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Why can't I invite my friends to join Gmail?

Dave, this is driving me crazy! I've been on Gmail for almost a month now, but I still don't have an invitation box: how can I invite my friends to get their own Gmail accounts?

Dave's Answer:

This is one of the most common questions I see, actually. I've written quite frequently about Google's Gmail service, including the most relevant article to this question: How Do I Invite People to Join Gmail, but i haven't talked much about how Google doles out invitations.

First off, let me say that when you get a Gmail account, don't expect to immediately get invitations so that you can invite your friends and associates to get Gmail accounts too.

I believe that there are two reasons for this reticence on the part of Gmail: First, they cut down significantly on spammers spawning dozens of fake email addresses by simply making it slower to get accounts (versus hotmail, for example, where you could spawn a few dozen addresses in an hour or less), something I'm glad about.

Secondly, thought perhaps it's a bit less relevant now than it was when the Gmail service first appeared, Google can keep a bit of mystery, a bit of perceived mystique, by having the Gmail service be a bit exclusive. Since you can't just sign up and get an account, it makes having a Gmail account more cool.

Be that as it may, if you've just received a Gmail invitation, this still leaves you probably more than a bit frustrated when your pals ask for their invites and you can't send any. The bad news is that I have heard of people who have had to wait 3-4 months before they see their first invitation box:

The solution? Probably just to have some patience with the service. I wouldn't be surprised that using Gmail more would get your invites to show up faster too, though I have no proof of that.

Finally, if you have just one or two friends who are desperate for an account, they are welcome to email me, asking for an invitation, as I seem to get a good quota from Google every week. Ask them to send requests to d1taylor at Gmail.

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Comments

hey i have an account in gmail. but i dont have an option of intiving my friends. what should i do now?

Posted by: abhishek at August 23, 2005 9:55 AM

Let me know if you need a GMail invite. I have plenty.

Posted by: Vinaya HS at September 1, 2005 5:07 AM

Hi Dave I really would like to have a Gmail account but it seems like google keeps changing the rules on me. Anyway I was reading your newsletter Ask Dave Taylor and you said to send you an email and you would help the guys friends to get an invite,well I'm not a friend of the guy who asked you for help but I'm goin to ask you anyway to help me get an gmail account. I know this won"t help me but I did buy your book Creating Cool Web Sites. rayshawn285@sbcglobal.net

Posted by: Raymond Curry at September 2, 2005 12:25 AM

there are sites that give away gmail accounts thats how i got mine. just sarch google for free gmail account.

Posted by: Joe at September 2, 2005 12:32 AM

Would be great if you have another Gmail account available.
Thank you in advanced.

Posted by: J.Petrahn at September 4, 2005 9:27 AM

i wanna invite friend option

Posted by: shatheeshl at September 10, 2005 4:16 PM

dear dave i dont have the invitation box in my account so i cant invite any one. what's the matter? what should i do?i need immediately. thanx

Posted by: shady at September 16, 2005 1:38 AM

Dear Dave, I would like to have I nvite a Friend option on my gmail account.

Posted by: Priscah at September 18, 2005 9:27 AM

hey i have an account in gmail. but i dont have an option of intiving my friends. what should i do now?

Posted by: jayakumar at September 22, 2005 7:45 AM

I have heard that there is an URL which provide gmail invitations. Can I have that address ???

Posted by: Pavithran at November 7, 2005 11:32 AM

i have an account in gmail but i dont have option of inviting friends to gmail.what should i do now?

Posted by: bharath r at November 11, 2005 1:18 PM

pls give me avaliable things to invite my friends to gmail.

Posted by: suchithra p surendran at December 6, 2005 5:11 AM

I've been having 2 gmail accounts that are at least 1 year old. Just after I registered my accounts..I had the invite window available and I sent invites to my pals...the more invites I was sending the more I was getting back.A few days ago I noticed that the invite window disappeared.I haven't invited someone since a long time ago...but I don't think that's the reason...

Posted by: Loverboy at January 13, 2006 12:14 PM

hi! you don't know me as well as i you, but u've helped me a lot!!!

Posted by: Josh Green at May 21, 2006 7:45 PM

hi.. i have gmail account.. i dont have invitation to invite my friend.. plz help me..

Posted by: ramanna at June 9, 2006 10:23 AM

I have not find ant invite link or windows in my gmail account. how i invite to my friends to try out gmail.
how can get invite soonest.
please suggest me

sunil sparsh

Posted by: sunil saprsh at June 27, 2006 10:23 AM

gmail should give an invitation or two every month or two months atleast to their current users , or infact the ones that use it quite often: regularly

Posted by: eashan at July 22, 2006 12:43 AM

The service is really execellent,congrats.

Posted by: B.Ramachandran at July 29, 2006 8:32 AM

Hi,

When will the invitation box will appear in my account because my friends what to know and how come i know after sending the request it will be implemented and how come i'll know about it

Thanks

Posted by: dhiraj at August 10, 2006 1:26 PM

Hi,

I have a account in gmail and i can't invite my friends and i have pasted the request long back and i'm tired requesting for it i didn't expected this from the google i know you are the biggest search engine and there are lots of other jobs than this but please look at this and how come i know when i can invite my friends..

Thanks

Posted by: dhiraj at August 10, 2006 1:30 PM

I am using gmail for more than one year.

Still now i am unable to send a invitation.

What went wrong in this

Posted by: kannan at August 12, 2006 7:28 AM

Hi dave,
I got 15 invitations in my invitation box.. After i was sending 10 invitations , there i have 5 more.
But in the last week i found that i missed my invitation box. how can get back my invitation box
please give me an instruction.

Posted by: mallesh at August 15, 2006 11:28 PM

Hi, I want invite a friend option

Posted by: renita at August 23, 2006 12:12 AM

hello i have gmail account.but no invite option.i have been using gmail last 1 year.

Posted by: mathi.m at August 23, 2006 4:53 AM

i dont have a invite friend box, how do i get that, plz give a single solution/answer pleaaaaase

thanks

Posted by: paul at September 1, 2006 8:19 AM

invitation box mising in my inbox, kindly tell me how can i get that invitation box back to my inbox

Posted by: nakul at September 9, 2006 7:29 AM

hi.. i have gmail account.. i dont have invitation to invite my friend.. plz help me..

Posted by: supraja at September 13, 2006 4:46 AM

hey i have an account in gmail. but i dont have an option of intiving my friends. what should i do now?

Posted by: pragnesh at September 26, 2006 5:30 AM

i haven t sent invetation even to 10 of my friends but now i am not able to send any of the ivetation. What can i do now ?

Posted by: sajjan at September 28, 2006 2:29 AM

i have using g mail since last one year i was not able to send an invitation for my friends plz give me access invitation

Posted by: vinod prajapati at October 12, 2006 5:56 AM

hii.. i am using gmail account for long now and i am still not able to invite my friend.. could you help me..

Posted by: mohamed suheel at October 26, 2006 4:56 AM

hi.. i have gmail account.. i dont have invitation to invite my friend.. plz help me..

Posted by: kamesh at February 16, 2007 4:46 AM

dear dave
one of my friend sent me invitation gmail but can,t accept it pls help me!
thanks

Posted by: saharfarbood at July 24, 2008 2:33 PM

How can I make a friend on gmail please tell me.
I want to make friend.

Posted by: maharshi at July 13, 2009 1:42 PM

I have a lot to say, but ...

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

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