Templatize your emails

In our quest for efficiency, an overlooked feature are email templates. Here is your black belt training for setting up, organizing and using them like a pro.

Setup

... is really easy:

In Gmail (web), open Settings
Open the tab Advanced (formerly called labs)
Find Canned Responses (Templates) and click Enable
Save. Gmail will reload.

You are now able to create and use templates! Just as with all other settings on the advanced page, they apply to the web only, they aren't available on mobile.

By the way, the only other labs I have enabled are auto advance and custom keyboard shortcuts. Here's my complete setup!

Creating templates

... is also easy.

Compose an email
Click the three-dot-menu in the email composer
Select Canned responses -> Save draft as template -> Save as new template
Choose a title. Save.

Catch: When you use the template (see below), the template body will be inserted at the position of your mouse cursor. That means: Do not make your email footer part of the template, or you'll have a duplicate footer.

If you want to overwrite or delete a template, that also works via the Canned responses menu.

Using templates

... is the easiest part of all (so the GIF is the shortest!).

Click the three-dot-menu in the email composer
Select Canned responses
Select the template you need.

As mentioned above, the template's body will be inserted where your cursor is positioned. Normally this will be at the start of a blank email.

The template's title will become your email's subject IF there is no subject. It doesn't overwrite an existing subject.

Bonus tips

The template's title will become your email's subject IF there is no subject. It doesn't overwrite an existing subject.
Templates are sorted alphabetically. If you have templates that are used for replies, you can rename them just so that they stay organized (as their titles will never become a subject). Just as my "kindly consider reading the friendly manual" emails I was not able to hide in the GIFs above.
Templates are not available on mobile.
Templates used to be drafts. They probably still are (just hidden in the interface).
Using a template does nothing more than insert text (and modify the subject, perhaps). This means that the emails produced aren't special in any way that would you allow to filter for them, for example.

As with all of the G Suite tips this blog: They are meant to help you and your team be more productive. Use templates to save time, not to spam others or to send generic replies that just cost other people's time.

Remember, our goal is to reduce email. And if you find yourself getting a lot of the same questions, it may be time to use a different tool, like FAQ documents, Sites and G+ communities.

Spoiler: This post is groundwork for the Thursday post, which will be all about the fantastic ways that templates can make your life easier. (Be sure not to miss it - subscribe now if you haven't already!) Hopefully, you'll figure a lot of those ways out until then. Happy templating and, as always, thank you for reading!

#gmailPublished 2019-07-30 by Holger Matthies.Modified 2019-07-30 by Holger Matthies.Written listening to Vance Joy - Mess is mine.

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