Welcome to Gmail. This document will give you a quick overview of how Gmail works with you to make your life easier. Let’s get started!

Your Inbox

When you sign in to Gmail, you’ll see a list of any messages you've received in your Inbox. Here's an example:


 

Unread messages are in bold. To open a message, simply click it in your message list.

About conversations

By default, replies to messages are grouped into conversations. A conversation keeps all messages in a thread together, which makes it easier to keep track of them and reduces Inbox clutter. Here's how a conversation appears in your Inbox:

 


Note: The number of messages in a conversation appears to the right of senders' names.


Here's what an opened conversation looks like:



Note: You can control whether messages are grouped into conversations: Click the Gear icon and then Settings in the upper-right corner of your Inbox and, on the General tab, scroll to Conversation View.


  • If Conversation View is off, new messages won’t be grouped into conversations, and any existing conversations are ungrouped into separate messages.

  • If Conversation View is on, you can't separate the messages in a conversation. However, if you want to send a reply but don't want it to be added to the conversation, you can simply change the subject line in your reply.

Compose a message


  1. In the pane on the left, click COMPOSE.

  1. A new message opens near the lower-right of your Gmail window. To minimize the new message click . Hold the Shift key and click  to pop out the message into a new window. You can resize the message window and move it around the screen this way.

  1. In the To field, type the first letter or letters of a recipient's name to look up their email address in your corporate directory. (When you are not adding addresses, the To field is labeled Recipients.)

  1. To add a Cc or a Bcc, simply click Cc or Bcc which shows up when you’re entering addresses. You can also drag and drop email addresses between To, Cc, and Bcc.

  1. Enter a subject and the message text. Your email pane will grow as you type to fit your message.


Format your message

To format the text of your message, click the icon to expand your formatting options.

Add a file attachment, image, or link

Hover over the paperclip icon on the bottom of the message to show options for attaching a file; inserting a picture, document, emoticon, or calendar invite; or creating a hyperlink.



To attach a file, click the paperclip and then browse for the file on your computer or local network. Once attached, the file appears at the bottom of the message. To remove an attachment, just click the x.



You can also attach files by dragging and dropping them into the body of the email. The files will attach at the bottom of the email.



To embed an image in your email, you can click the Insert photos icon and browse for the file or, if you have Chrome, drag a single file and drop it into the body of the message. It doesn’t matter where you drop your image, the file will position itself where you last clicked in the message.


Insert a calendar invitation

Insert a calendar invitation into your email by clicking the Insert invitation icon and filling out the fields. The invitation will be sent to everyone copied on the message.


 

Send a message

At the bottom of the message window, click Send. A message appears at the top of the mail window, confirming that your message was sent.


 


Note: When you exit the message, a draft is automatically saved to your Drafts folder. (While composing your message, Gmail updates drafts automatically and notifies you by writing Saved next to the trash can, as seen below.) If you decide to discard your message instead of sending it at a later time, click the trash can to delete it.


 

Reply to a Message

You can reply to just the sender or to all recipients of a message.

To reply to a single message or the last message in a conversation


  1. Open the message. If the message is part of a conversation, open the conversation and select the message you want to reply to.

  1. At the bottom of the message, click Reply (to reply to just the sender) or Reply to all (to reply to all recipients). The Reply to all option won’t appear if the email was only sent to you.


  2. Optionally, you can change your reply format by clicking the arrow next to the Recipients field, or add new email addresses to the conversation by clicking directly in the Recipients field. 

  1. Enter your reply in the message field.

  2. At the bottom of the message, click Send.


To reply to an earlier message in a conversation


  1. Open the conversation and select the message you want to reply to.

  2. To reply to just the sender, click the Reply button:


    If you’d rather reply to all recipients, click the down arrow next to the Reply button, and then click Reply to all:

  3. Optionally, add other email addresses to which to send the reply.

  4. Enter your reply in the message field.

  5. At the bottom of the message, click Send.

Forward a Message

You can forward a message, just a single message in a conversation, or an entire conversation.

To forward a message or a single message in a conversation:


  1. Open the message. If the message is part of a conversation, open the conversation and select the message to forward.

  1. At the bottom of the message, click Forward.


    Note: If you have a conversation open, the Forward link sends the last (most recent) message. If you’d rather forward an earlier message in the conversation, select the message, click the down arrow next to the message’s Reply button, and then click Forward:


  2. Enter the email addresses to which to forward the message, and add any notes in the message field.

  1. If the message has an attachment that you don't want to forward, uncheck the box next to the attachment's file name, below the Subject field.

  2. At the bottom of the message, click Send.


To forward an entire conversation:


  1. Open the conversation.

  2. In the menu bar above the conversation, click More and then click Forward all.


  3. At the bottom of the message, click Send.
    The recipient receives a single message containing all messages in the conversation, listed in order of oldest to most recent.

Print a Message

You can print a single message or an entire conversation.

To print a single message or an entire conversation:


  1. Open the message or conversation.

  2. At the upper right of the message, click the Print all icon.


    A printer-friendly version of the conversation appears.

  3. Use your web browser’s Print options to print the message.


To print a single message within a conversation:


  1. Open the conversation and select the message you want to print.

  2. In the message, click the down arrow to the right of the Reply button, and then click Print.


    A printer-friendly version of the message appears.

  3. Use your web browser’s Print options to print the message.