You might not know it from looking, but Gmail is jam-packed with time-saving tricks.

Some of ’em are right there in front of your face, if you know how to find ’em — while others require a teensy bit of under-the-hood tinkering to activate. But all of ’em are built right into Gmail and have the potential to make managing your email a heck of a lot easier.

Check out these 16 splendid Gmail tips and get ready to master your inbox once and for all.

(Note that unless otherwise specified, these tips are specific to Gmail’s web-based desktop version.)

Inbox step-savers

1. You can actually view attachments right from your Gmail inbox. Provided you haven’t switched away from the service’s “default” interface arrangement, you’ll see small tiles for every file associated with an email right below the message’s subject line. And you can click on any of those tiles to open or preview the file’s contents and get directly to the info you need.

JR Raphael / Foundry

2. It’s easy to miss, but take note: When you hover your mouse over a message in your inbox, Gmail gives you a series of quick-access actions at the far-right side of the line. You can archive the email, delete it, mark it as read or unread, snooze it, or even RSVP to a meeting request right then and there — without ever having to open the message.

3. A super-useful keyboard shortcut I always forget to use: While viewing a multi-email thread of messages — a conversation in which you have numerous back-and-forth replies under the same subject — hit the semicolon key (;) to expand the entire conversation and show every message in the thread. And then hit the colon key (:) to collapse it back down so you see only the most recent email.

Just make sure you enable keyboard shortcuts first, if you haven’t already: Click the gear icon in the website’s upper-right corner, then click “See all settings” and look for the “Keyboard shortcuts” option midway down the screen that comes up. Select the “Keyboard shortcuts on” setting and then be sure to click the Save Changes button at the bottom of the screen.

4. Some of Gmail’s best keyboard shortcuts are the ones you create yourself. Go back into the website’s settings and this time, click the Advanced tab. See the line labeled “Custom keyboard shortcuts”? Click “Enable” next to that, then click the Save Changes button at the bottom of the screen.

Once Gmail refreshes itself to apply the changes, go back to the Settings area again and look for the newly present Keyboard Shortcuts tab. There, you can adjust any of the default keyboard settings to make them simpler to activate or easier to remember.

One of my favorite adjustments, for instance — and one I rely on constantly — is adding in a second command for the “Go to inbox” shortcut, which is typically gi by default. In Google’s old Inbox service, that shortcut was simplified down to just i, and once you get used to that shorter sequence, you won’t want to go back.

5. The panel at the right of Gmail’s web interface lets you pull up Google Calendar, Google Keep, Google Tasks, or Google Contacts right inside your inbox so you can manage info from each of those apps without having to switch tabs or open anything new. And here’s a handy hidden trick: With Tasks, you can drag messages directly from your inbox into the panel to create new tasks around them.

JR Raphael / Foundry

Unfortunately — and somewhat strangely — the same drag-and-drop behavior isn’t currently possible with Calendar or Keep, nor is it possible for Contacts.

6. Even with a miniature version of Contacts being available inside that handy side panel, you might sometimes want to pull up the full Google Contacts website for its complete set of features. Provided you’ve got Gmail’s keyboard shortcuts enabled now, commit this workaround to memory: Pressing g and then c will open up Contacts in a separate tab, no matter what else you’re doing in your inbox.

Composing shortcuts

Editor’s note: Assuming you’ve enabled keyboard shortcuts (see tip 3), the following keyboard shortcuts work in any browser on any desktop operating system. Mac users, just swap in the ⌘ key for “Ctrl” wherever you see it.

7. Ever like marking messages as unread after you’ve opened ’em? Gmail makes that incredibly easy to do: Anytime you have an email open, look for the envelope icon directly to the right of the trash can in the horizontal row of icons above your message (in the area directly beneath the search bar). That’ll let you mark the message as unread with a single click. Or, for a faster and more powerful one-two punch, just type an underscore (_) while viewing any message. That’ll mark it as unread and zap you back to your main inbox.

8. Speaking of combining multiple actions into a single command, simplify your inbox organization process by enabling Gmail’s convenient Send & Archive button. It places a second button alongside the regular Send button whenever you’re responding to an existing message, and clicking that button (or, even better yet, hitting Ctrl-Enter on your keyboard) will send your response and archive the thread in one fell swoop.

To enable it, look for the “Send and Archive” option within the General tab of Gmail’s settings. Click “Show ‘Send & Archive’ button in reply,” hit the Save Changes button at the bottom of the screen, and then get ready to save yourself steps the next time you type a reply.

JR Raphael / Foundry

9. I don’t know about you, but I frequently start typing an email and then decide against sending it. (Rather fittingly, I started typing out a lengthy explanation of the reasons but then decided against including it.) If the same thing ever happens to you, remember this: Hitting Ctrl-Shift-D while you’re in the Gmail compose tool will close the compose window and discard your draft. And it works whether you’re writing a new email or a reply.

10. Another awesome time-saver: In addition to the obvious Ctrl-B for bold and Ctrl-I for italics email formatting shortcuts, Gmail has hotkeys for doing some advanced forms of text formatting — things that’d otherwise require multiple clicks and much menu-hunting to accomplish.

The ones I use the most:

• Ctrl-Shift-8 will add a bulleted list into your email (just like this list!), and Ctrl-Shift-7 will add a numbered one.
• Ctrl-Shift-9 will offset text in a blockquote style.
• Ctrl-] will indent text, while Ctrl-[ will remove any indentation.
• And Ctrl-\ will remove any formatting on your selected text and make it as plain as can be.

