How to Create Contact Groups (Labels) in Gmail

If you regularly send emails to the same group of people—like your soccer team, your weekly book club, or your department at work—typing out every single email address each time is tedious and prone to errors. Gmail allows you to create contact groups (officially called “Labels” in Google Contacts) so you can email dozens of people instantly by typing just one word.

How to Create a Contact Group (Label)

Because Gmail is integrated with your Google Account, you actually manage your email lists inside the Google Contacts app.

1. Open your web browser, log in to your Google account, and go to contacts.google.com. (You can also get here by clicking the nine-dot menu icon in the top right of Gmail and selecting “Contacts”).
2. On the left-hand sidebar, scroll down to the Labels section and click the + (Create label) button.
3. A small box will pop up. Type a name for your group (e.g., “Marketing Team” or “Soccer Club”) and click Save. You will now see this new label listed on the left sidebar.

How to Add People to Your New Group

Now that the group exists, you need to put people into it.

1. Look at your main list of contacts in the center of the screen.
2. Hover your mouse over the profile picture (or initial) of the person you want to add. A checkbox will appear. Click the checkbox to select them.
3. Repeat this process, checking the boxes for everyone you want to include in the group.
4. Once everyone is selected, look at the menu bar that appeared at the top of the screen and click the Manage labels icon (it looks like a small price tag).
5. A drop-down menu will appear showing your labels. Click the checkbox next to the group you just created (e.g., “Marketing Team”).
6. Click Apply.

How to Send an Email to Your Group

Now that your group is populated, sending a mass email is incredibly easy.

1. Open Gmail.
2. Click the Compose button to start a new email.
3. In the “To” field, simply start typing the name of your group (e.g., type “Marketing”).
4. Gmail will automatically suggest the “Marketing Team” label. Click it, and Gmail will instantly populate the “To” field with the email addresses of everyone in that group.
5. Write your email and click Send.

Pro Tip: If you are emailing a large group of people who do not know each other (like customers or distant relatives), put the group name in the Bcc (Blind Carbon Copy) field instead of the “To” field. This hides everyone’s email address and protects their privacy!

Conclusion

By taking a few minutes to organize your Google Contacts into Labels, you can streamline your workflow, prevent accidentally leaving someone out of an important email chain, and save yourself from typing the same addresses over and over again.