5 easy ways to create email templates in Gmail

Gmail offers several ways to create reusable email templates. In this guide, I review all built-in options and professional workarounds, along with their pros and cons.

In Gmail, templates can save you a ton of time, whether you're responding to personal emails, juggling customer inquiries, or managing repetitive communication. (Some even refer to these as Gmail canned responses.) There are several ways to create and reuse templates actually, from built-in features to third-party solutions. Let's go through them together and weigh their pros & cons.

How to create canned responses in Gmail

A canned response is a built-in Gmail feature to save and use previously written repetitive emails. Canned responses were added as a native feature to save your time with routine correspondence. Think of it as a shortcut for your most common emails.

However, if you try to find Canned responses in Gmail, you will fail 😓. This isn't because the feature is absent, but because it was renamed and is now officially called Templates.

Native feature to create email templates in Gmail

So, yes, Gmail does have a built-in Templates feature! It lets you save and quickly insert prepared email templates. However, it's quite limited, making it not the best option for team collaboration or managing a large draft database.

Here's how you create email templates in Gmail using this built-in feature:

Enable Templates in Gmail settings. You'll find the detailed steps in this article.
Compose a new email with the text you want to pre-save.
Click on More options at the bottom-right corner (the three-dot icon) and go to Templates > Save draft as template > Save as new template.
Name it and hit Save.

To use this pre-written message later, start a new email or reply, go to Templates in the same three-dot menu again, and click on your saved template to insert it.
Insert pre-written message into your email.

Tip: Need to edit or delete templates? Learn how to in one of our articles.

Let's look at the pros & cons of this standard option.

Pros:

It's a free instrument built into Gmail.
It's quick and easy to use for basic occasional needs.

Cons:

No automation or dynamic fields. You'll have to manually edit different parts like names, event details, and maybe even attachments, etc.
Limited organization options. It's just a long list of Gmail templates, without folders or categories, where finding a specific message will become a hassle as the list grows.
No sharing or team collaboration. Each user has to save and update their own templates manually.

With that in mind, it's obvious that this will work fine for very basic needs but will fall short if you use repetitive emails frequently or need to share them with others. So you may want to consider other options that I suggest below.

Shared Email Templates — a Gmail template extension

For those who rely on Gmail often and need more flexibility, Shared Email Templates — a Gmail extension — will provide a better way to create Gmail templates and reuse them from one organized place.

There are three ways to set up email templates using this Gmail extension.

Decide on the folder where your pre-written emails should be and click the three-dot icon next to its name. Then select New template.
You'll see a bunch of formatting tools inviting you to create templates in Gmail. Here you can use macros for extra automation, insert pictures and attach files from your Google Drive, adjust font, colors, work with tables and lists, etc.
When you're ready, give it a name and click Save.
Your template will appear in the chosen folder. You'll be able to preview its content before inserting it in actual emails and even edit it right there, in the extension sidebar.

To use your pre-written email, select it on the sidebar right in your Gmail and click the Insert button. Its whole content will pop into your new email or reply. And if you use special macros, all required fields will be filled with the data automatically.
Insert template from Gmail extension.

Way 2. Make Gmail templates in the new browser tab

If you find the sidebar of Shared Email Templates too small or inconvenient, there's an option to create Gmail templates in a new browser tab:

Decide on the folder where your drafts will be and click the three-dot icon next to its name. This time, select New template in browser.
An editor will open in a new browser window offering more room to create Gmail templates for the extension.
Click Save when you're finished.
Go back to Gmail and you'll see that your new email preset automatically appears in the extension sidebar, ready to be used in emails and replies.

Way 3. Import Gmail templates to the extension

The last way to create Gmail templates is a bit unconventional but I'd like to mention it still.

Shared Email Templates lets you export and import your email drafts, and you can use this feature to your advantage.

If you don't necessarily want to share templates with a team for collaboration, you can simply export yours or import someone's exported pre-written emails sent to you, edit them to your liking and, well, use them ?
Importing Gmail templates as a way to create them.

Pros & cons of Shared Email Templates extension for Gmail

Why do I believe you should give Shared Email Templates a try?

There's a full Gmail integration. It means there's no need to leave Gmail to create, insert, organize, edit, or share templates.
You can organize everything into folders.
You can use a bunch of formatting tools when making Gmail templates, use special macros that automatically fill up parts of text and attach different files.
Easy sharing and collaboration. You can have a shared team space where multiple users can access your email draft database. Team members can create and edit Gmail templates in real time.

There are only 2 cons in my opinion:

Requires installation. This tool is not built in Gmail per se so you'll need to install the browser extension from the Chrome Web Store.
Paid plans after the 60-day trial ends.

Anyways, this extension is way better than the standard Gmail canned responses if you value your time and nerves.

