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Manage email with labels and filters and move email out of your inbox.
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In this section:
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1 Switch to labels from folders
In other email programs, you might have stored email in folders. In Gmail, you use labels to categorize your email. Labels are like folders, but with a twist—you can apply several labels to an email, then later find the email by clicking any of its labels from the left panel. You can also search by label.
You can use labels to:
- Track the status of people's tasks. For example, create the labels Laura: In Progress and Laura: Done to indicate email that Laura is working on or has completed.
- Organize email by nesting labels like subfolders. For example, create the label Tasks. Under Tasks, create nested labels by person.
- Identify email that needs follow-up.
- Identify email that can be read later.
2 Create labels
Create a label:
- Open Gmail.
- At the top right, click Settings
See all settings.
- Click the Labels tab.
- Scroll to the Labels section and click Create new label.
- Enter the label name and click Create.
- Gmail label names can be up to 225 characters long.
- You can also create nested labels, which are like subfolders.
Create a label from an email:
- From an email, click Labels
Create new.
- Enter the label name and click Create.
- (Optional) Click Nest label under and choose an existing label to place it under.
The new label automatically applies to your email.
Create new.3 Apply labels
- In your inbox, check the boxes next to the email you want to apply a label to.
- Click Labels
.
- Check the boxes next to the labels you want to add and click Apply.
- In the left panel, point to a label and click More
.
- Point to Label color and choose a color. Or, click Add custom color.
The change instantly applies to all email with that label.
- (Optional) To remove a label color, point to Label color and click Remove color.
- (Optional) To see all email with a particular label, in the left panel, click the label’s name.
.- In your inbox, check the boxes next to the email you want to move into a label.
- Click Move to
.
- Click the label you want to move your email to.
.4 Add filters
Manage your incoming email automatically with Gmail’s filters.
- Open Gmail.
- In the search box at the top, click Show search options
.
- Enter your search criteria. If you want to check that your search worked correctly, see what emails show up by clicking Search.
- At the bottom of the search window, click Create filter.
- Choose what you’d like the filter to do.
- Click Create filter.
For tips on applying common filters, see Gmail filter ideas.
5 Star important email
Want to flag an important email? Click Star 
To see all your starred email, in the left sidebar, click Starred.
6 Snooze email
Postpone email to a future date or time that's more convenient for you.
- Open Gmail and point to an email.
- On the right, click Snooze
.
- Under Snooze until, choose a time.
The email automatically snoozes and moves out of your inbox. You will get a reminder about the snoozed email after the specified time.
- (Optional) To see all snoozed email, click Snoozed in the left sidebar.
.7 Archive or delete email messages
Archived email messages move out of your inbox but stay under All mail, so that you can find them later. Deleted email messages move to the Trash and get permanently deleted after 30 days.
To archive or delete email, select one or more email. At the top, click Archive
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