11. You’d never know it, but the Gmail compose tool itself can take on various forms, depending on your preferences. Make a mental note of these possibilities and the shortcuts to get to ’em:

• To start a new message in the default lower-right-corner-of-the-screen window view, hit c.
• To start a new message in a pop-up window totally separate from your main Gmail tab, hit Shift-C. You can do the same thing for a reply by hitting Shift-R while viewing a message thread — or Shift-A for reply-all.
• To start a new message in a full-screen compose window within your main Gmail tab, hit c — then click the little arrow icon in the compose tool’s upper-right corner. (You can also hit Shift while clicking that icon to pop the message out into a separate pop-up window form.)
• If you’d rather use that full-screen compose window all the time, by default, click the three-dot menu icon in the lower-right corner of the compose tool and look for the “Default to full-screen” option there. (If you ever change your mind, you’ll find the option to disable that preference in that very same spot.)
• If for some reason you like the idea of composing a message in a new tab instead of a pop-up window or within the main Gmail tab, just hit d while in your inbox. That’ll do the trick!

To see more keyboard shortcuts, just type ? while viewing any message list within Gmail.

Smarter snoozing

12. Don’t forget to take advantage of Gmail’s super-handy snoozing tool: Instead of letting messages linger in your inbox and pile up to an unmanageable point, use the snooze function to help yourself deal with everything as soon as you see it.

A good rule of thumb to maintain: If you can respond to something in less than a minute, do it. If something doesn’t require any action on your behalf, archive it immediately. And if something requires some sort of action but you don’t have the time to mess with it at that moment, snooze it to a day and time when you will be able to handle it.

You can snooze an email from your inbox by hovering over the message and selecting the clock-shaped Snooze icon, as noted in tip 2. You can also snooze an email while it’s open by clicking the three-dot menu icon to the right of the folder symbol directly above the email and then clicking “Snooze” within the menu that pops up. Or you can simply press b while you’re viewing a message or while you have it selected in your inbox.

JR Raphael / Foundry

13. Gmail even makes it possible to snooze multiple messages at the same time — in case you see more than one email that needs to be pushed back to the same point. From your inbox, simply click the boxes to the left of any messages you want to include, then click the three-dot menu icon within the row of icons toward the top of the screen and select “Snooze” from there.

14. Need to get back to something you snoozed — or change the day and time at which it’s set to reappear? You can always find all of your snoozed emails in Gmail’s Snoozed section, located beneath the “Inbox” line in the left-hand panel. Once you’re there, just hover over any email and click the clock-shaped icon to change its snooze settings or unsnooze it entirely.

15. You can snooze messages from the Gmail mobile apps, too, though the option is a bit buried. From the inbox view, press and hold a message to select it, then tap the three-dot menu icon at the top of the screen and look for “Snooze” in the list of options that appears. If you’ve already opened the message, tap the three-dot menu icon at the top of that screen; you should see “Snooze” show up as part of the options there as well.

16. Make snoozing even simpler in the Gmail mobile app by assigning it to one of your inbox swipe actions. Just open up the app, tap the three-line menu icon in its upper-left corner, then select “Settings.” On Android, tap “General settings” followed by “Swipe actions”; on iOS, you’ll tap “Inbox customizations” and then “Mail swipe actions.”

All that’s left is to set either your left swipe or right swipe to “Snooze,” and then, you can simply swipe any message in that direction from your inbox to snooze it — no wasted taps or menu diving required. (The Gmail Android app has several other similarly useful hidden features, by the way, most of which aren’t available on iOS.)

JR Raphael / Foundry

And with that, your Gmail time-saving toolbox is officially complete! The next logical step in your inbox improvement adventure is mastering the art of Gmail labels to fight back against email chaos — and I’ve got just the guide to get you started.

This story was originally published in May 2018 and most recently updated in September 2026.

Gmail is filled with hidden features and add-on possibilities, but one of the service’s most powerful organizational tools is sitting right in the heart of its regular settings.

As you may have guessed by now (especially if you read this story’s headline, you clever little cat), I’m talking about filters — Gmail’s long-standing system for automating your inbox with a series of custom-crafted rules. At a glance, filters can seem complicated. They can seem overwhelming. They can even seem unnecessary.

But don’t let yourself be fooled by the feature’s curiously crusty exterior. Gmail filters have the potential to completely reshape your inbox and the way your incoming messages are handled. They can help you keep your email in order with no ongoing thought or effort.

And, unlike Google’s new AI Inbox option (which notably still doesn’t seem to be available for most people as of this writing), filters (a) don’t require your personal messages to be processed by generative AI systems — and (b) give you complete control over exactly how your email is handled instead of forcing you to rely on inherently unreliable technology to figure out what you want for you (and then likely come up short at least some of the time).

Best of all? All it takes is a teensy touch of one-time planning to get Gmail filters set up to your exact specifications and working for you quietly and automatically from that moment onward.

Follow the filter-centric Gmail tips in this guide, and your inbox will be running like a well-oiled (but not too greasy) machine in no time.

Part 1: Figuring out your Gmail filters

Let’s start by thinking through some Gmail filter possibilities to get an idea for the sorts of setups you might want to consider — then, we’ll go step by step through the process of creating them.

