Industry guru Dave Taylor offers tech support on technical and business topics, including iPhone, iPod, Microsoft Windows, Sony PSP, cellphones, online advertising, CSS, Web design, business, Unix, Linux, SEO, Mac OS X, and shell script programming.     


How do I invite people to join Gmail?

Dave, I have an email account in gmail as myaddr@gmail.com but I'm still confused.
How can I forward gmail invitations to my friends?


Dave's Answer:

I've been plugged into the Gmail world for so long that I forget it's a different experience for people just signing up for the service.

Your first step is to log in to the service. Then, on your main inbox page, you should see something like this:

Google Gmail Invitation Window

The fast way to do this is to enter their email address in the box and click "Send Invite", but there's an even easier way: every inbound message you receive has the following link at the bottom of the message display:

Invite JohnDoe to Gmail

Click on that link and you'll be able to invite your friend without even having to type in their email address. Darn convenient! The next window you'll see looks like this:

Google Gmail Invite A Friend Window

Click on "Send Invite" once you've fine-tuned the invitation note and you'll be helping your friends join our Gmail family in no time.

Unless, of course, you aren't seeing the invite box at all, which means you don't yet have any invitations and just need to have the patience to wait a week or two (or possibly quite a bit longer: see my article Why can't I invite my friends to join Gmail?) before you start earning invitations.

Oh! If anyone still needs a Gmail invite, please don't hesitate to ask me for one: send your message to me at d1taylor at gmail.com.


More Useful Computer and Internet Basics Articles:
✔   How do I blur my house on Google Maps Street View?
I was poking around on Google Maps looking at satellite views of my neighborhood and when I switched to street view, was upset...
✔   Create a custom vanity URL for Kickstarter?
I was reading some updates on Twitter and saw someone had posted a URL that would let me see what projects they'd backed...
✔   Export or Save Subscription List from Google Reader?
Just heard that Google Reader is going away this summer. That stinks! How am I supposed to read my RSS feeds? More importantly,...
✔   Shrink or Reduce a Photo File Size on Mac?
I'm trying to upload some photos to a social media site and it's complaining that they're too big. They are, as they come...
✔   Can I organize my Yahoo Mail with folders?
I've been on Yahoo Mail for years and while most of my friends are now on Gmail or their own Web-based email programs,...

Let's stay in touch!
Sign up for my weekly AskDaveTaylor Newsletter and you'll receive even more tech and gadget help right to your inbox, along with exclusive news and industry updates. It's good stuff. I promise!
    Enter your name: and your email addr:  









Reader Comments To Date: 86

cathy said, on June 1, 2005 3:01 PM:

this is not true...i have gmail...and no where does it ask me to invite anyone...

Dave Taylor said, on June 1, 2005 3:09 PM:

You need to have your account for a while, then one day it'll just pop up with a set of invites you can send. In the interim, Cathy, feel free to ask two or three of your best friends to email me for invites and I'll get them hooked up! d1taylor at Gmail .. com

Pawan Singh said, on June 3, 2005 8:51 AM:

i want to invite me friends on my gmail account

ashwin said, on June 8, 2005 9:48 AM:

i wanna invite you mani

ashwin said, on June 8, 2005 9:50 AM:

hai mani pl have an account in gmail

budi purnomo said, on June 17, 2005 7:14 AM:

please invite me

rudresh kumar said, on June 18, 2005 11:26 AM:

invite me to join gmail plssssssss

Knk said, on June 20, 2005 10:56 AM:

I you want share gmail invites (as long as i have some)

Just send an email to kamiware [at] gmail [dot] com

Bret said, on June 20, 2005 11:15 PM:

If possible, would you please send me an invite to join gmail? Thanks a lot.

Bret said, on June 20, 2005 11:15 PM:

If possible, would you please send me an invite to join gmail? Thanks a lot.

rajendra reddy said, on July 22, 2005 3:35 PM:

i am intresting to join the g mail
please the join me

hair rohit said, on August 17, 2005 4:26 PM:

send 2 invite to my mail.

Nico Reinbold said, on August 19, 2005 8:50 PM:

Hello - I really want to join gmail, but can't seem to get an invitation. Would you be so kind as to help a Wisconsin girl out if you have any lingering invitations? I'd be ever so grateful. I have hotmail, but it goes all wonky from time to time, and I do so love consistency.

