Drafting an important email directly inside Gmail can be stressful, especially when multiple colleagues need to review the wording before you hit send. Copying and pasting text from a standard document into an email often breaks formatting and causes delays. Google has solved this problem with “Building Blocks”—a smart canvas feature in Google Docs that allows you to format a complete email, collaborate in real-time, and export it seamlessly to Gmail with a single click.
Why Use Building Blocks Instead of Standard Text?
When you use the Email Draft Building Block, Google Docs creates a specialized table containing dedicated fields for “To,” “Cc,” “Bcc,” and “Subject.” This ensures that when you collaborate with your team using comments and suggestions, everyone is clear on who is receiving the message. Crucially, when the draft is approved, Google Docs communicates directly with Gmail to port over the recipients, subject line, and the heavily formatted body text flawlessly.
What You Need Before Starting
This feature is available to all users with a personal Google Account, as well as Google Workspace subscribers. You must be using the web version of Google Docs on a desktop or laptop computer, as the export-to-Gmail functionality relies on the desktop browser environment.
Inserting an Email Draft Building Block
Adding the email template to your document is instantaneous.
- Open a new or existing document in Google Docs.
- Click on the document where you want the draft to appear.
- Type the
@symbol to open the smart canvas menu. - Scroll down the menu to the “Building Blocks” section and select Email draft.
Alternatively, you can navigate to the top menu bar, click Insert, hover over Building blocks, and select Email draft.
A structured email template will immediately appear in your document.
Collaborating and Formatting Your Draft
You can now begin filling out the template.
- In the To field, type the
@symbol to search your Google Contacts and select recipients, or type their email addresses manually. - Fill in the Subject line.
- Write your email content in the main body section below the template.
Because you are in Google Docs, you can utilize the full suite of word processing features. You can add bold formatting, bulleted lists, hyperlinked text, and even insert images directly into the body. You can also share the document with your colleagues, allowing them to use the “Suggesting” mode to tweak your wording before the email goes out.
Exporting the Draft to Gmail
Once your team has finalized the wording and all suggestions have been accepted, it is time to generate the actual email.
- Hover your mouse over the left side of the Email Draft template.
- A small blue icon resembling a Gmail envelope (the Preview in Gmail button) will appear. Click it.
- A pop-up window will open in the centre of your screen, displaying your fully formatted email inside the standard Gmail compose interface.
At this stage, your email has not been sent. You can make final adjustments in the Gmail window if necessary. When you are completely satisfied, click the blue Send button at the bottom of the pop-up window to dispatch the email.