Gmail Labels in 2026: What They Are and How to Use Them

Gmail labels are tags you attach to emails so you can group and find them later. Unlike folders, one email can carry several labels, and labeling it doesn't move it out of your inbox. To create one on a computer, click Create new label next to Labels on the left side of Gmail, type a name and click Create.

Labels feel odd if you grew up on Outlook folders, and plenty of people give up on them after a week of half-sorted mail. They're worth a second try, because they're Gmail's main way to organize mail, and filters can apply them for you. Below: what labels are, how to create, apply, nest and color them on a computer, Android and iPhone, how to label email automatically, and how to keep the list from turning into clutter.

What are labels in Gmail?

A label in Gmail is a name you attach to an email, like a sticky tag, that lets you pull up every email with that tag in one click from the left sidebar. Gmail even treats some of its own views this way: Google's archive page describes archived email as staying in your account under the All Mail label.

Three things make labels different from the folders in Outlook or Apple Mail:

• One email, many labels. A contract from a client can sit under both "Clients" and "Contracts" at once, with no copies.
• Labeling doesn't move anything. The email stays in your inbox until you archive it or use Move to.
• Deleting a label doesn't delete email. Google's labels page is clear on this: remove a label and its emails stay put. Delete an email, though, and it disappears from every label and from your inbox.

Categories are the Primary, Promotions, Social and Updates tabs; Gmail fills them on its own, and you can search them with the operators in Google's search operators list. Labels are the part you control.

How to create a Gmail label on a computer

In a desktop browser, you create a Gmail label from the left sidebar in a few clicks. These steps follow Google's help page on labels:

1. Open Gmail in your browser.
2. On the left, next to Labels, click Create new label (the plus sign).
3. Type a name for the label.
4. To put it inside another label, check Nest label under and pick the parent label.
5. Click Create.

The new label appears in the sidebar under Labels, ready to use on any email.

Nested labels (sub-labels)

A nested label is a label inside another label, which Gmail shows as an indented list in the sidebar. When I set up labels for a product launch, I made one parent called "Launch" with "Press", "Partners" and "Pricing" nested underneath. The sidebar stayed short, and expanding "Launch" showed the three pieces when I needed them. To nest an existing label, hover over it, click More (the three dots), choose Edit, then check Nest label under.

How to create labels in Gmail on Android and iPhone

In the Gmail app, you create labels from the menu at the top left. The wording differs slightly between the two phones.

On Android, per Google's Android steps:

1. Open the Gmail app and tap Menu at the top left.
2. Under All labels, tap Create label.
3. Type a name and tap Save.

On iPhone and iPad, per Google's iOS steps:

1. Open the Gmail app and tap Menu at the top left.
2. Under Labels, tap Create new.
3. Type a name and tap Save.

Labels sync across your account, so one you make on your phone shows up in Gmail on your laptop, and the other way around. Nesting and colors are easier on a computer.

How to add a label to an email in Gmail

To add a label to an email on a computer, check the box next to it, click Labels at the top (the tag icon), and tick the label you want. You can tick several at once. Those are the steps on Google's labels page, and they work on a single email or a whole selection.

A few faster ways do the same thing:

• Keyboard shortcut L. With shortcuts turned on, select an email and press L to open the label menu, then pick the label. Google's shortcut list calls it the "label as" menu.
• While you write. In a new message, click More options (the three dots at the bottom right), then Label, to tag the email you're about to send.
• On Android. Touch and hold one or more emails, tap More (top right) and choose Label as, check the labels and tap OK (Google's Android steps).
• On iPhone. Touch and hold the emails, tap More, then Labels, check the ones you want and tap Done (Google's iOS steps).

Turning on keyboard shortcuts takes a minute: click Settings, then See all settings, find Keyboard shortcuts, pick Keyboard shortcuts on and click Save Changes, as Google's shortcut page describes. After a client sends a signed proposal, I select it, press L, pick "Clients", then press E to archive. That's my whole filing routine for a single email.

How to move an email to a label

Moving an email swaps its current label for a new one, so it leaves the view you're in. In the inbox, the label being swapped out is Inbox itself. Adding a label keeps the email where it is and tags it as well. That's the whole difference, and it's why moving from the inbox is effectively labeling plus archiving in one step.

On a computer, select the email, click Labels, uncheck the current label and check the new one, per Google's labels page. The Move to button and the V shortcut do the same from a menu (Google's shortcut list). On Android, touch and hold the emails, tap More, then Move to, and pick a label. On iPhone the option is called Change labels.

I use Move to for anything I've finished with and Labels for anything still open. A vendor invoice that needs paying gets a "Waiting" label and stays in the inbox; once it's paid, I move it to "Finance" and it leaves the inbox for good.

How to label emails automatically in Gmail

Gmail labels incoming email automatically through filters: you describe which emails to catch (by sender, subject or words), then choose Apply the label as the action. Filters are easiest to build in a desktop browser. These steps follow Google's filter page:

1. In the search bar at the top of Gmail, click Show search options (the sliders icon).
2. Fill in what to match, such as the sender's address in From or a word in Subject. Click Search to check the results look right.
3. Click Create filter below the search fields.
4. Check Apply the label and pick a label, or choose New label to make one.
5. Optionally check Skip the Inbox (Archive it) so these emails go straight to the label without touching your inbox.
6. To label the emails you already have as well, check Also apply filter to matching conversations.
7. Click Create filter.

