Sometimes an email arrives before you’re ready to deal with it. Maybe you need to respond later in the week, review a reservation closer to the travel date, pay a bill on payday, or remember to follow up on a message you sent.

Gmail’s Snooze feature lets you temporarily remove an email from your Inbox and have it return at a date and time you choose. When the snooze period ends, the message comes back to the top of your Inbox so it’s easier to notice and take action.

In this tutorial, I’ll show you how to snooze and unsnooze emails on a computer and in the Gmail mobile app, how to snooze messages you’ve sent as a follow-up reminder, and how to change Gmail’s default snooze times.

What You’ll Learn

In this tutorial, you’ll learn how to:

  • Snooze an email on a computer or in the Gmail mobile app
  • Find and unsnooze messages before their scheduled return time
  • Snooze a sent email to remind yourself to follow up later
  • Change Gmail’s default snooze times
  • Find snoozed emails and snooze multiple messages at once
  • Use snoozing for common work and personal reminders

Jump to a section:

Common Uses

Snoozing an email in Gmail is an easy way to manage attention and time without forgetting about important tasks. It acts as a digital pause button for an inbox, moving messages out of sight until they can be handled.

Managing Workload & Focus

  • Batching tasks: Grouping similar emails (like bills, project updates, or newsletters) to handle all at once later in the week.
  • Reducing clutter: Keeping the main inbox clean and focused only on the current hour’s priorities to lower stress.
  • Delaying replies: Postponing a response until working hours if an email is read late at night or over the weekend.

Timing-Specific Actions

  • Travel and event planning: Snoozing flight itineraries, hotel reservations, or concert tickets until the morning of the event.
  • Meeting preparation: Hiding agendas or presentation notes until 30 minutes before the scheduled meeting.
  • Follow-up reminders: Snoozing an email you sent to a client for three days so you remember to check in if they haven’t replied.

Personal Logistics

  • Bill payments: Snoozing a digital invoice until payday or the specific day bills are scheduled to be paid.
  • Online shopping: Holding package tracking numbers or return labels out of sight until the delivery date or the weekend.

Video Tutorial

How Gmail Snooze Works

When you snooze an email:

  • It temporarily leaves your Inbox. The message is still available in Gmail, but it no longer appears in your regular Inbox view.
  • You choose when it returns. At the selected date and time, Gmail brings the message back to the top of your Inbox.
  • You can still access it anytime. Snoozed messages are available under Snoozed in Gmail, or you can search for them using in:snoozed.
  • You can unsnooze it early. If you want the message back before its scheduled return time, you can unsnooze it manually.

Step-by-Step Instructions

Below are instructions detailing how to snooze or unsnooze an email on a computer or using the Gmail mobile app.

Snoozing a Received Email on a Computer

From your inbox, hover over the email in your list, click the clock icon (Snooze) on the right.

Or, when viewing the email, click on the Snooze button or clock icon.

Select a “snooze until” option or click Pick date & time to set a custom snooze until date and time.

The email will now appear in the Snoozed section in Gmail and can also be found by typing in:snoozed in the search box.

Snoozing a Sent Email on a Computer

From your sent folder, hover over the email in your list, click the clock icon (Snooze) on the right.

Or, when viewing the sent email, click on the Snooze button or clock icon.

Select a “snooze until” option or click Pick date & time to set a custom snooze until date and time.

The email will now appear in the Snoozed section in Gmail and can also be found by typing in:snoozed in the search box.

Unsnoozing an Email on a Computer

To unsnooze an email on a computer, simply open the snoozed email (found in the Snoozed folder), then click on Unsnooze.

The email will be removed from the snoozed folder and return to the inbox.

Snoozing a Received Email on the Gmail Mobile App

Open the email, tap the three dots in the top right corner, and select Snooze.

The email will now appear in the Snoozed section in Gmail and the “snooze until” date and time will appear under the email.

Open the email and tap on the 3 dots on the top right.
From the menu, tap on Snooze.
Tap on a default “snooze until” time or pick a date and time.
If opting to set a custom date and time, select it on the calendar and choose the time, then tap save on the top right.
Snoozed emails can be found in the Snoozed folder, accessed by tapping the 3 lines on the top left of the inbox.
Snoozed emails will display the “snooze until” date and time.

