Switch from Microsoft Outlook to Gmail
In Gmail, use labels and filters to organize your email. You can also star, snooze, archive, and delete messages to keep your inbox clear.
On this page
- Group email by topic
- Mark email you send as important
- Mark email you receive for followup
- Get rid of unimportant email
- Archive & delete email
Note: The instructions in this guide are primarily web only.Get switching information for mobile devices.
Group email by topic
- In Outlook:Use folders, rules, and categories.
- In Gmail:Use labels and search filters (Gmail doesn't use folders). You can drag messages into labels, similar to the way you drag items into folders.You can apply multiple labels to a message, and find messages byclicking any of their labels in the left panel.
Create a filter
- Open Gmail.
- In the search box at the top, click Show search options
. - Enter your search criteria. If you want to check that your search worked correctly, see what emails show up by clicking Search.
- At the bottom of the search window, click Create filter.
- Choose what you'd like the filter to do.
- Click Create filter.
.Note:When you create a filter to forward messages, only new messages will be affected.In addition, when someone replies to a message that you've filtered, the reply will only be filtered if it meets the same search criteria.
Create a label
- On your computer, go to Gmail.
- On the left, scroll down, then click More.
- Click Create new label.
- Name your label.
- Click Create.
Label messages in your inbox
- On your computer, go toGmail.
- Select the messages.
- At the top, click Labels.
- Select a label, or create a new one.
Mark email you send as important
- In Outlook:Select the high importance marker.Importance markers don't appear in messages sent to Gmail accounts.
- In Gmail:Highlight the message's importance in the subject field.
- Open Gmail.
- Click Compose.
- Add recipients.
- In the Subject field, add a descriptor, such as:
- [URGENT]
- [REPLY BY DEC 1]
- [APPROVAL NEEDED]
Note: You can paste in a red exclamation mark before the descriptor to mark email you send as important.
- Compose your message and click Send.
before the descriptor to mark email you send as important.Mark email you receive for follow up
- In Outlook:Use flags to track important messages you receive.
- In Gmail:Star, snooze, or mark messages you receive as important.
Star an email to make it stand out
- On your computer, open Gmail.
- From your inbox, go to the left of the message, then click Star . If the message is open, click More Add Star.
- If you have multiple stars, keep clicking the Star icon until you see the one that you want to use.
. If the message is open, click More 
Add Star.View email you've starred
- On your computer, open Gmail.
- On the left side of the page, clickStarred. You may need to clickMorefirst.
Tip: To find starred messages, you can alsouse search operators in Gmail.
- To find all starred messages, enter
is:starred. - To find messages with aspecific star, enter
has:followed by the star's name. The namesare based on your current star options in use:has:yellow-starhas:orange-starhas:red-starhas:purple-starhas:blue-starhas:green-starhas:red-exclamation markhas:orange-guillemethas:yellow-exclamation markhas:green-tickhas:blue-infohas:purple-question
Snooze an email until later
- On your computer, go to Gmail.
- Point to the email.
- On the right, click Snooze .
- Choose a later day and time to receive the email.
.Tip: To snooze multiple messages:
- Select the messages.
- At the top, click Snooze .
- If you can't find 'Snooze', click More Snooze.
- If you can't find 'Snooze', click More
Snooze.Save attachments
- In Outlook:Save attachments to your computer.
- In Gmail:Upload attachments to Google Drive.
Save attachments
Important: You can't add certain attachments to Google Drive. Learn about files that you can store in Drive.
- On your computer, go to Gmail.
- Open a message.
- At the bottom of the message, hover over the attachment.
- Click Add to Drive .
.Get rid of unimportant email
Hide unimportant threads
Sometimes you might receive an email and decide you don't want to see any more messages in the conversation. You can mute the conversation to have replies automatically skip the inbox and go directly to the archive.
- In Outlook:Ignore conversations.
- In Gmail:Mute conversations.
Mute email threads
- On your computer, go toGmail.
- Open or select the conversation.
- At the top, click More Mute.
Tip: To mute more quickly, learn how to turn on keyboard shortcuts.
Get rid of spam
- In Outlook:Mark as email junk and choose settings for junk email.
- In Gmail:Report messages as spam, move messages to the spam folder, and block senders.
Report spam
- On your computer, open Gmail.
- Select one or more emails.
- Click Report spam .
.Block senders
When you block a sender, messages that they send you go to Spam.
- On your computer, go to Gmail.
- Open the message.
- At the top right, click More .
- Click Block [sender].
Tip: If you blocked someone by mistake, you can unblock them using the same steps.
Archive email
- In Outlook: Set up rules to periodically move messages from your inbox to the Outlook Archive file.
- In Gmail: Archive messages, or set up filters to automatically move messages to the archive. No need to schedule rules to run at regular intervals. After you archive messages, you can still find them under the label, All Mail.
Archive email
- On your computer, open Gmail.
- Open the message that you want to archive.
- At the top, click Archive .
.Tips:
- To archive multiple messages, click the box next to each message Archive .
- To archive a message with keyboard shortcuts, press E. Learn more about keyboard shortcuts.
Find archived email
Important: When you search in Gmail, your results include archived messages. Learn more about search in Gmail.
- On your computer, open Gmail.
- On the left, click More.
- Click All mail.
Note:If you don’t see All Mail or Trash, scroll to the bottom of the left sidebar and click More.
Delete email
- In Outlook:Move messages to the deleted items folder and use mailbox cleanup.
- In Gmail:Move messages to the trash. Trashed messages are automatically deleted after 30 days.
- On your computer, go to Gmail.
- On the left of each message that you want to delete, tick the box.
- At the top, click Delete .
.Note:If you don’t see All Mail or Trash, scroll to the bottom of the left sidebar and click More.
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