With Gmail filters, you could:

• Ensure messages from specific high-priority senders always go into your inbox’s Primary tab, where you’re certain to see them
• Ensure specific sorts of lower-priority messages — like invoices, reports, or updates from different services you use — automatically get sorted into an out-of-the-way location and never even show up in your inbox
• Keep messages from annoying people out of your hair (but still available in case you need to find them) by automatically archiving them as soon as they arrive
• Forward messages from a specific address or with a specific phrase in their subjects to other members of your team or family
• Instantly respond to messages to or from a specific address with a prewritten template
• Label messages sent to a specific variation of your Gmail address (like youraddress+vip@gmail.com) or written with a specific word or phrase in the subject (like “urgent,” “important,” or “hey jerkwad, pay attention to this”) as “VIP” and then receive notifications only for messages with that designation
• Mark specific types of messages from yourself as reminders by giving them a bright yellow “REMINDER” label that makes them stand out in your inbox
• Get a snickerdoodle delivered to your desk every time your boss emails you

All right, so that last one isn’t really possible (not yet, anyway) — just wanted to make sure you were still paying attention. Everything else in that list, however, is absolutely doable and actually quite easy to set up with Gmail filters.

Got some ideas of your own? Good deal. Time to make ’em happen.

Part 2: Creating your Gmail filters

The simplest way to start a new Gmail filter is to click the control panel icon — the symbol showing three horizontal lines stacked on top of each other — within the big search box at the top of the Gmail website. (Filters can’t easily be managed on mobile, unfortunately, so you’ll need to do all of this in a desktop browser.)

That’ll pull up a form where you can fill in whatever you want to use as the basis for your filtering — a word or phase that might appear within an email’s subject or body, an address from which a message could originate, or any other variable or combination of variables you like.

JR Raphael / Foundry

Fill in the fields as appropriate, using however many variables you want — even employing quotation marks around multiword terms along with operators like “AND” and “OR” between terms, if you really want to get fancy — and then click “Create filter” at the bottom of the box.

JR Raphael / Foundry

One quick warning: By default, your filter will apply to any and all incoming messages — hence the “All Mail” setting that shows up next to the “Search” option in the filter creation pop-up. If you change that option to “Inbox,” you’re likely to see an error message informing you that the parameters you chose are not recommended and may not work properly. Leave that “Search” option set to “All Mail” — which is probably what you want, anyway — and you’ll steer clear of any errors and allow things to work the way they should.

Now it’s time for the fun part — the part where you decide exactly what happens when a message meeting your conditions arrives. You can select any combination of actions from the list and then configure them as needed. You can even tell Gmail to apply your filter retroactively to messages already in your account (as opposed to using it only for new messages that arrive from that point forward) by checking the “Also apply filter to matching conversations” option at the bottom of the box.

JR Raphael / Foundry

Once you’ve got that finished, click the blue “Create filter” button — and that’s it: Your new Gmail filter is officially in place and active. The next time any message comes in that meets the parameters you outlined, the actions you specified will automatically take place faster than you can say “I embrace Workspace in my workplace cyberspace.”

Part 3: Managing your Gmail filters

Last but not least, make yourself a mental note in case you ever need to adjust your filters in the future: If you want to edit, delete, or even just revisit a filter you created, just click the gear-shaped icon in the upper-right corner of the Gmail website, click “Settings,” then click the “Filters and Blocked Addresses” tab at the top of the settings screen. You’ll see every filter you’ve ever created there and can tweak or remove any of ’em with a couple quick clicks.

Now if only we could find a way to get the filters to deliver those blasted snickerdoodles for us. Hey, Google: Any chance you can make that happen?

This article was originally published in October 2019 and most recently updated in September 2026.

So, you’ve got email, you say? Lots of it? More than you can possibly manage without losing the few metaphorical marbles still sloshing around in that soggy ol’ brain of yours?

I hear ya. In fact, I think we all can relate (even those of us whose brains are, erm, slightly less soggy). And I’m here to tell you: It doesn’t have to be so difficult.

Gmail has a variety of built-in tools for making your messages more manageable. Some of ’em are a little bit different from what you might be accustomed to using in more traditional email clients (here’s lookin’ at you, Outlook) — but if you take the time to figure out how they work, you might just be surprised at how effective they can be.

There’s no better example than Gmail’s label system. It’s a strange concept to wrap your head around at first, especially if you’re used to the more typical folder-based method of inbox organization, but here’s a little secret: Labels actually are folders, in a sense. That, however, is just one small part of their inbox-organizing power.

Think through these nine label-centric possibilities and get ready to see Gmail’s labels in a whole new light.

1. Use Gmail labels like super-folders for categorizing your email

First, the most basic Gmail label mindset to master: You can think of a label like a folder — but with an important twist: Instead of a message being placed into a label, the label is placed onto the message.

That subtle-seeming distinction is actually quite significant. What it means is that a message doesn’t have to be associated with only one label, as is typically the case with folders; rather, you can apply as many labels as you want to any message, and each one ends up acting like a sticker — a label, one might even say! — that sits atop the email along with any other labels you’ve applied.

JR Raphael / Foundry

So, for instance, if you keep tabs on stats for your company’s website, you might label all incoming emails from Google Analytics as “Web Reports.” But maybe you also have your own personal website for which you receive Analytics updates. You could label the reports from your personal website as “Web Reports,” too, and then add a second label of either “Work” or “Personal” onto every message to create a distinction between the two types.

On the Gmail desktop website, the easiest way to create a label is to click the label icon in the toolbar at the top of the screen when you’re viewing a message or when you’ve selected something from a message list — then start typing whatever name you want to use for the label. Once you’re done, simply hit Enter, and Gmail will create the label for you and apply it to the message.

