From time to time, gmail becomes slow. too slow to work at maximum productivity, at least. your inbox takes longer than usual to load or sending a message seems to take a lot longer than it used to.
This can happen for a variety of reasons, but fortunately, there are some easy solutions that can remedy your problem.
In this article, we will cover 15 quick and easy ways on how to make gmail faster.
how to make gmail faster
so how to make gmail faster? First understand that there is a certain upper limit to the speed of gmail. if everything works as expected, there is no supercharging you can use to overclock the app. Fortunately, gmail’s default speed is almost instantaneous, so you won’t need to exceed it anyway.
but if gmail is running slower than usual, you can try one of these remedies to make it fast again:
1. check your internet speed.
It is very possible that gmail is misbehaving on its own, but the most likely culprit is the speed of your internet connection. If your internet slows down, it will affect every app or website you try to access, including gmail.
This is an easy factor to rule out, so run a speed test and see if you get the download speed and ping you’re used to; if not, it’s a sign that something is interfering with your internet connection in general. reboot your router and make sure the people you share the connection with are using their connections responsibly.
2. use a wired connection.
gmail is a relatively small app with limited scope, but you can still benefit from using a wired connection. If you’re like most of the population, you’ve gotten used to using Wi-Fi for everything. and for the most part, it makes sense, it’s certainly more convenient.
but a wired connection will give you a faster and more stable internet connection, which can make gmail faster.
3. clear your browser’s cache and cookies.
Your browser stores a ton of data, which is ultimately a good thing for your browsing experience, but over time, this data can bog down your performance. At least periodically, take the time to clear your browser’s cache and cookies.
This is a simple step that you can do by accessing your browser’s settings or options menu; in google chrome, this is found in the more menu (vertical ellipses). from there, click on more tools and then clear your browsing data.
4. make sure your device is free of malware.
If your internet seems to be working like it’s supposed to, but you’re still having trouble with gmail slowing down, there’s a chance your computer is infected with malware.
If you’re using antivirus software, run a quick scan to make sure your computer isn’t infected. If you don’t use antivirus software, now is the perfect time to download it.
5. disable advanced settings.
In gmail’s advanced settings, you’ll find a list of experimental features that haven’t yet been fully confirmed in gmail; these used to be consolidated under the “google labs” umbrella, so you could feel like a mad scientist when you turned on these features.
There are many cool and useful options in this submenu, including the ability to create your own custom shortcuts and get an email preview pane so you can read emails faster.
However, these features are essentially in beta and may not always work the way you want them to; In some cases, they can be responsible for slowing down gmail. disable the features you use the least in advanced settings, or disable advanced settings entirely.
6. disable chat.
do you use gmail chat regularly? if not, you should know that gmail still loads your contacts and gmail chat feature every time you open your inbox. As you might suspect, this has a small but measurable impact on loading speeds.
Fortunately, you have the option to disable chat entirely. head to the settings menu and click on the chat tab. there, you will have the option to disable “chat”. you can turn it back on at any time by returning to this menu.
7. reduce the amount of display of your message.
By default, Gmail will display 25 conversations or line items per page of your inbox. As you may have guessed, this is also the number of conversations that gmail should load when you first open your inbox or navigate to a new page.
you can increase or decrease the number of messages displayed; if you lower this number, you should be able to reduce the loading time of gmail. In the settings menu, under the general tab, you will have the option to change your “max page size”.
reduce this to 10 conversations per page, the minimum, if you want gmail to be as fast as possible.
8. remove any app integration you are using.
There are dozens, if not hundreds, of tools, applications, extensions, and plugins that are designed to integrate with gmail. some of them use data from gmail to help you analyze your email habits. some of them offer their own unique functionality like a popup within gmail.
others change the way you use gmail entirely. In any case, if you’re into productivity tools and software integrations, you’ll likely rack up dozens of these integrations over time. Unfortunately, each of these integrations and plugins has the potential to slow down gmail. there are two solid approaches you can take here. First, you can get rid of any apps and extensions that you’re not actively using.
You can do this by checking the plugins tab of the settings menu and checking which apps use gmail data. You can also take an “elimination diet” style approach, removing all extensions from your account and then slowly adding them back one at a time to see which, if any, are responsible for slowing down gmail.
