How to Change Your Gmail Theme

Have a little fun by customizing your Gmail screen

by
Marziah Karch
Marziah Karch
Writer
Marziah Karch is a former writer for Lifewire who also excels at Serious Game Design and develops online help systems, manuals, and interactive training modules.
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Marziah Karch
Updated on April 14, 2021

Change the way Gmail appears when you're logged in from a computer by adding a theme or changing the existing one. Pick from the themes that are included with Gmail or use one of your own photos as your Gmail background.

In addition to changing the background image, you can tweak a few other settings to customize Gmail's appearance, such as an option to add blur to a picture or to darken the edges of the background.

Instructions in this article apply to Gmail using Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7, and Mac Yosemite (10.10) and up.

You can't change your Gmail theme on a mobile device, only on a computer.

Change the Theme on Gmail

Gmail's theme gallery is just a few clicks away in the Settings menu.

  1. Open Gmail and log in if prompted to do so.

  2. Select the Settings icon in the upper right corner of the page. It looks like a gear.

    The Settings gear in Gmail

  3. Scroll down to the Theme section and choose one of the pre-made themes offered here, if you like, or select View All.

    The Gmail settings menu with the Theme section highlighted

  4. If you selected View All, scroll through the photos and select a theme to preview it.

    Screenshot of Pick Your Theme dialog box.

  5. Select More Images at the bottom of the gallery to see even more background options.

    The Gmail theme window with the More Images option highlighted

  6. Select the Text Background button at the bottom of the Themes box to choose Light or Dark text.

    The Gmail theme window with the text background icon highlighted

  7. Select the Vignette button and adjust the slider to make the corners of your Gmail theme darker.

    The Gmail theme window with the vignette icon highlighted

  8. Select the Blur button and add blur to the theme with this slider option.

    The Gmail theme window with the Blur icon highlighted

  9. Select Save to apply the new theme your Gmail inbox. You can go back and change your theme as often as you like.

    The Gmail theme options window with the Save button highlighted

    You can't change your Gmail theme on a mobile device, only on a computer.

Using a Personal Photo as a Gmail Theme

If you have a photo on your computer that you want to use, upload it to your free Google Photos storage to use it as your Gmail background theme. If you haven't used Google Photos before, learn how to get started with Google Photos.

  1. Select My Photos at the bottom of the Pick your theme window. The Select your background image window will open with My Photos selected.

    The Gmail themes window with the 'My photos' option highlighted

  2. Find the image you have uploaded to Google Photos that you want to use as the background for your Gmail inbox.

  3. Select the image and then click Select to apply it to your Gmail inbox.

The Gmail theme window with a personal photo selected as a background image
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