JR Raphael / Foundry

The next time you click the label command, you’ll see your newly created label as an option.

You can also perform the same action by using the keyboard shortcut L while an email is open or selected, provided you’ve enabled Gmail’s keyboard shortcuts system.

On the mobile front, you can create a new label within the Gmail app for Android or iOS by tapping the three-line menu icon in the upper-left corner of the screen and then looking for the “Create label” option before the list of existing labels (on Android) or the “Create new” option directly after that list. You can apply an existing label onto a message, meanwhile, by looking for the “Label” (on Android) or “Label as” (on iOS) option in the main three-dot menu anytime an email is open or selected.

2. Save yourself a step and label while archiving

Here’s a handy command to remember: If you want to add a label to a message and simultaneously dismiss the message from your inbox, use Gmail’s “Move to” option.

On the desktop website, that’s the icon showing an arrow inside a folder, directly to the left of the regular label icon. On both Android and iOS, you can find the same command within the three-dot menu icon while any email is open or selected. You’ll see a list of options that include your labels; just select the label you want to assign to the message.

Whatever platform you’re using, that’ll handle all the steps for you in one fell swoop. And if you’re a fan of shortcuts like this, by the way, I’ve got a whole story dedicated to time-saving Gmail tips just like ’em.

3. Apply labels while you’re composing an email

Gmail labels aren’t only for incoming messages; you can also proactively apply them to a new message you’re composing and then know that that email and any replies associated with it will remain properly organized and present in all the right places.

On the Gmail desktop website, all you’ve gotta do is hit the three-dot menu icon in the service’s compose window and look for the “Label” option in the list that appears — then create a new label right then and there or select any existing label to apply it.

JR Raphael / Foundry

The mid-composing label-adding option isn’t present in the Gmail mobile apps, unfortunately, but you can accomplish the same thing in a roundabout way by heading into your Sent messages (from the app’s main three-line menu) and then selecting or opening an email to add a label onto it right after you’ve sent it.

4. Organize your label lists

All right, so you’ve got your messages labeled — now what? Well, first, you can always browse through your labels to find something you need. Gmail keeps your list of labels (in alphabetical order) in its left sidebar, on the desktop website. You can collapse or expand that sidebar by clicking the three-line menu icon in the upper-left corner of the screen, and you can click on any label in the list to see all of the messages associated with it.

By default, though, that list is probably quite the unruly mess. So let’s get it organized:

• First, if you see a line in the list of labels that says “More,” with a downward-facing arrow alongside it, click it to expand your full list of existing labels.
• Now, click the three-dot menu icon next to each one of your labels. (The three-dot icon appears only when you hover over a label.) Assign each label a color, if you’d like; that’ll make it more visually distinctive and give it more or less emphasis (depending on the color you choose) when it appears in your inbox.
• In that same three-dot menu, look at the “In label list” section and consider if you want the label to always appear in your label list, to remain permanently hidden beneath that “More” divider, or to appear in the list only when unread messages are present within it. The less unnecessary clutter you have visible, the easier it’ll be to find the labels you actually use often.
• Next, look at the “In message list” section and think about whether you want the label to show up as an option when you’re adding a label onto a message. If it isn’t a label you ever actively apply to messages, you might consider hiding it to reduce clutter and increase your efficiency in that area.

On Android or iOS, you can find your labels and browse through any of ’em by looking inside the Gmail app’s main three-line menu. On Android, a third-party app called eLabels can also let you make more advanced label modifications from your phone or tablet — but in general, those sorts of adjustments are most easily managed from the Gmail desktop website.

5. Combine related labels into groups

While we’re getting your labels organized, take a moment to mull over whether any of your labels would make more sense as sublabels within a broader category. Maybe, for instance, you’d have one label called “Expense Reports” and then sublabels within it for “Staff,” “Freelancers,” and “Travel.”

This is an adjustment you’ll absolutely want to make on the Gmail desktop website, where the full selection of label customization commands is readily available. You can find the option to create a sublabel by clicking the three-dot menu icon next to any label name within the site and then selecting “Add sublabel” from the list that appears.

JR Raphael / Foundry

Just note: Somewhat confusingly, sublabels and parent labels are treated as separate but related entities — so if you were to add a message to “Staff” in our previous example, its label would show up as being “Expense Reports/Staff.” The message wouldn’t, however, show up when you click “Expense Reports” in the left-of-screen label list; it’d appear only when you clicked “Staff” in that same section. If you wanted it to appear within the results for both the parent label and the sublabel, you’d have to add both of them onto the message.

6. Use labels for smarter searches

Gmail’s labels aren’t just for browsing; you can also use them as variables to narrow down a search and make it faster to find a message you need. To include a label as a variable in a search, just click or tap the Gmail search box at the top of the website or mobile app, type label:work (using the name of your actual label name in place of “work,” of course), and then type in any other term or variable you want.

If you were trying to find a travel-related expense report from Tim Cook’s trip to Chicago, for instance, you could type label:travel from:tim@apple.com chicago into the search box. Including the label would narrow down your search considerably — skipping over messages from Tim Cook that might’ve just mentioned Chicago in some other context — and let you get to what you need more efficiently.

You can even narrow down your search further and search for messages that contain multiple specific labels — like label:travel label:work, which would show you a list of all messages that have both of those labels in place.