The option names match Google's list of filter actions, and San Jose State's Gmail guide confirms that the "also apply" checkbox labels messages already in your account. Without it, the filter only acts on new mail. You can also start from an email: check its box, click More, then Filter messages like these.

For a client I'm working with closely, I make a filter on their company's domain, so anything from @their-company.example lands under a label with their name. I leave Skip the Inbox off for clients, because I want to see their emails arrive. For automated receipts and shipping notices, I turn it on: they go straight to a "Receipts" label, and I look when I need one.

To change or remove a filter later, click Settings, then See all settings, then Filters and Blocked Addresses, and choose Edit or Delete next to it. The same page has Export and Import filters, which is handy if you set up a second Gmail account and want the same sorting.

How to find emails by label

The quickest way to see everything under a Gmail label is to click its name in the left sidebar. Search works too, and it can do things the sidebar can't. Google's search operators page lists these:

• label:clients shows every email with the "Clients" label. Combine it with other terms, as in label:clients invoice.
• has:nouserlabels finds emails with no label of your own, which is a good way to spot what your filters are missing.
• has:userlabels finds everything you've labeled.
• in:archive shows archived email, labeled or not.

With keyboard shortcuts on, press G then L, type part of a label's name and pick it to jump straight there (Google's shortcut list). On my phone I mostly search instead of scrolling the menu, because the label list gets long.

How to edit, color, hide or delete a Gmail label

On a computer, every label setting lives in the More menu (three dots) that appears when you hover over the label's name in the sidebar, according to Google's labels page.

• Rename or nest: hover, click More, then Edit.
• Change the color: hover, click More, then Label color, and pick a color or Add custom color.
• Delete: hover, click More, then Remove label. The emails stay in your account.
• Hide or show: click Settings, then See all settings, open the Labels tab, and click Show or Hide next to each label.

In the app, renaming and deleting are in Settings. On Android, tap Menu, Settings, your account, then Manage labels and the label. On iPhone, tap Menu, Settings, Inbox customizations, then Labels and the label. Both show Name and Delete options (Android, iPhone).

Google's limits are generous: up to 5,000 labels per account and up to 100 custom colors, where each pairing of background and text color counts as one (Google's labels page). If a new custom color won't save, you've likely hit that ceiling; pick a standard color instead.

I keep color for one job only: red on the label for things waiting on me. Everything else stays gray, so red stands out when I scan the inbox.

How to get notifications for a Gmail label on Android

The Gmail app for Android can notify you about new email under a specific label, which is useful when a filter sends important mail past the inbox. Google's notification page gives these steps:

1. Open the Gmail app, tap Menu, then Settings, and choose your account.
2. Tap Manage labels and choose the label.
3. Set syncing to the last 30 days or all messages. Google says you can't turn on notifications for a label that doesn't sync.
4. Turn on notifications for that label.

Google's page doesn't describe per-label alerts for the iPhone app, so don't count on a filter that skips the inbox to buzz your iPhone. For mail you can't afford to miss, leave Skip the Inbox off and let the label do the sorting.

Do Gmail labels work in Outlook or Apple Mail?

Yes. When you read Gmail in another app over IMAP, such as Outlook or Apple Mail, your labels show up as folders. You choose which ones appear: in Gmail's settings, open the Labels tab and check Show in IMAP next to each label you want, per Google's Workspace guide to reading Gmail in other apps. Work and school accounts may need an admin to allow IMAP first.

One thing to expect: because a Gmail email can carry several labels, the same email can appear in several folders in Outlook or Apple Mail. It's still one email in your account, not a copy.

Why can't I see my Gmail label?

A missing Gmail label is usually hidden, collapsed or named differently than you remember. Check these, starting with the most likely:

• It's hidden. Go to Settings, See all settings, the Labels tab, and click Show next to it.
• It's tucked under More. Part of the sidebar sits under More (that's where Google's archive page sends you for All Mail). Click More to expand the list.
• It's nested. Click the small arrow next to the parent label to open it.
• The email isn't under it. Search has:nouserlabels to check whether the email got a label at all. If a filter should have caught it, compare the email with the filter's criteria; a reply from a different address won't match a filter on the original sender.
• You're in the app. Search is faster than scrolling the menu: type label: and the name.

A labeling system that stays usable

The usual way Gmail labels fail is by multiplying. Fifty labels become a second inbox to maintain. A few habits keep them working:

• Start with five or fewer. Clients or projects you touch every week, plus "Receipts" and "Waiting". Add one only when you've gone looking for the same kind of email twice.
• Let filters do the routine filing. Manual labeling is for judgment calls; anything predictable (a sender, a domain, a subject) belongs in a filter.
• Use one label for status. A "Waiting" or "To reply" label tracks what's open better than leaving everything in the inbox.
• Nest by client or project, not by year. Search by date already handles years: label:clients after:2026/01/01.
• Prune every few months. Delete labels you haven't clicked in a quarter. Their emails stay in All Mail and in search.

When I took over an inbox from a colleague who was going on leave, the first thing I did was hide every label I didn't recognize rather than delete them. A month later I deleted the ones I'd never opened. Nothing was lost, and the sidebar finally fit on one screen. If you're the one heading out, turn on Gmail's automatic away reply and tell whoever covers for you which two or three labels matter.