Skip to main content

How to snooze emails in Gmail

How to snooze emails in Gmail

/

Get that email at a more convenient time

Share this story

Stock
Photo by Gareth Fuller/PA Images via Getty Images

Emails come in throughout the day — sometimes at really inconvenient moments. If you don’t have the time to deal with an email when it appears or if you want to get back to it later and you’re afraid you’ll forget about it, you can use Gmail’s snooze feature.

Snoozing an email means that it will disappear for a while and then come back to the top of your inbox at a time you pick, as though you’re receiving it all over again.

Here’s how to snooze your emails.

Snooze emails in your browser

  • In your inbox, hover over the email that you want to snooze. You’ll see a row of icons on the right-hand side. Click on the one that looks like a clock.
Gmail inbox
Hover over the message to see the snooze button.
  • Alternatively, you can select the message or messages you want to snooze using the checkboxes and then click the clock icon that appears above the inbox
  • You can also find the clock icon at the top of the screen when you open the email
  • In any case, when you click the clock icon, you’ll see a drop-down list of suggested times. Click on whichever one best suits you.
Snooze options
You can choose one of the suggested times or set your own.
  • If none of the times shown fit when you want to receive the message, you can click on “Pick date & time” at the bottom of the drop-down menu to set your own. A pop-up window will open. Once you’ve chosen your time and date, click “Save.”
Pick date & time window
Set the time you’d like to receive the email in this window.
  • The email will disappear from your inbox and will reappear at the top at the time you’ve chosen
  • If you want to be reminded about which emails you’ve snoozed, you can access them by clicking “Snoozed” on the left-hand side under “Inbox”
  • To undo a snoozed email, open it in the Snoozed folder and click “Unsnooze” at the top of the screen

Snooze emails in the mobile app

These instructions are for an iPhone, but the steps for Android are similar.

  • Open up the Gmail app
  • Open an email and tap the three dots in the right-hand corner of the screen (not the message)
  • Alternately, if you don’t need to read it first, you can press and hold the message in your inbox until you see a check, and then tap the three dots in the top right-hand corner. You can do this to several messages at once if you want to snooze them at the same time.
  • Select “Snooze” at the top of the menu that appears
  • Choose one of the suggested times in the pop-up window or tap “Pick date & time”
Message options
Tap on “Snooze” to choose when you receive that email.
Snooze options
Like on desktop, you have a choice between suggested times or choosing your own on mobile.
  • Set the date. Then, tap “Time” followed by “Custom...” to choose the time you receive it. Tap “Next” when you’re done.
  • Tap “Save” in the top-right corner (for iPhone) or “Save” in the bottom-right corner (for Android)
Pick date & time menu
Tap “Custom...” to pick a time to receive the message.
Pick date & time menu
Tap “Save” when you’re done.
  • All of your snoozed emails are in the Snoozed folder, which you can access by tapping on the three bars on the left side of the search bar at the top of the inbox
  • To unsnooze a message, go to the Snoozed folder, open the message, tap the three dots in the top-right corner of the screen, and then tap “Unsnooze”