And on the mobile front, you can make your life easier yet by tapping the “Labels” dropdown within the app’s search area. That’ll let you simply select from a list of available options and save yourself the trouble of manually typing anything in.

JR Raphael / Foundry

Gmail actually treats many of its own built-in message designations as labels, too — so in addition to searching for your own custom labels, you can search for (and in some cases also find within the mobile app dropdown menu) things like:

• label:inbox
• label:unread
• label:promotions
• label:social
• label:starred
• label:muted

Beyond that, you’d never know it, but Google also supports a hidden series of advanced Gmail labels for automatically identifying emails related to areas like travel, purchases, and finance.

And finally, any recent past searches you’ve conducted will show up as suggestions whenever you tap or click in the search box, which makes it especially convenient to revisit any frequently accessed label-related explorations in the future.

7. Let Gmail apply labels for you

Here’s where things really start to get interesting: In addition to manually applying labels to messages as you see fit, you can train Gmail to automatically categorize and process messages for you.

The first step is to think about what factors would make an incoming message fit into a particular label — whether it’s the sender’s email address or domain name, a specific word or phrase in the subject line, or maybe even the address to which the message was sent.

In my own inbox, for example, Gmail applies a red “VIP” label to emails that arrive from editors or other contacts whose messages tend to be timely and important. And it applies a green “Invoices” label to messages that come in from a specific address and with certain subject lines that my accounting software uses for carbon copies of new invoices.

In some cases, like with the “VIP” label, the messages remain in my primary inbox. But in others, they end up moving to less attention-demanding places — like the invoice copies, which skip over my inbox entirely (since I’m keeping them mostly as records and don’t need to be bothered dealing with them every time they come in).

Once you decide what factors should apply to what label — and what else should happen once the label is applied — a Gmail filter is the key to making the magic happen. I outlined the exact steps to setting one up in my separate Gmail filters guide. Go have at it!

8. Let your labels limit your notifications

Last but not least, instead of getting distracting alerts for every new message that lands in your inbox — or going to the opposite extreme and not getting any email notifications whatsoever — use your Gmail labels as a way to control which messages alert you.

You can pick any label that seems notification-worthy and then limit your notifications only to messages with that label attached. You can even set up label-driven notifications to function on your desktop computer and on your mobile device. (Provided you use Android, that is. Sorry, iPhone folks, but Apple’s garden doesn’t allow this level of customization to fly.)

That’s exactly what I do with my aforementioned “VIP” label, in fact. And it’s actually quite easy to set up. I put together a step-by-step guide here.

And with that, my inbox-dwelling comrade, your label education is complete. Go ahead: Label yourself organized. You’ve earned it.

This article was originally published in November 2019 and most recently updated in September 2026.

All right, quiz time: In a single sentence, can you tell me exactly what Google Voice does?

It’s a question even the most giddy Google-appreciating geeks struggle to answer succinctly — and for normal, non-tech-obsessed Homo sapiens, the answer typically falls somewhere between “Huh?” and “Wait, is that the same thing as gChat?”

Really, it’s no surprise. Google Voice is one of Google’s most complex, confusing, and poorly promoted services. But it’s also one of its most powerful — if you take the time to figure out exactly what it does and how it can work for you.

And especially if you’re using your phone for any manner of business, it can make a night-and-day difference in your ability to stay as connected and productive as possible, no matter where you’re working or what type of device you’re using at any given moment. Without exaggeration, it’ll completely change the way you think about your modern mobile devices and what a phone number even is.

Consider this your unofficial guide to getting started with Google Voice and then getting the most out of the underappreciated but potential-packed service.

The Google Voice business basics

We’ll start with the basics — and go back to that question I posed at the beginning of this conversation: What exactly is Google Voice?

In its simplest form, Google Voice is a cloud-based service that manages your phone number for you. Instead of being connected to a SIM card (or eSIM) and tied specifically to a single physical smartphone, your number lives in a fluffy Google server and is controlled entirely by Google software.

That arrangement ultimately frees your digits from their traditional shackles and allows you to communicate in all sorts of convenient, efficiency-enhancing ways — without any complex carrier-switching or awkward add-ons required.

At its core, that empowers you to:

1. Make and receive calls using your standard number on any device — phone, tablet, or even desktop computer. No one you’re talking to will know the difference.
2. Send and receive regular text messages through the Voice website or apps on any device anytime — even with multiple devices being connected simultaneously.

Together, that means any phone, tablet, or computer where you sign into Google Voice effectively becomes “your phone” — regardless of what type of connection it relies on or if it even has active cellular service.

So, for instance, you could:

• Install the Google Voice app on an old Android phone or iPhone and then have it ring whenever a call comes into your number, be able to make outgoing calls on it from your number, and be able to send and receive text messages on it with your regular number as long as it’s connected to Wi-Fi.
• Install the Google Voice app onto a Chromebook, an Android tablet, or an iPad and communicate with customers and co-workers in all those same ways from there.
• Sign into the Google Voice website on any laptop and handle calls and messages on it as if it were your phone — regardless of whether your actual current smartphone is nearby or even powered on.

And there’s more: Google Voice also automatically transcribes your voicemails and lets you listen to or read ’em from any device where you’re signed in. It brings Google-caliber spam filtering to your incoming calls, text messages, and voicemails, along with the option to have all of your calls screened for you. And it gives you a robust system of contextual call forwarding — almost like Gmail filters for your phone.