Thanks much for your consideration -
Nico

venkat said, on August 22, 2005 9:31 AM:

I can't view the invitation tab: how can i invite my friends to get their own Gmail accounts?

Dave Taylor said, on August 22, 2005 3:35 PM:

If you don't have the 'invite' box when you log in to your Gmail account, you need to have a bit of patience and wait. As a method of limiting spammers and generally keeping the system somewhat exclusive, Google doesn't automatically let you invite lots of people the day you join.

How long will you have to wait? Not sure. I've heard from people who have had accounts for 3-4 months and still don't have any invitations.

If it's just one or two of your buddies you want to invite, you can ask them to request an invite by emailing me: I seem to have lots of 'em. I'm d1taylor on the Gmail system.

Ricardo said, on August 25, 2005 1:30 PM:

Hi, i have gmail cont but i cant send ivetes...y???? i want invite a brother..please...ricardorendeiro21@gmail.com...help me

saiksihore said, on August 26, 2005 7:43 PM:

hello, i didnot have a invite box in my gmail account
i want to invite my brother
can u tell me a procedure ,how to invite without
invite box

alex said, on September 3, 2005 1:41 AM:

yea how long untill u get the invite somebody box?

balaa said, on September 8, 2005 11:01 AM:

kindly update my account for Invite Icon

vivesh said, on September 11, 2005 3:43 PM:

can i plezzzzzzzzzz join gmail pleazzzzzzzzz

Dave Taylor said, on September 12, 2005 5:28 AM:

Here's a response for everyone here who believes that adding a comment to this discussion thread will result in my inviting you to join Gmail: it won't work. I'm too busy to figure out email addresses from comment postings and paste them into the right spot on my Gmail system (and I get a lot of requests every week too)

Please note that I'm willing to invite people to join Gmail when I have available invitations, but I only invite those folk who send their request to me via email to my Gmail address, which is d1taylor at, you guessed it, gmail.com

Hope that clarifies what's going on here. :-)

Ralph said, on September 13, 2005 9:53 AM:

If you want an gmail account simply leave a comment here in order to leave an email address to send an invite to:
http://www.allralph.de/blog/archives/2005/09/232-gmail-invite-giveaway.htm
Enjoy!

sazz said, on November 4, 2005 11:40 AM:

ive had my gmail account for ages now but i still havent got the invite a friend link. how do i get it?!

James Sneddon said, on November 18, 2005 12:56 PM:

Late arrival but could someone invite me to join gmail. It sounds great and i'm going travelling and will need a big space size. Thanks very much

ravi kumar said, on November 29, 2005 3:21 PM:

i hav to invite my friend . how i can do pls help me

andy said, on December 20, 2005 11:16 PM:

do your send invites build up?

Dave Taylor said, on December 21, 2005 7:39 AM:

As far as I know, Andy, there isn't any accumulation. You start at 50 invitations (eventually) and then I've been bumped up to 100 invitations available, and it replenishes pretty randomly.

reshmi said, on January 2, 2006 1:52 PM:

i have the gmail invite box - i got an option of inviting 19 people - the problem is that every time i try to invite someone, and they go through the process of making an email, the gmail service says that the invitation was invalid. what's going on?

i got the invite box right away, and it says that the invites are being sent out-the problem is that although they say the account has been created, when you try to create one again using the same usrname, they say that the name has already been used in an account - one that we already made (apparently). when the person tries to login, the account is invalid.

I DON'T UNDERSTAND WHAT'S GOING ON! PLEASE HELP!

Dave Taylor said, on January 2, 2006 9:45 PM:

That's a very strange occurance, Reshmi. I would suggest that you try to contact the Gmail tech support team and see what they have to say about the situation.

r said, on January 8, 2006 12:31 AM:

i have 15 gmail invites .
if anyone wishes to have one
send me a funny ,clean picture joke
at this address
lightningstars@gmail.com
bye

arun said, on February 19, 2006 10:51 PM:

i have been using gmail from 5 months and i dont have a single invite pass wat shold i do to get it

selwyn said, on March 16, 2006 10:42 PM:

i do have a gmail account since quite a long time
but i still do not have any invitation with me. it shows zero invitation wen ever i try to invite my friend. why is it taking so long for me to get an invitation.

selwyn stanford said, on March 16, 2006 10:44 PM:

i do have a gmail account since quite a long time
but i still do not have any invitation with me. it shows zero invitation wen ever i try to invite my friend. why is it taking so long for me to get an invitation.

