How to create an email group in Gmail

Everybody wants to feel included—but can you really be expected to remember every single one of your coworkers every time you send a department-wide email? Here’s how to create a group in Gmail so you can save time, be more consistent, and stop forgetting to CC Dave in Accounting.

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Why create groups in Gmail?

Making groups in Gmail allows you to package a list of contacts you message regularly, so you don’t have to enter each address individually. This saves time, cuts out another menial recurring task, encourages teamwork, and helps you be sure you never exclude anyone (as much as you might want to). 

You can also use these groups to perform contact-based actions en masse, like signing teams up for a newsletter, sending team lists to outside organizations, sharing documents, or updating permissions.

Note: Sometimes, people confuse groups with Gmail aliases, which are used to make alternative email addresses managed by the same individual account. If you need a way to have one person operate multiple related email addresses, you’re looking for aliases.

How to create an email group in Gmail, step by step

Ready to create an email group? Here’s how to get your whole team bundled up into a single, convenient package—even Dave.

1. Go to contacts.google.com.

2. In the side menu, click the Create label icon, which looks like a plus (+) sign.

3. Enter your label name, and then click Save.

4. Select contacts for your email group.

5. Add contacts to the label you created.

Keep reading for more details.

1. Open Google Contacts

To get started, go to contacts.google.com. Alternatively, you can click the Google Apps icon, which looks like a three-by-three grid of dots, next to your profile icon. Then click Contacts. Any contacts you or your organization have added or with whom you often communicate will be found here.

2. Create a new label

In the side menu, click the Create label icon, which looks like a plus (+) sign.

3. Name your label

This should bring you to a pop-up prompting you to name the group. Consider something that’ll be top of mind for you, like “Marketing Team” or “Everybody Including Dave from Accounting.” When you’ve entered your label name, click Save. Your new label should appear on the sidebar under Labels.

4. Select contacts for your group

To find a pool of contacts to add to your new label, you can look at the Contacts, Frequently contacted, or Directory options in the side menu. To add a contact to your email group, hover over that contact’s icon, and click the checkbox next to their name.

5. Add contacts to the label you created

Once you’ve selected all your desired contacts, click the Manage labels icon above the contact list. This will display any labels you’ve already created and give you the option of creating a new one on the fly. Select your label, and click Apply.

You’re all set.

How to send a group email in Gmail

Now that your label is G2G (good to go, good to Gmail, good to enGage, etc.), here’s how to send a group email in Gmail.

1. Compose a new email in Gmail.

2. Start typing the name of your email group in the To field of a new email. Your email group will appear, indicating the number of members associated with it. Click the name of your email group to automatically populate every recipient’s email in that group in the To field.

   

3. Compose and send your email as you normally would.

How to manage contacts for Gmail groups

If you don’t have any contacts listed in your Google Rolodex (Googodex?) yet, here’s how to add them from scratch or via directory, as well as how to kick someone off your contact list if needed.

How to create or import new contacts to an email group

To create new contacts from scratch, you can add them manually by using the Create contact button. That can be found at the top of your Google Contacts side menu or in the Contacts tab if you haven’t added any yet. You can also import contacts from an XLS or vCard file using either of these two methods.

How to add a contact to a group from your frequently contacted list or your organization’s directory

If you’ve been using your account for a while, you probably have contacts in the Frequently contacted list in the side menu. If your account is associated with an organization, there may also be preloaded contacts listed in the Directory tab.

In either case, you can navigate to the appropriate tab and start selecting contacts from the list. Then, click the Save contact icon at the top of the contacts list to populate them in your own Contacts list.

How to remove contacts from an email group

Need to update the contacts in your email group?

1. In the Google Contacts side menu, click the label you need to modify.

2. Hover over the contact you want to remove, and click the More actions icon, which looks like an ellipsis (...).

3. Click Remove from label.

You might think you’ve just learned how to create a group in Gmail, but technically, you’ve just learned how to create a label. This general concept is probably what you had in mind for assembling a contact bundle to keep everybody (plus Dave) included in your batch emails, but the term “Group” within the Google universe was already used for something unrelated.

Enhancing collaboration with Gmail

Tricks like creating contact labels can give you a quick boost in efficiency for common tasks like sending team emails. But to cut out hours of repetitive tasks, automation is even better. Through Zapier’s Gmail automation, you can connect Gmail to all your other apps and automate your inbox.

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