How to Create a Group Email in Gmail: Labels or Groups

To create a group email in Gmail, make a label in Google Contacts, add people to it, then type the label's name in the To field of a new message. That covers the everyday case of emailing the same list again and again. If you need an address other people can write to, such as team@ or volunteers@, create a Google Group instead: it gets its own email address, and every member receives a copy of what is sent to it.

This guide covers both methods step by step, taken from Google's own help pages, with the sending limits that catch people out and a table for choosing between them. If what you actually need is a team answering customer email together, a group address is only the start; our shared inbox tools comparison covers what comes after it.

Key takeaways

• Gmail has no group feature of its own. Groups live in Google Contacts (labels) or in Google Groups.
• A contact label is for sending. It is private to you and turns into a list of addresses when you compose.
• A Google Group is for receiving. It is a real address, like team@, that copies each message to every member.
• Labels use each contact's default address only, so check contacts that have more than one.
• Sending limits apply: 500 recipients per message on personal Gmail, 2,000 on Google Workspace.
• If people need to answer mail together, turn the group into a Collaborative Inbox or use a shared inbox. A group address on its own shows nobody who replied.

Method 1: Create a group email with a Google Contacts label

A label is Google's name for a contact group. You create it once in Google Contacts and use it from Gmail every time after.

Create the label

1. Go to Google Contacts.
2. On the left, next to Labels, click Create label.
3. Type a name, such as "Board" or "Suppliers", then click Save.

Add people to it

1. In Google Contacts, tick the box next to each contact you want in the group.
2. At the top, click Manage labels.
3. Click the label you created, then click Apply.

Anyone who is not yet a contact has to be added as a contact first.

Send to the group from Gmail

1. Open Gmail and click Compose.
2. In the To field, start typing the label's name, then select the group.
3. Gmail fills in every address in the label. Write and send as normal.

Source: Google Contacts Help, View, group & share contacts.

Keep addresses private with Bcc

When the people in a label do not know each other, add the label to the Bcc field instead of To. Each person gets the message without seeing everyone else's address, and a reply-all cannot reach the whole list.

Edit, rename or delete the label

In Google Contacts, point to the label under Labels on the left and follow the options on screen.

Two limits to know

• Only the default address is used. Google's help page says that if a contact has several email addresses, "only their default email address is added to the label group." Check the contact card for anyone who uses a work and a personal address.
• Gmail's sending limits still apply, because a label is just a list of individual recipients:

Sources: Gmail Help, Limits for sending & getting mail and Google Workspace, Gmail sending limits. Go over a limit and Gmail blocks sending for up to 24 hours. For large lists, Google's own advice is to create a Google Group and send to its address instead.

Method 2: Create a Google Group with its own email address

A Google Group gives the list a real address. People email the group, and Google delivers a copy to every member. Nobody has to keep a label up to date in their own contacts, and with conversation history turned on, past messages are archived in Google Groups.

Create the group

1. Go to Google Groups and sign in.
2. At the top, click Create group.
3. Enter a group name (up to 73 characters), a group email (up to 63 characters before the domain) and, optionally, a description. Some words are reserved and cannot be used as addresses.
4. Choose the settings: who can search for the group, who can join, who can post, and who can view conversations and members.
5. Add members directly or invite them, then click Create group.
6. Wait a few minutes before sending the first message to the new address.

Source: Google Groups Help, Create a group & choose group settings.

With a personal Google Account, the group's address ends in @googlegroups.com. On a work or school account it uses your organization's domain, such as team@yourcompany.com. If Groups is missing from a work account, the administrator has to turn on Groups for Business, and some organizations only let admins create groups.

Send as the group address from Gmail

By default, members reply from their own address. To reply as the group:

1. In Google Groups, open the group's settings and set Who can post to Anyone on the web, so Gmail's confirmation email can reach the group. This needs the Owner or Manager role.
2. In Gmail, go to Settings, See all settings, Accounts and Import (or Accounts), and under Send mail as, add the group's address.
3. Confirm the code Gmail sends to the group.

Source: Google Groups Help, Add a group as an email address in Gmail. Letting anyone on the web post also lets anyone email the group, so review its moderation and spam settings afterwards.

Contact label or Google Group: which to use

Pick a label when you are the only person who sends to the list. Pick a Google Group the moment other people need to email the list, or when the list outgrows Gmail's per-message limit.

When a group email is not enough

A group address is built for distribution: everyone gets a copy. That breaks down when the mail sent to it has to be answered, such as support@ or orders@. Every member sees every message, nobody can tell whether a colleague has already replied, and customers get two answers or none.

Google offers three steps up before any paid tool:

• Collaborative Inbox. A Google Groups setting that lets members take, assign and close conversations. It needs a work or school account, and it runs in the Groups interface rather than Gmail. Setup steps are in our Gmail shared inbox guide.
• Shared inbox from the Admin console. A Google Workspace admin can create a shared address that the team opens in real Gmail. It is free on Business Starter, Standard and Plus.
• Delegation. One mailbox that several named people can read and send from.

When the team needs to see who is handling what, the Gmail shared inbox guide compares the free options with Hiver, Gmelius, Front and others. If you are unsure whether you need a shared inbox or a full help desk, shared inbox vs help desk draws the line.

InboxPilot, which publishes this guide, works one step later. It connects to the Gmail or Outlook mailbox where that shared mail lands, sorts each message, and drafts replies from your own documents for a person to approve. It does not create groups or send to lists, and it does not assign conversations inside Gmail; that coordination runs through Slack.

Using Outlook instead?

Outlook's equivalent of a Google Group is a distribution list, and its equivalent of a shared inbox is a shared mailbox. Our guide to adding a shared mailbox in Outlook explains the difference between the two and when each one fits.

Related reading

• Gmail shared inbox: how to set one up: Google's free options step by step, then the paid tools.
• Best shared inbox software: the full category across Gmail and Outlook.
• Shared mailbox auto-reply: acknowledging every message sent to a team address.
• Gmail ticketing system: turning a Gmail address into a queue.

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Steps and limits quoted from Google Contacts, Gmail, Google Groups and Google Workspace help pages checked on 2026-09-23. Google changes its menus from time to time, so labels on screen may differ slightly. InboxPilot is the publisher of this guide.