Gmail themes?! How do I change my Gmail theme?

I was just looking over at someone else's computer and noticed that they had a completely different look and feel for their Google Gmail Web pages. I mean, REALLY different look, with ninjas and everything. She said she'd tweaked her "theme" but I don't know about that plug-in. But, damn, it looked cool. How can I tweak the appearance of Gmail?

Dave's Answer:

It was only a day or two ago that I learned that Google had unleashed themes in Gmail, actually. Prior to that, there were third-party add-ons you could download and install that would give you some control over the Gmail look and feel (mostly color schemes) but truth be told I've always been nervous about the possibility of a UI hack messing up the functionality of the system.

The good news is that Google's now added about twenty themes of its own, ranging from the banal with just the slightest tiny changes from the standard (now "classic") design to those that are quite amazingly different and really quite fun.

Here's how ya get there...

When you're logged in to your Gmail account, look on the top right for "Settings":

(On the newer interface, you might see a small "gear wheel" icon on the top right instead. Click on it and you'll see "Mail Settings". That's your choice instead)

Click on "Settings", and you'll see the usual set of tabs, with something new on the far right:

Chose Themes and you'll be amazed at the number of cool themes that are now available for Gmail users:

Finally, I suspect that the woman you were spying on, uh, whose computer you glanced at, was running the "ninja" theme, but the one I like is actually called "desktop":

Nice. And great job, Google, with these new Gmail themes!

Categorized: Computer and Internet Basics (Article 8621, Written by Dave Taylor)
Tagged: gmail, google mail, skins, themes
Previous: How To Create Unique Web Content Without Writing A Word
Next: How do I change the background picture on my Windows XP PC?

Subscribe!

Never miss another Q&A article! Click to subscribe:

Comments

thank you so much, u explained it very well and in a very simple way,
thanks

Posted by: umar at November 23, 2008 3:36 PM

Honestly, I think this is too simple. It's a nice guide nonetheless. :)

Posted by: DJKMan at November 25, 2008 10:02 PM

I love the new themes that google has ,was really simple it also filters according to country .

Posted by: Steve at December 4, 2008 2:27 PM

How to add themes into my gmail account?

Posted by: florence at December 10, 2008 12:14 AM

sdafdasdfdas

Posted by: Anthoni at December 29, 2008 12:42 AM

i dont know why but mine doesnt have the themes tab :(

Posted by: a at January 29, 2009 12:37 AM

Thanks a lot. it is very easy simple way to understand

Posted by: Kiran at March 27, 2009 11:47 PM

Mine dosn't have the theames tab

Posted by: alice at May 2, 2009 8:25 AM

thank you so much,

Posted by: ipsita at May 4, 2009 9:44 AM

haven't theme menu in my mail in setting options

Posted by: babusingh at May 14, 2009 4:33 AM

my settings do not have themes tab.........what do i do ??

Posted by: Abhinav at June 24, 2009 6:18 AM

my settings do not have themes tab.........what do i do ??

Posted by: renuka at August 21, 2009 4:57 AM

my settings do not have themes tab.........what do i do ???

Posted by: Rahul at August 27, 2009 8:23 AM

How to add themes into my gmail account?
Please inform to me

Posted by: atul mehta at September 1, 2009 1:32 AM

add theme

Posted by: olivia at September 16, 2009 4:43 AM

you ned to change how you said that on settings there are themes cuz it does not say that

Posted by: sara at September 20, 2009 5:47 PM

nice & simple, thanks a lot

Posted by: Siva Prasad, India at September 29, 2009 10:43 PM

if you are using google apps (domain-wide gmail) and can't see the themes tab, read this:

http://www.google.com/support/a/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=82691

Posted by: Mike at November 25, 2009 4:09 AM

i dont have tab of the them in setting menu
please send reply on this

Posted by: kiran gurunavar at December 15, 2009 9:08 PM

I am not getting themes option in my email.So please tell me the procedure

Posted by: shaikshavali at January 7, 2010 10:34 AM

my settings do not have themes tab.........what do i do ???

Posted by: VIJAY at January 14, 2010 6:49 AM

hi
i cannot see thems on my settings why?????