Craig w said, on March 24, 2006 4:02 PM:

Dear Selwyn,
Google hasn't given everyone invite yet. Most olders users such as me has 100 invites still. So yeah good luck with that

josephliton said, on April 11, 2006 4:23 AM:

I HAVE 30 GMAIL INVITATIONS .IF ANY ONE WANTS THEN PLEASE EMAIL ME .josephliton@gmail.com

unclelove09 said, on April 16, 2006 9:07 PM:

i was invited to gmail but when i try to invite someone els i'm getting the a message that i don't have no invitation option and it will be send to me at a later date, but this was about a month ago, please send me your advise

vandana singh said, on April 27, 2006 4:40 AM:

ive had my gmail account but i still havent got the invite a friend link. how do i get it?!

laxman said, on May 20, 2006 6:18 AM:

i have already got a g mail account and i am unable to invite my friends for g mail, i havent got invitation facility in by inbox. Could you helpo me??

abhishek gupta said, on May 30, 2006 12:26 AM:

there are no gmail invitations in my gmail account.
plz help me as soon as possible.

Meena said, on June 5, 2006 12:16 AM:

I have gmail account.but i cant find the gamil invitation facility.but i want to send gmail invitations to my friends. for that what can i do???

thara said, on June 12, 2006 4:52 PM:

kindly update my account for Invite Icon

thara said, on June 12, 2006 4:52 PM:

kindly update my account for Invite Icon

KD said, on June 21, 2006 1:27 AM:

I have a gmail account, but don't have the invite option. Please update my account information.

ankush said, on June 29, 2006 9:12 AM:

hiii plz update my account vd an invite icon

elijah said, on July 14, 2006 1:25 AM:

i have a gmail account.but,i want to send gmail invitations to my friends..if you have any..send them to me...thank you very much

HARSH said, on July 14, 2006 2:26 AM:

if you need a gmail please send a simple mail at my mailing address : harshsteno@gmail.com

Kishore said, on July 25, 2006 11:52 PM:

ive had my gmail account but i still havent got the invite a friend link. how do i get it?!

yeshwanth said, on July 31, 2006 10:21 AM:

i dont find that option itself on my inbox page....

mallesh said, on August 14, 2006 12:10 AM:

when did i get the invitation box and how many days it will take ? and how many invitation i may get?

somre said, on August 29, 2006 1:03 PM:

i have a gmail but ididn'get any invites so could you give me some thanks

kaylie said, on August 29, 2006 1:44 PM:

i didnt have any invite and i want to send some to my friends so i need like 10 can you send me some soon please thanks p.s and i dont have the options to invite so please send me some asap thank you

vedaant shourie said, on September 18, 2006 5:51 AM:

i am not having invetes box on my gmail page , how do i invite friends

netboy said, on September 30, 2006 8:15 AM:

please can you send invite for me because i cant see the invite box and i want to make other email for dad, thanks too much.

Joakim said, on October 2, 2006 7:27 AM:

invite me to Join gmail please !

Joakim said, on October 2, 2006 1:50 PM:

I have 50 invites ! You can contact me and see if you could get one of them.

MVH

naveen said, on October 6, 2006 11:06 PM:

i have been using gmail since 3 months but i have not got any invitation box .

tedders said, on October 13, 2006 6:50 AM:

Any Gmail invites left please.

