can also edit its color, name and visibility.

To edit the tag, follow these steps:

1. On a computer, open Gmail (you can’t edit tags from the Gmail app).
2. On the left side of the page, hover over your tag name.
3. click the down arrow of the dropdown arrow.
4. click ‘edit’.
5. make changes to your label.
6. click ‘save.’

5. how to create nested gmail tags

some projects can be more complex. o Some types of projects may be broken down by account or client, or by location. to reflect this, you can also nest tags within top-level parent categories.

For example, if you’re a company that provides accounting and tax services, you could create a parent tag for “taxes” and child tags for each customer you serve.

Here’s how to set up a nested tag in gmail:

1. select the gear icon in the upper right corner of the window and choose ‘settings’ from the drop down menu.
2. select ‘labels’ if the labels tab is not displayed.
3. select ‘create new tag’ and enter a new tag name.
4. select a top level tag from the dropdown menu inside the ‘nest’ tags section.
5. If you need to move an existing subtag to a different top level tag, go to the “tags” section and find the tag you’d like to change.
6. select ‘edit’ in the actions column.
7. choose a new top-level tag from the “nest” tag dropdown.
8. click “create” or “save”.

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changed your mind and want to override a tag? you can easily change a sublevel tag to a top level tag by following these steps:

1. In the “tags” section, find the subtag you want to convert.
2. in the actions column, select ‘edit’.
3. deselect the ‘nest’ tag.
4. select ‘save’.

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6. how to search inside tags

You can search with various filters in gmail, although the search operators can be a bit intimidating. With the right queries in place, there’s a lot you can accomplish. for example, you can search for all emails in a label that were sent by a specific email address.

To search, follow these steps:

1. In the search bar at the top of gmail, enter ‘label: label_title’.
2. Use the up and down arrow keys to highlight the label you want to open. </li
3. click ‘enter’ to view the emails in that tag.
4. press the space bar after the tag name and enter the text you want to search for within the tag. for example, if you want to see only emails from one email address, enter the label: ‘label_title email_address’.

Want to master more search operators to control your mailbox? check the google search operators directory.

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7. how to manage your tasks using gmail tags

Want to organize your gmail tasks with tags? A common trick is to create a “to do” label to archive emails that have a pending follow-up item or task. but there is a smarter way. you can use your tags to manage tasks and projects with gmelius as we offer a project management package inside gmail.

turn a tag into a kanban board

viewing your emails as a list of threads is not very actionable. so gmelius allows you to convert tags into kanban boards right in gmail. your emails become task cards, which you can easily view and move from column to column to complete your tasks. gmelius also offers powerful automation, so you don’t need to manually drag and drop your task cards.

sync your kanban boards with trello

You can also integrate your kanban boards with trello using gmelius. Our two-way Gmail to Trello integration allows you to sync your boards in real time.

the additional benefits?

– no more data scattering, communication gaps or copy and paste between gmail and trello. – you can collaborate with your team or external partners on trello – you can let your team work from your preferred tool, no more tab switching – you can manage your kanban boards on the go using trello mobile appall updates reflected in real time , both in gmail and in trello.

Alternatively, if you already have a custom trello board, but would like to work on it from within gmail, you can import your trello boards into gmail using gmelius.

To learn more about our two-way gmail to trello integration, follow this article.

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8. how to share gmail tags

gmail is the most powerful email provider; however, like all email solutions, it is designed primarily for individual use.

Unfortunately, this is a serious flaw for modern teams working collaboratively across departments, offices, locations, and time zones.

Granted, there are several tricks you can improvise to force email to work for team collaboration: you can forward, cc, bcc other team members, you can share login details to an email account or you can connect a third party crm

you guessed it. none of these are ideal solutions.

Instead, you can use gmelius to share a tag with your team. that way, you can collaborate more efficiently and effectively.

You can create a tag or share an existing tag with chosen team members or external partners (if, for example, you are working with a foreign team, freelancers or external agencies). all members of the shared label have access to emails archived within the label. Unlike forwarded emails, team members have access to full email threads, including future replies.

You can assign an email to a team member and work together in email threads, avoiding duplicate conversations or missed emails.

By sharing email labels, you immediately increase transparency and accountability around team emails, create efficient and successful team collaboration, and benefit from advanced automation features.

The use cases for shared tags are endless. for example, marketing teams can create a tag to share conversations related to a new campaign with the sales team or conversations related to invoices with the accounting department.

It only takes a couple of clicks to set up gmelius shared email labels. once an email tag is shared, you can find it nested under the gmelius tag in the left sidebar.

And if your team is on slack, you can even use the gmelius slack integration to create full sync between shared tags and chosen slack channels.

no need to jump from one platform to another; Everyone on your team can share and assign emails to other team members, add email notes like comments, and more, right from Gmail or Slack.

For more details with screenshots, follow the article on how to create a shared tag.

summarizing

gmail tags are a big part of gmail’s functionality, allowing you to customize and organize your workflow by project, by client, or more.

however, gmail alone doesn’t do it all. in fact, it lacks basic collaboration functionality, like the ability to share tags with your team. it also lacks actionability, to help you manage your emails as tasks and view them on project boards, rather than looking at a nice old email list.

luckily, gmelius is here to rescue you.

and it’s this powerful combination of gmail and gmelius that enables your team to be more productive, save time, and improve transparency and alignment.

discover how gmelius can help you collaborate using shared gmail tags 🙌

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