How to Edit a Template in Gmail (and Change Its Subject)

Gmail has no Edit button for templates. To edit one, insert it into a new email, change it, then use Save draft as template to overwrite the old one. Your new text saves. A new subject doesn't, because a template's subject comes from its name.

How do I edit a template in Gmail?

1. Open Gmail on your computer and click Compose.
2. At the bottom of the new email, click More options (the three dots), then Templates. Under Insert template, click the template you want to change. Its text appears in the email.
3. Make your changes.
4. Click More options > Templates > Save draft as template. Under Overwrite template, click the template's name.
5. Gmail asks "Overwrite saved template?" Click Save.

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The email you used is saved in your Drafts like any other. If you don't need it, click the trash icon at the bottom of the email to discard it.

There's no undo: the new text replaces the old. If you might want the old text back, save your changes as a new template instead (the steps are below) and delete the old one once you're sure.

Why didn't my new subject line save?

If you changed the subject, overwrote the template and watched the old subject come back anyway, it's not you. Gmail doesn't save a subject with a template. The template's name is the subject.

We tested this in Gmail on the web in October 2026. When we inserted a template into an email with an empty subject, Gmail filled the subject with the template's name, not the subject we saved it with. When we changed the subject and overwrote the template, Gmail saved the new text, but the next time we inserted it, the subject was still the name. If the email already has a subject when you insert a template, Gmail keeps yours.

How do I change a template's subject or rename it?

Gmail has no rename option, so you save a copy under the new name:

1. Click Compose and insert the template (More options > Templates > the template's name).
2. Type the subject you want in the Subject line, and make any other changes.
3. In the same Templates menu, click Save draft as template, then Save as new template.
4. Gmail asks for a name and fills in your subject. Keep it, so the name and the subject match, and click Save.
5. Insert the new template into a new email to check it. Then delete the old one.

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How do I delete a template?

Click Compose, then More options > Templates > Delete template, and click the template's name. Gmail asks "Delete saved template?" Click Delete. You can't get a deleted template back.

To make a new template from scratch, see how to create and save a template in Gmail.

Why can't I see Templates in Gmail?

Check three things:

• Templates are turned on. In Gmail on your computer, click Settings (the gear icon) > See all settings > Advanced. Next to Templates, click Enable, then click Save Changes at the bottom.
• You're on a computer. The Gmail apps for phones and tablets don't have templates.
• Your template is further down. If you have many templates, scroll down in the menu.

What about attachments and signatures?

Attachments. A template doesn't save attached files. Attach them again each time, or put a Google Drive link to the file in the text. Here's how to make a Gmail template with an attachment.

Signatures. If Gmail adds a signature to your new emails, leave it out of the template. Otherwise it can show up twice.

How do I send an edited template to a whole list?

That's the job YAMM does. You list the people in a Google Sheet, and YAMM sends each one their own copy from your Gmail, with their name and details filled in. Opens, clicks and replies show up in the same sheet. It's been installed more than 16 million times.

YAMM sends from a Gmail draft, not a template, so turn the template into a draft first:

1. In Gmail, click Compose and type your subject. Then insert your template.
2. Where something changes from person to person, type a marker in double curly brackets: {{First name}} in the greeting, for example, or {{Company}} in the subject. Each marker matches a column title in the first row of your sheet, and capital letters don't matter.
3. Leave the To field empty (YAMM fills it from the email column in your sheet) and close the email. Gmail saves it in your Drafts.
4. In your sheet, click Extensions > Yet Another Mail Merge: Mail Merge for Gmail > Start Mail Merge, and choose your draft in the Email Template list.
5. Click Send test email to see one filled-in copy in your own inbox before you send to everyone.

Because a template's subject is its name, you can put markers in the name. In our test, a template named Your invoice from {{Company}} came back with that subject, marker included.

If a marker doesn't fill in after a lot of editing or pasting, select the marker's text in the draft and click Remove formatting in Gmail.

Our step-by-step mail merge guide walks you through your first one.