Gmail Themes

If you use Google Apps, you may not have themes if your admin has disabled them.

Personalize your Gmail by choosing a background theme, which adds some additional flair to your inbox. 

  1. Open Gmail.
  2. Click the gear in the top right.
  3. Select Themes.

Color, HD, and Classic themes

Some themes change during the day, and if you select one of these themes, you'll see a drop-down menu to select a location. We'll use the location you provide to correctly time theme changes with your local sunrise, sunset, and/or weather. If you don't enter a city, or if you enter an invalid one, we'll set your location to the capital city of the country you selected.

You can tell which themes change by looking at the lower right hand corner of the theme's thumbnail image. Small icons indicate if the theme changes with the weather, time of day, or day of the week. Also, if you see a white corner it means that that the message list background in the theme is light; if it's black, that means it's dark.

Custom themes

Have a picture of your dog that you'd like to make your background theme? Have no fear, you can also select your own images to use as a theme. Select one of the two options under the "Custom themes" section: Light or Dark. You can then pick an image (we recommend that you select one larger than 2560 x 1920 px) from your computer, phone, photo albums, and the web.

You can also choose a custom theme from a selection of featured photos.

Share your theme

Share custom themes you’ve created with friends through Google+, sending an email, or just copying and pasting the link to your theme. Once you create a custom theme, we’ll ask you if and how you’d like to share your theme with others.

When you upload an image for a custom theme, the image will be stored in an album in either Google+ or Picasa. If you delete the image from Google+ or Picasa, others won't be able to view or use your shared theme. The image will also be removed from your Gmail background within a day.

Once your friends click the link you’ve shared with them, they’ll see a confirmation message pop up. If they click Okay, their Gmail background will automatically change to your custom theme.