Like I said, this is one seriously powerful but also confoundingly complicated service. Let’s dive in and explore every last piece of the puzzle so you can make sure you’re taking full advantage of everything it has to offer.

Getting started with Google Voice

The first step to getting started with Google Voice is simply signing into the service and setting yourself up with a number. That part of the process is easiest if you begin on a computer.

For individual, non-company-connected Google accounts, Voice plans range from free to $20 a month for different sets of features. You can immediately choose a new Google Voice number in any available area code for free, or you can opt to pay $20 to transfer an existing number into the service. In either scenario, you’ll have to be in the US to be eligible. (Sorry, international pals!)

With company-connected Google Workspace accounts, Voice is available in the US as well as in Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the UK. Your Workspace administrator will have to activate the service for you, and it costs $10, $20, or $30 per user per month — billed to the company — depending on what tier of service is selected.

Either way, once you’ve got your number set, you’ll find yourself facing the main Google Voice dashboard. That’s where you’ll always be able to see your recent calls and messages, make new calls and messages, and read or listen to voicemails left on your number.

JR Raphael / Foundry

And as long as you have the website open, any calls coming into your number will actually ring your computer — and you can answer ’em right then and there.

JR Raphael / Foundry

We’ll come back to explore some advanced settings in a second. First, we need to shift our focus for a moment and get Google Voice set up on any phones where you want to use it — including the primary phone you rely on for your day-to-day communication.

Setting up phones with Google Voice

Now that we’ve got the core Voice setup finished, this part’s pretty easy:

• If you’re using an Android phone, download and install the Google Voice app from the Play Store.
• If you’re using an iPhone, download and install the Voice app from the App Store.

Either way, open the app up and follow the prompts to sign in using the same Google account you used in your initial setup on your computer.

On Android, you’ll be prompted to connect that device to Google Voice to allow the phone to make and receive calls using your Google Voice number. If your phone has active cellular service with a separate number that’s connected to your carrier, follow the steps to link the two and allow them to work together.

If you’re using an older or secondary phone that doesn’t have active cellular service, just skip that step. You’ll still be able to make and receive calls with your Google Voice number whenever the phone’s connected to Wi-Fi.

On both Android and iOS, you’ll then see the main Google Voice dashboard interface — with tabs for your recent calls, your contacts, your text messages, and your voicemails. The button in the lower-right corner of the screen will allow you to make a new call or start a new message, depending on which tab you’re viewing.

JR Raphael / Foundry

And on both platforms, you’ll be able to tap the three-line menu icon in the app’s upper-left corner to find the main settings menu.

In a moment we’ll explore the main Voice settings thoroughly from the service’s website, where every last option is available, but for now, take a quick peek at the “Making and receiving calls” (or “Make and receive calls”) and “Incoming calls” areas of the apps’ settings. Those will control exactly how calls to and from your Voice number will be handled on that specific device — if they’ll rely on your carrier-provided cellular minutes, assuming those are available, or if they’ll rely primarily on Wi-Fi and/or mobile data.

If you have any other phones or any tablets you want to add into the mix and allow to access all of the same Google Voice functions, repeat this same process on any of them, using the appropriate Android or iOS app.

Just remember: If you set up all those devices to answer calls, you’re gonna have an awful lot of things ringing every time someone dials your digits. So if you don’t want a bunch of different devices simultaneously demanding your attention with every incoming call, be sure to go into the Google Voice app’s notification settings on each device and make the appropriate adjustments.

Otherwise, we’re ready to move back to your computer to dive in deep to all of the Google Voice settings.

Exploring the Google Voice settings

All right — ready to get into some of Google Voice’s greatest powers?

Back on the Voice desktop website, click the gear-shaped icon in the upper-right corner of the screen. That’ll take you to the full Google Voice settings menu, where you’ll find every available option.

And my goodness, are there a lot of ’em.

The first section of the screen, “Account,” has all of your basic number and device management settings, for anytime you need to make any foundational changes. The only item there you need to think about right now is “Linked numbers.” If you want to set your Google Voice number up to forward to any other existing numbers — an office line, a secondary cell phone, or even a colleague’s phone — click the “New linked number” button and follow the steps to add and confirm the number you need.

JR Raphael / Foundry

Moving on, the second section of the screen, “Messages,” contains a single switch to have any incoming messages forwarded to your email (in the same Google account’s inbox). It’s a simple touch but a useful one, especially if you live in your inbox and want to make sure you don’t miss anything during the day.

The third section, “Calls,” is where the real Google Voice power starts coming into play. Under “Call forwarding,” you’ll be able to flip a switch next to any linked number you added to have all incoming calls on your Google Voice number forward to it all the time.

And directly beneath that, the “Custom call forwarding” section will let you set up contextual filters to forward only specific sorts of calls to different linked numbers. Simply click “Create a rule,” and you’ll be able to choose individual contacts, groups of contacts, or broad categories of contacts like anonymous callers and then tell Google Voice exactly what to do when those people ring you.

JR Raphael / Foundry

Back on the main Google Voice settings screen, the “Calls” section has some other options worth your while to consider:

• “Get email alerts for missed calls” will do exactly what you’d expect. It’s a fantastic way to make sure an important call never goes unnoticed.
• “Screen calls” will prompt every incoming caller to state their name and then place them on hold while you hear the recording so you can decide if you want to answer.
• “Incoming call options” will activate the abilities for you to record an incoming call by pressing the number 4.

Skip down from there to “Voicemail,” and you’ll find options to record your outgoing voicemail message and manage other voicemail-related preferences.

