Introduction

To be honest, do you regularly spend time trying to locate emails in your Gmail inbox?

Don’t worry, we have all been there. Inbox management skill requires learning and mastering. You can’t expect it to come to you automatically.

If you want to improve your inbox management skills, one of the first things you need to master is Gmail labels. It’s a powerful tool to keep your inbox neat, tidy, and easy to manage.

There are plenty of tricks to deal with email overload, but there’s one right under your nose that you might not be using: good old Gmail labels. Although Gmail Labels might seem like a simple feature on the surface, it can get complicated as you explore further:

Labels Basics

Although Gmail Labels might seem like a simple feature on the surface, it can get complicated as you explore further. So, let’s cover some of the basics first…

What are labels in Gmail?

Labels allow you to organize your Gmail email messages into categories. They are very similar to Google Drive folders. You can also apply more than one label to a single message. In other words, a Gmail label is a tag that can be added to any email message in your account. The labels can be used to keep your inbox organized. They are similar to folders, however, unlike folders, you can apply more than one label to a single message.

How can you create a new Gmail label?

Keep your inbox organized by creating your own labels (acting as folders). Here is how to create a parent label:

1. To create a new label that will be the main folder, click “More” in the list of labels on the left side of the Gmail screen.
   

   

    

2. Expand the list and click the “Create new label” link:
   

   

3. Input a name for the label in the “Please enter a new label name” box, then click “Create” to finish creating the new label:
   

   

The label will look like this:

How to add a label to an email?

You can label your messages in your inbox or move messages out of the inbox into your labels. Here is how to do that:

1. To apply a label to a message while keeping the message in your inbox, check the box to the left of the message to select it (or open the message). Then click the “Labels” action button and select one or more labels from the drop-down menu:
   

   

2. You can apply more than one label to a message. The “Labels” menu does not go away once you select your labels, so you can select multiple labels at once. Click “Apply” at the bottom of the menu.
3. To apply a label to a message and move the message out of your inbox at the same time, drag the message to the desired label in the list on the left. Hovering over the label will expand it to display labels that may currently be hidden:
   

   

Unlike folders, it’s possible to add multiple labels to an email. This means the same email can be accessed under different labels.

Managing and automation with Gmail labels

With that knowledge in hand, let’s dive in and learn how you can manage and automate with your Gmail labels.

What are the Gmail filters?

Gmail filters are a way for you to automate the handling of incoming messages. You can set the criteria for each filter and what action you want Gmail to take with a message that meets your criteria.

In other words, filters in Gmail let you create rules for how Gmail handles incoming or outgoing email messages. These rules tell Gmail how to manage your email for you, letting you automate the process of organizing your inbox.

How to set up automatic labeling of email messages?

With Gmail labels and filters. So, yes, you can get emails to go directly to a label by setting up filters.

For instance, you want a dedicated label for emails from PayPal, here are the steps you need to follow:

1. Create a new label called shopify emails.
2. In the search box enter from:@shopify.com – this emails that we will search all email received from Shopify
3. Click Create Filter
4. Tick the option Apply the label and select the label shopify emails. Also, tick the option: Also apply filter to matching conversations.
   

   

Examples

How to setup label with all email messages received from Olark Chat

Olark is a live chat service you can add to your website for sales, marketing, and customer support. When you are available for a chat, Olark will send you an email message. Here is how to set up a label that has all Olark email messages.

1. Create a new label called Olark Offline Messages.
2. In the search box enter from:no-reply@olark.com – this emails that we will search all email received from email address no-reply@olark.com
3. Click Create Filter
4. Tick the option Apply the label and select the label Olark Offline Messages. Also, tick the option: Also apply filter to matching conversations.

How to create a Gmail label with email messages in the certain date range

Sometimes it is useful to label your email messages based on their date (per year, quarter, etc.). This is especially very useful if you need to export your email message to Google Sheets and you want to have a different Google spreadsheet for each date range. Here is a support note on how to do there: https://support.cloudhq.net/how-to-create-a-gmail-label-with-email-messages-in-certain-date-range/