Either way, you should be closer to making gmail work as fast as you want.
9. disable the browser compatibility check process.
When loading, gmail automatically performs a compatibility check with your browser. basically google wants to make sure that gmail can run the way it is designed to run; if it can’t, it might default to loading in basic html mode (more on that shortly).
For now, let’s focus on this verification process; Regardless of whether your browser is supported or not, this check can add significant time to your gmail inbox loading time. and since most browsers support the latest version of gmail, you probably don’t need to run this check anyway.
use this link and/or update your bookmarks to include the “?nocheckbrowser” url extension to load gmail without performing this non-essential check.
10. disable or remove some of your filters.
Filters are a useful way to automate some of your email flow, ultimately saving you hours over the course of weeks and months of work. however, each of these gmail email filters requires resources to run, iteratively and cumulatively increasing the time it takes for gmail to run.
Go to the filters and blocked addresses tab in the settings menu to see if you have any filters set up, and if you do, browse through them to see if there are any you no longer want or need.
Turn off as many as you can and see if there is an improvement in the overall speed of gmail.
11. remove custom themes.
simply an optional component of gmail, custom themes allow you to apply a unique and specific design to your inbox. Depending on what you choose, this theme may be more pleasing to your eyes, helping it perform better, or it may simply be an aesthetic preference.
Whatever the case may be, uploading your custom theme will add a bit of loading time and other features to your gmail inbox. if you’re interested in making gmail faster, get rid of your custom themes and stick with the default one.
if you are interested, you can see our step by step guide on how to change your gmail background here.
12. delete old messages.
If your gmail seems slow, especially when sending or receiving messages, it could be that your messages are exceeding their upper storage limit.
scroll down to the bottom of your inbox and you’ll see how much data you’re using in the bottom left corner. click “manage” there and you’ll see a breakdown of how you’re using that storage space. your best bet is to delete messages you no longer need, especially messages that include a large attachment.
Use the search bar dropdown in gmail and you can search for emails that have an attachment.
For help, check out our guide on how to bulk delete gmail emails. Also, be sure to check out our complete 10-step guide on how to clean up your Gmail inbox.
13. try using basic html from gmail.
If you’ve tried many of the steps above but are still having issues with loading speeds, you may want to load the basic html version of gmail, either by following the link above or by clicking “basic html view” when prompted by gmail .
The basic html version is basically a stripped down version of regular gmail, so you’ll lose some features, including chat, built-in spell check, keyboard shortcuts, custom “from” addresses, rich formatting, and more. add or import contacts.
However, if you don’t need these features and just want gmail to work faster for you, gmail basic html may be ideal.
how to use gmail faster
okay now you know how to make gmail faster. your inbox loads quickly and you can send and receive messages in the blink of an eye. You can further boost your gmail productivity in several ways by speeding up your own gmail usage:
14. track your gmail activity.
Even if you think you’re a master of productivity, there are probably a number of bad habits keeping you from getting real e-mail effectiveness. For example, he may be spending too much time emailing a particular recipient, or he may be dealing with too many email threads.
If you use a tool like emailanalytics, you’ll be able to see exactly how your email habits manifest themselves, studying your email schedule, your most common patterns, and even your response times.
By studying these metrics, you’ll quickly learn where you need to improve, though the actual improvement will be up to you.
15. use keyboard shortcuts.
There are over 100 gmail keyboard shortcuts you can use to simplify things like opening a message to compose and apply formatting. you can even create your own custom shortcuts if you feel like putting in the effort.
It will take some time to learn all those keyboard shortcuts and apply them consistently, but it’s worth the investment if you want to use gmail faster.
Productivity is a rich and complex topic, even if it relates specifically to email, and learning how to make gmail faster will be only part of the equation. With the tips above, you should be able to get Gmail running faster and start refining your daily Gmail habits so you can send those emails faster than ever.
If you’re ready to get serious about perfecting your email habits, and your team’s email habits while you’re at it, be sure to give email scanning a try. EmailAnalytics connects with Gmail to help you understand your busiest times and days, your email thread management habits, your top senders and recipients, and more. sign up for a free trial and find out what it’s all about!