Under “Payments,” you can connect a payment method to apply credit for international calls, if you’re so inclined. In the US, calls made through Google Voice to other US numbers as well as Canadian numbers are completely free, while calls to other countries vary in their rates.

And last but not least, under “Security,” you’ll probably want to flip the switch next to “Filter spam calls and texts.” That’ll allow Google’s spam detection systems to stop suspected junk calls, messages, and voicemails from ever bothering you.

Whew! Told ya Google Voice had lots of fascinating layers, didn’t I? Hold the phone, though: We’ve got one more pair of powerful possibilities to explore before we call it a day.

Google Voice premium perks

Some of Google Voice’s most useful features are available only for higher-level individual and business accounts.

For accounts using either the Google Voice Standard individual plan ($20 per month) or the Google Voice Standard or Premier team plans ($20 or $30 per user per month), you can dial into a couple of advanced business-oriented phone management options:

1. You can set up a fully automated, professional-sounding phone menu system that answers calls on one of your Google Voice numbers and directs callers to different places depending on the time of the day and which options they select.
2. You can have Gemini, Google’s AI assistant, take notes on your calls and then offer a recording, transcription, and summary after.

Those same team plans (but notably not the individual plan) can also create ring groups that make it easy for multiple people to handle calls coming into the same number — like a single streamlined number for a sales team, for instance. The main number can either ring every associated team member’s phone at the same time so whoever answers first gets the call, or it can ring all of the associated numbers individually in a random order. Those plans include advanced Voice-associated data searching capabilities as well, and at the Premier level, there’s also the option to automatically record and transcribe calls without any manual action required.

All of those features can be configured by your Google Workspace administrator in the Google Voice section of the Google Admin console.

Oh, and one more thing: Any Google Voice number can connect directly to a variety of specialty boxes and handsets that effectively allow you to have subscription-free landline-style phones for your desk or home office. You can establish a standalone number through Google Voice for such a line and even have calls from your other Google Voice numbers automatically ring those phones in addition to ringing other devices, so you can easily answer any call anywhere you like.

And now you know, from start to finish, how Google Voice can transform your business and the very way you think about your phones. All that’s left is to create your account, get things set up the way you want, and then enjoy your newly enlightened approach to phone number management.

This article was originally published in June 2022 and updated in July 2026.

Nearly five decades after the launch of VisiCalc, AI is reshaping one of the world’s most familiar productivity tools — the humble spreadsheet.

While a lot of knowledge workers interact with spreadsheets on a regular basis, many lack the skills and confidence to access more advanced functions.

“For a very long time, spreadsheets forced you to learn spreadsheet syntax and spreadsheet ways of working,” said Eric Birnbaum, director of product management for Google Sheets. “But think about how many people need to use spreadsheets at work and don’t have the skill set to create the kinds of spreadsheets that can be really helpful for them.”

The addition of artificial intelligence can help handle that issue, he said, making the software more accessible to a wide range of office workers. “AI is unlocking the power of spreadsheets, taking on a lot of the difficult work that’s required to use them. That can be incredibly empowering for users,” said Birnbaum.

Google has steadily expanded generative AI (genAI) capabilities in Sheets since launching Duet AI — now Gemini — for Workspace in 2023.

Gemini in Sheets is available at no extra cost to Google Workspace subscribers, though a paid AI Expanded Access add-on – costing $30 per user each month – is required to remove certain usage limits.

Features that have rolled out in recent months include the ability for a Gemini agent in Sheets to carry out multi-step actions such as formatting, analysis and data entry, and, more recently, the ability to create entire spreadsheets from a single prompt. A Fill with Gemini feature builds on the existing AI function, enabling users to automatically populate selected cells by detecting intent from information within a spreadsheet as well as from the web.

Another feature, Sheets Canvas (currently available in alpha), lets users generate interactive apps that update in real-time based on changes to spreadsheet data. This could be a kanban board for a sales pipeline, for instance, or an analytics dashboard that uses Sheets as its back-end data source. 

Google claims users already see a range of benefits from Gemini in Sheets. According to an August 2025 survey of 200 Sheets users conducted by the company, the majority of knowledge workers (89%) said AI features in Sheets save them at least an hour a week, and 88% believe AI features have made them more confident in their data analysis skills. 

The most popular AI use cases include creating spreadsheets and charts, analyzing data, and fixing broken formulas. How widely these features are actually used is unclear; Google declined to provide weekly usage statistics for Gemini in Sheets.

As the company embeds Gemini deeper into Sheets, questions remain about just how much businesses can trust AI tools to handle important business data, as well as what increased automation means for those who spend much of their day wrangling data. 

Computerworld recently talked with Birnbaum about the potential benefits and challenges of the latest evolution of spreadsheet software. This interview has been condensed and edited for clarity.

As businesses become more focused on seeing value from AI investments, what measurable benefits are customers seeing from Gemini in Sheets – for example, time saved or other forms of return on investment? “Spreadsheets remain one of the universal languages for businesses, and we don’t anticipate that’s going to change anytime soon. But by bringing AI into the product where people work, we think it can significantly reduce the technical tax of data: the time spent understanding it, sourcing it, analyzing it, visualizing it.

“Historically, data professionals spent — let’s estimate it at 80% of their time — on the mechanical groundwork, data cleaning, crafting formulas, formatting, troubleshooting, and maybe only 20% of their time on actual strategic decision-making.