Posted by: vahid at January 25, 2010 12:06 PM

how can i add theme tab in my account

Posted by: kiran at January 29, 2010 4:49 AM

dear sir,
my g mail account did not show the themes coloumn what can i do now

Posted by: sammy at February 5, 2010 6:31 AM

respected sir,
in my gmail there is no "theme" tab...
what can i do fot that...

Posted by: Vignesh at February 12, 2010 8:50 AM

I had gmail themes up until this week. Then my computer crashed. After a technician spent two hours repairing it, my themes disappeared.

Posted by: Randy at February 14, 2010 8:55 AM

THANK U SO MUCH ITS RELAY GOOD

AGAIN THANKS

THANKS THANKS

Posted by: md atiqyr rahman at February 23, 2010 4:39 AM

Thank u very much for giving this information

Posted by: Karthick at March 4, 2010 11:11 PM

my g mail account did not show the themes coloumn what can i do now

Posted by: yusuf at March 25, 2010 10:36 AM

respected sir,
In my gmail account there is no theme tab what can i do for that

Posted by: anjaneyulu.a at April 6, 2010 3:59 AM

u dave!!!
i dont have themes tab
cant u help me i actALLY mailed u
and by evening i want a raply
otherwise.........
i know wat 2 dooo
my id---
vijjuhm16@gmail.com
mail me or..........

Posted by: vijju at April 15, 2010 9:28 PM

vijju, it appears that one reason you might not be seeing themes is simply because you are running an older browser. Another possibility: the Google server system you use just hasn't enabled themes, in which case you're out of luck.

Posted by: Dave Taylor at April 15, 2010 9:37 PM

please seting on my gmail themes

Posted by: surendar at April 17, 2010 5:48 AM

How to add themes into my gmail account?

Posted by: samju at April 21, 2010 3:03 AM

its really cool and i will promote it to my friends

Posted by: Jeeva SVUniversity Tirupathi at May 24, 2010 5:47 AM

In my gmail account there is no theme tab what can i do for that

Posted by: vinutham at June 11, 2010 1:20 AM

u r excellent

Posted by: shibu thomas at July 4, 2010 1:04 PM

haven't theme menu in my mail in setting options

Posted by: satish at July 23, 2010 12:44 AM

there is no themes tab in my email setting .how can i change my gmail themes

Posted by: nibras at July 26, 2010 11:06 PM

haven't theme menu in my mail in setting options

Posted by: madhan at August 20, 2010 11:50 PM

now i am very happy that now i know how to change the theme. i also liked the desk

Posted by: nadia at September 4, 2010 4:47 AM

hey..there is no theme tab in settings option. what should i do?? i want to change my theme.

Posted by: sakshi at September 5, 2010 6:40 AM

How to I can creat my Gmail theme?

Posted by: SATHISH at September 16, 2010 3:51 PM

I want themes in my account. pls send me

Posted by: bhuvana at September 21, 2010 4:31 AM

Thanks:

there is no themes tab in my email setting .how can i change my gmail themes

Posted by: Thalha at October 10, 2010 8:47 AM

haven't theme menu in my mail in setting options

Posted by: munish at October 21, 2010 12:53 AM

i don't have themes option in my setting, so how can i set theme to my mail

Posted by: deva at October 26, 2010 7:00 AM

already i was applied g mail themes in my a/c. it s very nice look. but i want more themes . what i will do for get more themes sir

Posted by: jamuna at November 10, 2010 2:01 AM

sir i don't how to set a new theme for my gmail account. but i would like to see my gmail pages differently. how can i? and what can i do?

Posted by: garapati srinivas at November 11, 2010 5:13 AM

sir i don't how to set a new theme for my gmail account. but i would like to see my gmail pages differently. how can i? and what can i do?

Posted by: Noor at November 12, 2010 1:46 AM

coooool......

Posted by: srujan reddy at November 15, 2010 8:55 PM

sir i don't how to set a new theme for my gmail account. but i would like tpages differently. how can i? and what can i do?o see my gmail

Posted by: Noor at November 19, 2010 3:26 AM

nice sagest...... thank you- by cont-01817267983

Posted by: rahath at December 26, 2010 2:12 PM

ido not have theme on my settings

Posted by: nefi at March 3, 2011 9:23 AM

hai dave how r u,iam fine iwant the gmail themes but in my mail i check settings but they have no themes so plz help me

Posted by: umasankar at March 21, 2011 6:39 AM

thank you

Posted by: anoop at April 23, 2011 7:20 AM

wow thats really kool

Posted by: Emma at April 30, 2011 11:03 AM

I do not have theme on my settings....What should I do??????????

