How to Customize Your Gmail Interface Look With Themes

If you’re like most small business people, you spend a lot of time on your computer. You probably have a custom screen saver set up already. You may have decorated your office space to help make it more personal. You probably keep some personal items on your computer desk.

Then there’s your Gmail. You spend a large part of your day in Gmail. It’s too bad you’re stuck with that boring mostly black on white Gmail interface. Or, are you?

In this post, I’m going to let you in on a little “secret.” What most people don’t realize is that you can personalize your Gmail interface using one of the many preset Gmail themes, or even with one of your own favorite pictures. But you can.

In this tutorial, I’ll show you how to do it. I’ll share everything you need to know about customizing your Gmail interface. I’ll explain how to use the Themes settings to change how your Gmail looks. I’ll also explain which settings options to select to change the appearance of your Gmail.

How to Apply a Gmail Theme to Your Email

How to Customize Your Gmail Interface Look With Themes

In the screencast above learn how to quickly apply Gmail themes to your Gmail interface. Or, read on for comprehensive written instructions to help you change your Gmail theme.

1. Find and Apply an Existing Gmail Theme

Step 1

From the main Gmail screen, click on the Settings icon in the upper right corner. A drop-down menu appears:

Step 2

Select the Themes option from the drop-down menu. The Themes screen displays:

The Themes screen includes dozens of pre-defined Gmail theme options. Use the up and down scroll bar on the right to find an option you like.

If you don’t see a theme you like, select the image that says the words “More Images” on it to see even more themes:

When choosing a theme, avoid the following types of images:

• Cluttered Images. An image with two much going on might be too distracting to use in your Gmail background.
• Images With Lots of Text. Images with too much text could also be distracting.

Step 3

When you find the theme you like, click on it to select it. Now click the Save button in the lower left of the screen to apply the theme to your Gmail interface:

You’re not limited to pre-defined Gmail themes, however. You can use one of your own images for your Gmail interface. Let’s learn how.

Use One of Your Own Images as a Gmail Theme

Step 1

From the main Gmail screen, click the Settings icon in the upper right corner. A drop-down menu appears:

Step 2

Select the Themes option from the drop-down menu. The Themes screen displays:

Step 3

There’s no need to scroll though the pre-defined themes since we are going to use our own picture for the Gmail interface. Click the My Photos option on the lower right of the screen. The Select your background image screen appears:

Step 4

If you have saved photos to your Google+ profile, you may see those images on this screen. You could select one of these photos if you wanted to.

To use a photo from your own computer, select the Upload a photo option from the menu at the top of the screen. You should see the following:

Step 5

You could drag a photo from your desktop. To select a photo from your computer files, click the Select a photo from your computer option. The File upload window displays:

Step 6

Click the image you want to use and click the Open button to the right of the File upload window. The Themes screen displays again with your selection in the upper left. Click the Save button on the left of the screen to apply your picture to your Gmail interface. Your photo is applied to your Gmail interface:

The image I’ve chosen as our Gmail theme looks pretty good with white text box for messages, but what if it didn’t?

You can also change the color of the text box on your Gmail interface.

2. Change the Text Box Color on Your Gmail Interface

Step 1

From the main Gmail screen, click the Settings icon in the upper right corner. Select the Themes option from the drop-down menu. The Themes screen displays:

Step 2

From the center of the Themes screen, click on the Text icon (it looks like the letter “A”). The Text background popup appears:

Step 3

Since the Text box is currently light, select the Dark option to change to dark Text box background. Click Save in the lower left to apply your change. You should see the following:

When choosing a dark or light text box background, keep in mind the background of your theme.

3. Darken the Corners of Your Gmail Interface

Step 1

Now that you’ve chosen an image, you can also choose to darken the edges of the image.

From the main Gmail screen, click on the Settings icon in the upper right corner. From the drop-down menu, select the Themes option. The Themes screen displays:

Step 2

From the Themes screen, select the Vignettes icon in the lower center of the screen. (It looks like a picture frame.) The Add vignette popup displays:

Step 3

Use the slider bar to determine how dark you make the edges. The further right you move the slider, the darker the edges of the background on your Gmail interface. Click Save when you are done. Your screen should look something like this:

There is one more change you can make to your theme. You can blur the background image.

4. Blur Gmail Theme Image

Step 1

From the main Gmail screen, click on the Settings icon in the upper right corner. From the drop-down menu, select the Themes option. The Themes screen displays:

Step 2

From the Themes screen, select the Blur icon in the lower center of the screen. (It looks like a square filled with dots.) The Adjust blur popup displays:

Step 3

The further to the right you move the slider, the greater the blur. Click the Save button in the left corner when you are done. Your screen will look something like this:

Even after you’ve made a lot of changes to your Gmail interface, you can return to the default Gmail theme if you get tired of your changes.

5. Return to the Default Theme

Step 1

To return to the default Gmail theme, click the Settings icon in the upper right corner of the main Gmail screen. Click Themes on the drop-down menu. The Themes screen appears:

Step 2

Using the up and down scroll bar, scroll until you see the default Gmail theme on the left of the themes screen:

Step 3

Click the theme to select it. Click the Save button in the lower left corner of the screen to apply the theme to your interface. Now the default Gmail theme is restored:

How to Use Settings to Change Your Gmail Interface

In addition to changing your Gmail theme, you can affect the way your inbox looks by changing the display density or configuring your inbox layout.

1. Change Your Display Density

Step 1

From the main Gmail screen, click on the Settings icon in the upper right corner. A drop-down menu appears:

Step 2

At the top of the drop-down menu, three options are listed under Display density:

1. Comfortable
2. Cozy
3. Compact

Depending on which one you select, the spacing between menu options and messages changes. To select an option, click on it.

Here is what my email draft box looks like with a compact density:

Here is what it looks like with a comfortable density:

Note: The size of your browser window affects your density. If you have a small browser window, the display density may be cozy or compact regardless of what you selected from the drop-down menu.

2. Configure Your Inbox Layout

Step 1

Start from the Settings drop-down menu. Click the Configure inbox option. The Select tabs to enable screen displays:

Step 2

Message categories are listed on the left of the screen. Choose which message categories appear as tabs in your Gmail inbox by checking the checkbox next to the category. The tabs also sort messages, so incoming messages from your social media accounts, for example, would display under the Social tab and not under your Primary inbox.

For example, if I uncheck all the boxes except the Primary category, no tabs display across the top of my Gmail inbox and all messages appear in the inbox. (You cannot uncheck the Primary category.)

The Select tabs to enable screen also allows you to send starred messages directly to your Primary inbox even if they would normally appear under another tab.

Conclusion

Your email can look as unique as you are. There are five ways you can customize your Gmail using themes. You can:

1. Apply a preset Gmail theme.
2. Apply your own picture as a Gmail theme.
3. Change the background of the Gmail text box.
4. Darken the edges of your Gmail background image.
5. Blur your Gmail background image.

And if you don’t like the way your Gmail looks when you are done changing it, you can always change it back to the default. You can also change your Gmail interface using the Settings menu.

To learn more about Gmail, review these posts:

• 

  9 Group Email Thread Best Practices: To Lead Better Conversations

  

  Laura Spencer

  01 Jun 2016
• 

  How to Set Up a Gmail (Out of Office) Vacation Responder Email

  

  Laura Spencer

  29 Aug 2016

Have fun personalizing your Gmail interface!