“We think that by offloading the manual, time-consuming, error-prone data work to Gemini, we can flip that ratio a bit, so humans can focus on the things that really matter: the high-value questions to ask and the judgment calls and decisions that get made from them. We’re starting to see evidence of that in our own user base and customer base.

“The second point to make is that AI can democratize data analysis to some extent, and make it available to many more users. For so many years, the spreadsheet was a gatekeeper; if you couldn’t speak the rigid language of spreadsheet formulas, you couldn’t extract the value from data. But by introducing these natural language interfaces, AI is separating the analytical capability from the technical literacy. 

“If you can ask the right questions, or describe what you want in plain language, Gemini and Sheets can help you achieve your goals in a spreadsheet, even if you have minimal spreadsheet skills yourself.

“What we’ve seen so far from users and customers is that it’s incredibly empowering for people who might have been scared off by data analysis or dreaded opening spreadsheets in the past. You don’t need to go and wait for a data analyst to help you; you can go and do this work yourself in a spreadsheet.”

The flip side is, how confident can businesses be if more junior employees can take on higher-level analysis tasks by relying on AI? Given the propensity for AI models to hallucinate, to what degree can businesses trust that these tools won’t introduce errors into important business data? “It’s something we spent a ton of time thinking about. We’ve gone to great lengths to build these AI tools to collaborate with you, to show their work, explain what they did, and make sure that you can take over where they leave off.

“Our Sheets agent, for example, lays out a really explicit, transparent plan for you to review and approve before any data manipulation happens. It’s designed to do that in plain natural language in a way that the average user could understand, and then it gives you back that final summary, so you know exactly what it did and where it did it.

“The other thing is that the model is great at explaining things. If you inherit a spreadsheet that has some complex formula that you don’t understand, for example, the model does an amazing job of explaining how it works and what it’s doing.

“In many ways AI is not only making these features more accessible, but helping users feel more confident in the output. Human error is an inherent risk in manual data management, with or without AI. One misplaced comma or broken cell reference can completely corrupt an entire financial model, and it can be completely undetected. 

“Our approach with AI in Sheets is to create this deliberate verification loop. You now have another spreadsheet expert working along with you, reducing the likelihood of these mistakes.”

Even if humans produce errors too, does it ultimately come down to accountability when AI is involved? “Our point of view here is that AI should be partnering with the knowledge worker who’s doing the work here. And everything that we’ve built is designed to be that partner. You might be able to offload tasks to the model, but we’re citing sources, we’re providing plans and explanations. We’re ultimately relying on the user to do that final verification.

“We spend a humongous amount of time focused on quality. We know that for AI to be useful in spreadsheets, it has to be reliable. When we launched Sheets Gemini Agent, for example, we were really proud that we set a state-of-the-art benchmark on the full SpreadsheetBench data set, which at the time exceeded competitors and near-human expert ability. 

“But we know quality is never ‘good enough’ or done. We’re constantly working to improve quality for our users and customers, and for the use cases where they’re relying on AI most.”

What potential do you see for more agentic functionality in Gemini Sheets — for example, bringing in data from other sources, creating recurring reports, or taking more actions independently? “We’re listening closely to customers and users and building what they’re telling us they need. The agent is already capable of doing very complex multistep workflows, and we see users discover that the agent is extremely capable of doing end-to-end spreadsheet tasks. In terms of connectors, in an alpha we have connections available to HubSpot, Salesforce, and Mailchimp. We hope to expand that over time.

“There’s no path to have AI replacing analysts. I think AI is giving analysts more time back to actually do the more valuable parts of their job. Analysts that I work with are way more productive and impactful than they ever were before, because they can push that uninteresting spreadsheet grunt work off to the model, freeing up time for more interesting and impactful work.

“A great example: the visualizations I’m getting back from analysts nowadays are canvases instead of static charts that I can explore myself. It’s way more informative and useful than what I was accustomed to before.”

Looking ahead, do you expect a larger share of spreadsheet work to be carried out by agents, with humans setting goals and reviewing results? What will be the biggest change in how people use spreadsheets with AI? “The tasks are likely to stay similar and the use cases for spreadsheets are likely to continue to be relevant. The biggest change will be the ability to push the uninteresting spreadsheet grunt work off to a model and free up time for the user to do things that are more impactful, more interesting, more meaningful to the business.

‘Spreadsheets have historically been these like static containers where data goes to rest. I think AI can turn spreadsheets into these dynamic, localized software applications. And I do actually think this sort of changes the game for how people might use spreadsheets moving forward. 

“It’s not just a passive grid full of numbers; spreadsheets are evolving to become these live, long-lived, collaborative applications. Employees can build these on the fly, like a basic CRM or supply chain dashboard in seconds. This is an area of investment for us moving forward, and we’re really excited to see how this evolves.”

AI assistants and agents, such as ChatGPT or Claude, might be able to analyze spreadsheet files and business data without users working inside a spreadsheet application. What do you think will keep Sheets central to the workflow, rather than simply making it one part of a wider AI-driven process?“We’re in constant touch with customers and users; it’s clear work is still happening in spreadsheets. I think spreadsheets remain incredibly popular tools. If we can bring the AI capabilities users need directly into the product where they already are, we’ll transform the way they work.  

“I think we can be the front-end for some of this great AI innovation and the products that users are accustomed to today. Everything we build is guided by user feedback: users are telling us right now they want AI to help them do their everyday or more complex tasks, and they’re starting in Sheets today.”