Save email templates in Gmail Drafts

If you're looking for a low-effort method to make template emails in Gmail, you can simply store them as Drafts. Whenever you need to use it, open the draft, copy its content, and paste it into a new email. It's a simple workaround that may fit your workflow.

Open Gmail and click Compose.
Write the email you want to have as a draft. You can use formatting, links, and attachments.
Instead of sending it, click Save & close. Gmail will automatically save it in Drafts.
When you need to use it, go to your Drafts, open that pre-written text, and copy-paste its content into a new email. Or just send the Draft to the intended recipient right away.

So what do you gain and lose with this method?

It's obviously free and requires no extra tool.

However, there's no way to organize drafts. The more of them you have, the quicker it will become messy.

Also, you'll still have to copy-paste the content into each email manually. Unless you decide to send the draft right away. In this case, it will no longer be available in the folder until you create a new one.

So while this option is simple and requires no setup, it's not the most efficient one to manage your Gmail templates.

Create Gmail templates in Google Docs

I wasn't planning on including Google Docs to this article thinking it doesn't support attachments and is not integrated into Gmail in any way.

Little did I know that the new feature introduced to Docs recently finally offers that integration. And now it makes perfect sense to try and create Gmail templates directly in your documents.

Start by creating a new Google document where you'll make and store all your pre-written messages.
Type a heading for your email draft so it's available in the TOC (table of contents) for quick navigation.
Place the mouse cursor where the template should be.
In the Google Docs menu, go to Insert > Building block > Email draft.
As soon as you do that, a special block with email fields will appear in your document. This is your blank Gmail template, you only need to fill it in.

Tip. Feel free to leave the recipient fields empty and go for Subject and the email body so this is a legit reusable Gmail draft.

Tip. Since you can't attach files to Google Docs, it's worth highlighting some words or adding special notes so you know what should be changed or added in the actual email.

When you need to send this draft, click the Preview in Gmail button on the left (the one with the Gmail logo).
Preview draft in Gmail.

This will open a new browser tab with Gmail and put your template right there in the Compose window. You will need to add recipients (if you haven't already directly in the template), change the required text, and add attachments. Hit Send when you're ready to send the email.
How to set up email templates in Gmail via Google Docs.

This way, you can create as many Gmail templates in Google Docs as you need. TOC (the table of contents) and document tabs will let you organize your database and collaborate with others.

But you'll still have to brush each email in the Gmail Compose window and attach files before sending it off. Oh, and yes, you won't make it to go into the reply — a new email only.

Make short Gmail template in Google Keep

There's one more, a less obvious option: Google Keep. If you work with short and simple Gmail canned responses, Google Keep can come in handy. You can save responses as notes and access them quickly from the Gmail side panel.

Here's how you create Gmail templates using Google Keep:

Open Google Keep and create a new note.

Note. You can only use plain text here so don't expect advanced formatting, attachments, or images.
If you have several notes, you can label them so there's some kind of organization. Find a three-dot icon for more settings at the bottom of a note and click Add label.

Then either pick an existing label or create a new one by entering its name. Whatever you do, the label will appear at the bottom-right corner of your note.
When you're ready, click Close.

When you're writing an email or reply in Gmail, access the Keep side panel from the toolbar on the right.

Find your pre-written note, copy its content, and paste it into your email or reply.
Copy-paste the content from Keep into Gmail.

That's it, super simple.

However, even though the Keep panel is right there in your Gmail interface, it only handles plain text. You won't be able to add links or attach images or files to your notes. You have to do that manually in each email.

And there's also no "insert" button. Every time, you'll have to copy the content from the note and paste it into your email.

And even with labels, Keep wasn't designed as a Gmail template extension. If you start storing dozens of drafts there, it can quickly become cluttered.

Conclusion: which method is best?

If you only need to create Gmail templates occasionally, simple options like Gmail built-in Templates, Drafts, Google Docs, or even Google Keep might be enough. They're free and work fine for short, basic messages.

However, all of them have various drawbacks: limited formatting, no proper organization, and no automation. So if you send similar emails regularly or work in a team, these solutions will start feeling limited pretty soon.

That's why Shared Email Templates stands out as a Gmail extension. It runs right inside Gmail, keeps everything organized, and adds powerful features like formatting, file attachments, and even dynamic fields that are filled in automatically. Plus, sharing pre-written emails with your team becomes super simple.

So here's my question to you: Why waste time on copy-pasting and searching through Drafts or notes when you can have everything ready to go? If you're looking for a smoother, more professional way to create templates in Gmail, the Shared Email Templates extension is absolutely worth trying. There's a whole lot of instructions about its features available on our website that will help you get started.

Different ways to create and use Gmail templates