Do find yourself typing the same message over and over, perhaps a weekly reminder for for homework, projects, progress reports, or office hours; a form letter to parents; FAQ; or a standard meeting agenda? Google Mail has the answer. Gmail templates let you save a message you send often and reuse it instead of retyping it. Templates replace the older Gmail feature called “canned responses.” This article walks you through turning on templates, creating, editing, deleting, and inserting a template, and sending a template as an automatic reply.
Before you begin, open Gmail in a web browser on your computer. You can only turn on and use templates from Gmail. They are not available in the Gmail mobile app.
Turn on Templates
Templates are turned off by default. You only need to turn theon once.
- From Gmail, click the Settings icon (gear) at the top right.
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Click See all settings
- At the top of the Settings page, click the Advanced tab.
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Next to Templates, click Enable.
- At the bottom of the page, click Save Changes.
Create a Template
Write the message once, then save it as a template so you can reuse it later.
- From Gmail, click Compose at the top left.
- In the compose window, type the text you want to save as your template.
- At the bottom of the compose window, click the More options icon (three dots).
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Select Templates.
- Select Save draft as template.
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Select Save as new template and then give your template a name.
Edit or Delete a Template
Use these steps to update a template that is out of date or remove one you no longer need.
Edit a Template
- From Gmail, click Compose at the top left.
- In the compose window, type the updated text for your template.
- At the bottom of the compose window, click the More options icon (three dots).
- Select Templates.
- Select Save draft as template.
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Under Overwrite Template, choose the template you want to replace.
- When the dialog comes up to save your template, Click Save.
Delete a Template
Important: After you delete a template, you can’t recover it.
- From Gmail, click Compose at the top left.
- At the bottom of the compose window, click the More options icon (three dots).
- Select Templates.
- Select Delete template.
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Choose the template you want to delete.
- When the dialog comes up to delete your template, Click Delete.
Insert a Template
Add a saved template to a new message, then finish and send it.
- From Gmail, click Compose at the top left.
- At the bottom of the compose window, click the More options icon (three dots).
- Select Templates.
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Under Insert template, choose the template you want to use.
- Add recipients and finish writing the rest of your message.
- Click Send.
Send a Template as an Automatic Reply
To send a template automatically, you create a filter. Gmail sends the template as a reply to any incoming message that matches the filter’s search criteria. Make sure templates are turned on and the template is saved before you start.
Important: Gmail sends your template to every message that matches the filter, including messages from people outside Blake, group emails, and mailing lists. Use specific search criteria, and click Search before creating the filter to check which messages match.
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From Gmail, click the Show search options icon in the search mail bar at the top.
- Enter your search criteria, such as the sender’s address or words in the subject.
- Optional: To check that your search finds the right messages, click Search. To return to the filter options, click the Show search options icon again.
- Click Create filter.
- Check the box next to Send template.
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Choose your template from the list.
- Click Create filter.
Contact Support
Should you have any issues, please contact us:
- Submit a Blake ISS Support ticket
- Email - support@blakeschool.org
- Faculty and Staff Support Line (952) 988-3416
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Updated October 30th, 2026
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