Posted by: Sukhen at May 3, 2011 7:10 AM

N!Ce men ! Thank You so much . It was very so easy and very simply.

Posted by: Jo Joe at May 7, 2011 7:38 AM

i dont've seen the theams option in settings .how would i see that option?

Posted by: sudheer at May 8, 2011 3:50 AM

THANK YOU

Posted by: MOHAMMED TUAHA at May 13, 2011 3:57 AM

I'm not set up like your example for "Settings." What am I doing wrong? I've tried using the Doc Settings and the Gmail Settings but can't get to themes.

Posted by: Sherbo at June 26, 2011 11:19 AM

thank u so much for this information.

Posted by: haneena at June 29, 2011 7:18 AM

my settings do not have themes tab.........what do i do ??

Posted by: son at July 26, 2011 1:41 AM

hey, cant c that theames(tab) in settings...
do help it out soon...gettin bored of old gmail look..

Posted by: urvashi at August 9, 2011 1:19 PM

[quote]Click on "Settings", and you'll see the usual set of tabs, with something new on the far right:[/quote]

Sorry but you're wrong about the information you posted. First off all I use IE 8 and themese are supposedly supported in IE7 + which means IE 7 and above sot hat means it they will work in IE8

Anyway that being said, I have about 9 gmail accounts ranging from an original one you had to get an invite to, all the way up to an account I created 2 days ago, that picture you show with the settings in it and old version and new doesn't even exist. There is no such setting option that even remotely looks like what you have shown in any gmail account I log into.

No such thing as older version option.
Try making an entire pictorial that leads up to you showing how exactly you got to that option in the first place.

Posted by: tx3000 at August 12, 2011 6:24 PM

tx3000, I hear what you're saying and it's clear that Google has continued to monkey with the UI on Gmail. However, I just checked and by clicking on the 'gear' wheel icon on the top right, I could select "Mail Settings" and on the tab bar along the top (in some themes it just looks like a bunch of text links, btw), near the rightmost point, there's "Themes" and it's all as shown above. If you have nine Gmail accounts and none of them have this option, I have no explanation.

Posted by: Dave Taylor at August 12, 2011 9:21 PM

Hi Dave, searching in the web I found you but not the solution for my problem.
I have different Gmail account and they are all "switchable" so I can have more than one open on my Firefox. All of this are with a different theme and so it's easier for me to recognized the account.
BUT the last one I opened (with the same setup and so on) in the mail settings don't have the themes tab though I received in this new account, the usual email with Customize Gmail.
In settings I only have : General - Labels Filters
Forwarding and POP/IMAP Web Clips Inbox
What can I do to solve my problem?
Thanks in advance and sorry for my bad english, it's not my native language
Lio

Posted by: Lio at October 21, 2011 8:58 AM

hi dude
just get into ur gmail account on the right end below ur mail id for eg:madhu.29491@gmail.com on the below u can see a icon where its avialable to only those whocessed the new version.
select the icon older version and get into ur usual look.....
note:only those who have accessed the newer version tis s applicable

Posted by: madhu at November 14, 2011 7:01 AM

Here is explained how to turn on themes in Gmail. I succeeded in second attemt! :)
http://www.google.com/support/a/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=1185265

Posted by: Dacha at November 24, 2011 8:42 AM

My id is heke

Posted by: vishali at December 11, 2011 2:38 AM

Thanks Taylor, your information was very useful. Though I love the new gmail look, the different icons can be a bit confusing. Incidentally, I love the desktop theme as well. Thanks again.

Posted by: debola adegbulugbe at December 14, 2011 2:04 AM

my email does not have theme setting how i can get the themes

Posted by: shafiuddin at December 18, 2011 4:07 AM

thnx dave.....i was searching for themes from many days finally i got it...

Posted by: aslaan malik at January 12, 2012 11:59 PM

my computer doesnt have themes on it without downloading anything

Posted by: rebeca at January 19, 2012 8:30 PM

I have something to say, now that you mention it, but ...

I do have a lot to say, and questions of my own for that matter, but first I'd like to say thank you for all your efforts on this Web site by buying you a cup of coffee!

I do have a comment, now that you mention it!