Fayth said, on October 16, 2006 2:35 AM:

Pls update my account.. I would love to invite a friends..
thanx

MUKESH said, on October 26, 2006 2:52 AM:

PLEASE SEND A INVITATION TO MY FREIND SURAJKNT@YAHOO.COM I AMM NOT GETTING INVITE BOX ON MY DESKTOP
THANKS
MUKESH

pratap_apk said, on February 8, 2007 9:52 PM:

i have gmail application please send me know immedately please ok its ur gent

Al said, on February 21, 2007 12:26 PM:

If you still have one available I would love to receive an invite to Gmail. Thank you talisair@yahoo.co.uk

jason said, on April 8, 2007 12:53 PM:

gmail

Lukman306 said, on June 19, 2008 4:21 AM:

I like join gmail because i is fun

sujeewa samarakkodi said, on December 9, 2008 7:32 AM:

hi

gf said, on December 18, 2008 4:11 PM:

ssseeexx

naveen taneja said, on May 3, 2009 9:06 AM:

haiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii

arie said, on May 12, 2009 6:35 PM:

its not working

Tarek jlassi said, on September 26, 2009 12:43 PM:

waaaaaaaaaaaaaw

louis tihchu said, on December 15, 2009 10:29 AM:

I find it difficult 2 chat online and as such.It is so disgusting.I need your help.I always envy the yahoo fans and a desperate man can do any thing.

erick said, on April 30, 2010 6:59 PM:

just want to know

am mm said, on June 14, 2010 11:05 AM:

I want to test my webcam with gmail but I dont have a contact

prakash said, on September 12, 2010 11:51 AM:

i have intrested to mention the realation with my friend.

hitesh said, on June 27, 2011 10:10 PM:

i hav joind gmail i want to invite friends. i have intrested to mention the realation with my friend. I would love to invite a friends..
thanx
i didnt have any invite and i want to send some to my friends so i need like 10 can you send me some soon please thanks p.s and i dont have the options to invite so please send me some asap thank you

mzimasi said, on July 22, 2011 9:17 AM:

invite me plz

seshu said, on March 14, 2012 11:46 PM:

but the above sollution for sending an invitation in gmail is giving an error

pankaj said, on March 28, 2012 7:18 AM:

sir don't like Everything else mail plese help me

leetguy said, on April 10, 2012 1:29 PM:

Come on gais. I need a gmail invite real bad. Pl0x, ty

Jan Baros said, on April 13, 2012 9:30 PM:

I didnt really find where to invite to gmail in the main inbox screen :(

Nick said, on May 3, 2012 7:15 AM:

This info has changed I think since the new style Gmail. Does anyone have any ideas of how to send an invite now??

Dave Taylor said, on May 3, 2012 7:25 AM:

Nick, you're right. Look on the lower left of your Gmail screen and you'll see three dots adjacent. Believe it or not, that's a button. Click on it. Voila! Invitation box appears.

jonndon said, on June 9, 2012 8:37 AM:

can someone invite me?
thank you.

2561327433@qq.com

winston said, on August 19, 2012 2:52 PM:

eh guyz cn sum invite me on Gmail

Mike Snow said, on April 9, 2013 5:59 PM:

This Info. does not work.

Dave Taylor said, on April 9, 2013 7:50 PM:

You are correct, Mike. As of a few months ago, Google no longer gives Gmail users the ability to invite others. Now your friend will just have to go to the Gmail home page and sign up.

idrees said, on May 5, 2013 6:40 PM:

invite me good popele

krish said, on May 12, 2013 4:29 AM:

hai friends any one please invite to chat

Starbucks coffee cup I do have a lot to say, and questions of my own for that matter, but first I'd like to say thank you, Dave, for all your helpful information by buying you a cup of coffee!

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











I will never send you any unsolicited email. Ever.






Check This Out Too...

 
Look for Answers
Need Help? Ask Dave Taylor!


Follow Me on Pinterest

Find Me on Google+
ADT on G+
© 2002 - 2013 by Dave Taylor. All Rights Reserved.

Note: This web site is for the purpose of disseminating information for educational purposes, free of charge, for the benefit of all visitors. We take great care to provide quality information. However, we do not guarantee, and accept no legal liability whatsoever arising from or connected to, the accuracy, reliability, currency or completeness of any material contained on this web site or on any linked site. Further, please note that by submitting a question or comment you're agreeing to my terms of service, which are: you relinquish any subsequent rights of ownership to your material by submitting it on this site. My lawyer says "Thanks".
"Ask Dave Taylor®" is a registered trademark of Intuitive Systems, LLC.