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How to create an email template in Gmail
Turn on Gmail templates, save one, insert it, and send it as an auto-reply with a filter. Plus the usual snags, and when a drafted reply beats a fixed one.
Benjamin Ben HattarEvery inbox answers the same handful of questions on repeat. Where is my invoice. Can we move the call. What does the annual plan cost. Typing the same paragraph for the fortieth time is how a Tuesday disappears.
Gmail has a built-in fix called templates. You write the reply once, save it, and drop it into any message in a few clicks. The feature is off by default and only works in Gmail on a computer. Paired with a filter, it can even send the reply for you. Here is the whole setup, the snags people hit, and the point where a fixed template stops being the right tool.
- Templates are off by default. Turn them on once, in Settings, on the Advanced tab.
- Write the message in a compose window, then save it from More options, Templates.
- Insert a saved template into any compose window from the same menu.
- Pair a template with a filter and Gmail sends it to every new email that matches.
- Templates only exist in Gmail on a computer, and Google cannot bring back a deleted one.
- A template suits a question with one answer. A reply that depends on the thread needs a draft written from that thread.
Set up a Gmail template
Five minutes, once. Every step below matches Google's own Gmail Help page as of 27 September 2026.
- 01
Turn templates on
Open Gmail on your computer. Click Settings at the top right, then See all settings. Open the Advanced tab. Next to Templates, click Enable, then click Save Changes at the bottom of the page.
The Gmail apps for Android and iPhone have no templates. Google says you can only turn them on and use them from Gmail on a computer.
- 02
Write the message once
Click Compose and write the reply you keep retyping. Write it for anyone who might receive it. Mark the parts that change with an obvious gap such as [NAME] or [DATE], so you spot them before you send.
- 03
Save it as a template
At the bottom of the compose window, click More options, then Templates, then Save draft as template, then Save as new template.
- 04
Insert it when the question comes in
Open a compose window, click More options, then Templates, and pick the one you want under Insert template. Fill the gaps, read it once as the person receiving it, and send.
- 05
Update or delete one
To change a template, write the new version in a compose window, then click More options, Templates, Save draft as template, and pick the old one under Overwrite Template. To remove one, click Delete template in the same menu and choose it.
Deleting is permanent. Copy the text somewhere first if there is any chance you want it back.
Send a template automatically with a filter
A template never sends itself. For an automatic reply, Gmail needs a filter that tells it which emails get which template.
- 01
Describe the emails
In the search box at the top, click Show search options. Fill in what the incoming mail looks like: the sender, words in the subject, words it contains. Then click Create filter.
- 02
Pick the template
Tick Send template, choose the template from the list, and click Create filter.
Keep the filter narrow. Every email that matches gets the template, including the one from your biggest customer asking something slightly different.
Common fixes
No Templates option under More options. Templates are still switched off. Go to Settings, See all settings, Advanced, click Enable next to Templates, and save.
No templates on your phone. They are not hidden, they do not exist there. Insert templates from Gmail on a computer.
The auto-reply never goes out. A template does nothing alone. Check that a filter exists with Send template ticked, and that its search criteria match the emails you expect. Test the criteria in the search box first; if the search finds nothing, the filter will not either.
The wrong people got the auto-reply. The filter is too broad. Open Settings, See all settings, Filters and Blocked Addresses, find the filter and click Edit to tighten it, or Delete to stop it.
A template vanished. If someone deleted it, it is gone for good. Google states that deleted templates cannot be recovered.
When a fixed template is the wrong tool
A template answers the question you expected. Real inboxes keep asking the question next to it. "Where is my invoice" is a template. "Where is my invoice, and can you split it across the two cost centers we agreed in March" is not. Send the template and the customer learns that nobody read the second half.
That second kind of email needs a draft that starts from the thread: what the person asked, what you promised earlier, what is still open. The standard paragraph can stay standard. The rest has to come from reading.
This is the job Cedric does. He is an AI teammate who works from Slack, Discord or Telegram. Connect Gmail and he searches your mail, reads the whole thread and drafts the reply. Teach him your standard wording once and every draft uses it; one memory for the team explains how that sticks.
The question next to the template
The invoice reply, drafted from the thread.
Grace Adeyemi9:14 AM
@Cedric Nordlys asked about their September invoice again. Draft a reply, and use our usual invoice wording.
CedricAPP9:15 AM
Read the thread with finance@nordlys.no, four messages since 12 March. They want the invoice split across two cost centers, which you agreed to on 14 March at 60/40 between Operations and R&D. Draft: our standard invoice paragraph, then the split as agreed, then a line that the corrected PDF follows today.
The draft comes back as a preview. Nothing reaches Nordlys until someone approves it, and you can change it in the same reply: "make it 70/30, then send". That gate is not a setting; how approvals work covers why.
Template, auto-reply, or drafted reply
| Gmail template | Filter with template | Cedric draft | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Where you use it | Gmail on a computer | Gmail, on new matching mail | Slack, Discord or Telegram, reading your Gmail |
| Reads the earlier thread | No | No | Yes, the whole thread |
| Handles the unexpected question | Only if you edit it | No | Drafted from what was asked |
| Sends without a person | No, you click send | Yes, to every match | No, every send waits for a yes |
| Cost | Included in Gmail | Included in Gmail | 100,000 free credits, then from $19 a month |
What still needs a person
Deciding what to promise. A draft can quote the thread and your standard wording. Whether you split the invoice, move the deadline or say no is your call, and the approval step is where you make it.
Keep your templates. For a question with one right answer, like your office address or your refund window, a Gmail template is faster than any draft. Most inboxes want both.
FAQ
They are off by default. On a computer, open Settings, See all settings, then the Advanced tab, click Enable next to Templates and save.
No. Google's help page says templates can only be turned on and used from Gmail on a computer.
Create a filter. Click Show search options in the search box, enter the criteria, click Create filter, tick Send template, choose the template, and click Create filter again.
No. Google states that a deleted template cannot be recovered, so copy the text out before you delete it.
No. He drafts from the thread, and every send waits for a person's yes in the channel, at 3pm or 3am.
Free to start, no card.