Create branded emails with customised layouts

Using customised layouts, you can send professional-looking emails to a large audience. In Gmail, select a template and then customise the template with logos, images and more.

Important: You can also create branded emails with other Google Workspace editions.

• Business Standard
• Business Plus
• Education Standard
• Education Plus
• Enterprise Standard
• Enterprise Plus
• Workspace Individual

If you use Gmail with a work or school account and can't find email layouts, contact your administrator and confirm if Docs creation is turned on.

Customise default email layout style and branding

1. On your computer, go to Gmail.
2. At the top left-hand side, click Compose .
3. At the bottom of the window, click Layouts .
   • Tip: If you don't see Layouts , check More options .
4. If you haven't used layouts before, click Default styling.
5. Customise default email layouts with default styles:
   • Logo image
   • Colours
   • Fonts
   • Footer details, for example your business name, address and phone number.
   • Contact and social media links
6. Click Save changes.
   • Tip: Style changes will apply across the default email layouts once saved.

Create a new email layout

Create a new email layout

1. On your computer, go to Gmail.
2. At the top left-hand side, click Compose .
3. At the bottom of the window, click Layouts .
4. Select an email layout from the 'Default layouts' tab or from previously saved or shared email layouts under 'My layouts', or create a new custom email layout from 'My layouts'.
5. Click Edit layout.
   • Tips:
     • In Gmail, to edit in full screen, click Open in new .
     • Email layouts in the 'My layouts' tab are saved in Google Drive.
     • In Drive, you can open and edit an email layout in full screen by double-clicking the saved email layout.

6. Use the email layout editor to insert, resize and rearrange text boxes, buttons, images and content.

   • Make sure that you update links for any buttons already present in the email layout.
   • If you add images, Google recommends that you include alt text in case an image is not rendered. Alt text also helps people who use screen readers to better understand your branded email.
   • To change how a section looks:
     1. Point to a section on the page.
     2. On the left-hand side, click Background .
     3. Choose a style or add a photo.
   • To change an image in an email template:
     1. Click the image.
     2. Select the More options action menu Replace image Upload or Select.

   Add a theme to your email layout

   Themes include options like custom colours, fonts, spacing density and page frames:

   1. On the right panel, click Themes.
   2. Under 'Custom', select Create theme .
   3. Enter a name for your theme.
   4. Select Next.
   5. Select a colour palette Next.
      • To choose specific colours for different parts of your site, select Custom colours.
   6. Choose your fonts.
   7. Select Create theme.

   Add a colour frame to your email layout:

   1. On the right panel, click Themes.
   2. At the top right-hand corner of the Theme that you want to add a colour frame to, select More Edit.
   3. Under 'Spacing', check the 'Show frame' tick box.
   4. Select the colour of the frame.

   Adjust the spacing in your email layout:

   1. On the right panel, click Themes.
   2. At the top right-hand corner of the Theme that you want to add a colour frame to, select More Edit.
   3. Under 'Spacing', select the Density dropdown and choose your preferred spacing (e.g. Compact, Cosy or Comfortable).

   Add social media links to your email layout:

   • On the right panel, click Insert Social links .
   • You can add a URL or email address for each social link.
   • Optional: you can also add a custom icon image for each social link.
     • Tip: For popular social media websites, Google Sites will automatically provide icon images.
   • Click Insert.
   • Click the social link icons to edit them. You can edit the icons' size, shape, style, colour and alignment.
7. To preview your email layout, select Preview and toggle between mobile, tablet and desktop views.
8. Click Insert to add the email layout to the compose window in Gmail.
   • Tip: If viewing or editing an email layout in full screen, click 'Insert in Gmail' in the upper-right corner to add the email layout to your message.

Important: After inserting the email layout into the compose window in Gmail, you can't change the contents of the email draft directly. To update the email layout, click Edit in the top-right corner and make changes in the email layout editor. Clicking Clear removes the email layout from the compose window.

Duplicate, share or delete email layouts

Duplicate an email layout

1. On your computer, go to Gmail.
2. At the top left-hand side, click Compose .
3. At the bottom of the window, click Layouts .
4. Select an email layout from under 'My layouts'.
5. Select More options Duplicate.
   • Tip: Your customised email layouts are saved in Drive and can be reused if you go to the 'My layouts' tab. You can also share layouts with other users from Drive and collaboratively edit them.

Share an email layout from the email layouts editor

1. On your computer, open or create a new email layout.
2. At the top right, click Share .
3. Enter a name or email address.
4. Click Send.

Share an email layout from Google Drive

1. On your computer, go to Drive.
2. Select the email layout that you want to share click Share .
   • Tips:
     • Only users who have access to the Layouts feature can edit layouts that you share with them. Other users can still preview it in Drive but they won't be able to edit in Gmail.
     • Users who you've shared the email layout with can only edit the shared email layout from Gmail, and won't be able to edit it directly from Drive. You can share with specific people or with a group of people. Learn more about how to share files from Google Drive.

Delete an email layout

1. On your computer, go to Gmail.
2. At the top left-hand side, click Compose .
3. At the bottom of the window, click Layouts .
   • Tip: If you don't see Layouts , check More options .
4. Select a previously saved or shared email layout under 'My layouts'.
5. Select More options Delete.
   • Tip: In Drive, you can also delete the email layout.

Understand limitations with email layouts

Display fidelity limitations

Layouts are designed to look great across all email clients. However, some versions of Outlook use Microsoft Word to render HTML emails, which may cause your email layout to render differently from what you see in Gmail.

Character, image, tile limits

Important: All the images cannot exceed 25 MB in size.

The following character, image and tile limits apply to email layouts:

• Characters: 10,000
• Images: 40
• Tiles: 50

If you reach one of these limits, reduce the number of characters, images or tiles to continue editing and to send your email layout.

Related resources

• Send personalised emails with mail merge
• Learn about bulk email best practices