Snoozing a Sent Email on the Gmail Mobile App

Tap the 3 lines on the top left to open the menu, then tap on Sent to view sent emails

Open the sent email you want to snooze, then tap the three dots in the top right corner, and select Snooze. Select a default snooze time or pick a custom date and time.

The email will now appear in the Snoozed section in Gmail and the “snooze until” date and time will appear under the email.

Tap the 3 lines on the top left to open the menu, then tap on Sent to view sent emails
Tap on the email you want to snooze to open it.
Tap on the 3 dots on the top right to open the menu.
Tap Snooze.
Select a default snooze time or pick a custom date and time.
The email will now appear in the Snoozed section in Gmail and the “snooze until” date and time will appear under the email.

Unsnoozing an Email on the Gmail Mobile App

Tap the 3 lines on the top left to open the menu, then tap on Snoozed to view snoozed emails.

Open the sent email you want to unsnooze, then tap the three dots in the top right corner, and select Un-snooze.

The email will return to the inbox.

Tap the 3 lines on the top left to open the menu.
Tap on Snoozed to view snoozed emails.
Open the sent email you want to unsnooze.
Tap the three dots in the top right corner to open the menu.
Select Un-snooze.
The email will return to the inbox.

Changing Default Snooze Times in Gmail

Gmail provides suggested snooze times such as Morning, Afternoon, and Evening. If those times don’t fit your schedule, you can customize them through the Gmail mobile app.

Changing Default Times on the Gmail Mobile App

You can easily adjust the “Morning”, “Afternoon”, and “Evening” triggers directly inside the Gmail app.

  1. Open the Gmail app.
  2. Tap the Menu icon (three horizontal lines) in the top left corner.
  3. Scroll down and tap Settings.
  4. Tap your specific email account (if you have more than one synced).
  5. Under the Inbox section, tap Inbox customizations.
  6. Tap Snooze settings.
  7. Select Morning, Afternoon, or Evening

Once saved in the mobile app, they will automatically override and update the desktop web interface defaults.

From the Gmail app inbox, tap the menu icon on the top left.
Tap on settings.
Tap on Inbox customizations.
Tap on Snooze settings.
Adjust as desired.
Tap Done to save.

What About the Google Keep Workaround?

You may come across older instructions that recommend changing Gmail’s default snooze times through Google Keep. That workaround is no longer available because Google removed the Reminder Defaults setting from Keep when reminders were moved to Google Tasks.

If you want to change Gmail’s default Morning, Afternoon, or Evening snooze times now, use the Snooze settings available in the Gmail mobile app.

More Gmail Snooze Tips

Once you know the basics of snoozing and unsnoozing messages, there are a few additional ways to make the feature even more useful. These tips can help you find snoozed emails faster, manage follow-ups, and use Snooze more efficiently on both desktop and mobile.

The Search Cheat Code

Type in:snoozed into the Gmail search box to quickly display all of your snoozed messages.

The “Sent Email” Follow-Up Trick

You can actually snooze emails you sent. If you email a client and need to follow up in four days, go to your Sent folder and snooze that outgoing message. It will pop back into your inbox in four days, serving as a perfect reminder to check in.

Calendar Conflicts

When you snooze an email, it does not create an event or reminder on your Google Calendar. It only lives inside the Gmail ecosystem. If you need a hard deadline block on your calendar, you have to create that manually.

Bulk Snoozing

You don’t have to snooze threads one by one. You can check the boxes next to multiple emails in your inbox, click the single clock icon at the top of the page, and postpone dozens of messages to the exact same time simultaneously.

Optional: Configure Snooze as a Mobile Swipe Action

Gmail officially supports assigning Snooze to a left or right swipe in the mobile app.

Related

How to Find and Delete Old Promotional Emails in Gmail

Learn how to find and delete old promotional emails in Gmail without wiping out everything before a certain date. This tutorial shows how to use Gmail search operators, review messages by sender, select all matching emails, bulk delete them, and clear Trash when you’re ready.

How to Block or Unblock an Email Address in Gmail

Learn how to block or unblock an email address in Gmail using Gmail’s built-in Block feature, or create a filter that automatically sends messages from a specific sender to Trash. This tutorial also shows how to undo both methods and when unsubscribing may be a better option.

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