Working with labels in Gmail

A label is a kind of folder in which you collect emails with a specific subject or theme. You create such a label yourself, after which incoming mails are automatically marked with this label. For example, consider a folder labeled ‘Tickets’ or a label ‘Association’. You could even create a folder labeled ‘SeniorWeb’ to hold all of SeniorWeb’s emails. Handy to quickly find something!

On the PC, create a label in Gmail:

• surf to www.gmail.com and log in.
• Click on the three horizontal stripes at the top left to open the main menu.
• Scroll down this main menu and click More.
• Scroll further down and click Create new label.
• Enter a name.
  • The ‘Place label under’ section can be skipped. This is only necessary if you want to create a folder within a folder (ie a subfolder).
• click on To make.

The created label between the folders now appears in the main menu on the left. If necessary, create more labels in the same way.

Time to connect emails to the created label. Assign a mail to label in the following way:

• Click on the square for a mail in your inbox to select it. A check mark appears.
• Click on the label icon.

• Click on the square next to the correct label to put a checkmark. You can assign an email to multiple labels.
• click on To apply.

In this way you can label every mail immediately. Optionally, you can also select multiple emails at once to label them all at once.

Do you want new mails to arrive automatically at a label? Then read the article ‘Using automatic filters in Gmail’.

View all emails with a specific label at a glance. This can be done in two ways:

1. In the search bar at the top of Gmail, enter the name of the label. The label will automatically appear in the search suggestions. Click on it to show the mails under that label.
2. Click on the three horizontal lines at the top left to open the main menu. Click on the desired label in the menu list.

Is it going to be a mess or are there labels that you don’t use? Then there is the option to manage labels. This goes like this:

• Click on the three horizontal stripes at the top left to open the main menu.
• Scroll down this main menu and click More.
• Scroll down a little further and click Manage labels

Here you see an overview of all folders, categories and labels. For each part you can choose ‘Show’ or ‘Hide’. Decide at your own discretion which parts are important or not. Bold means that option is selected.

• Is ‘Show’ in bold, but should the folder be hidden? Then click on Hide.
• Is ‘Hide’ in bold, but does the map have to be shown? Then click on To display.
• At ‘Labels’ there is also the option to only display the label if it contains unread mails.