When you log in to your Gmail account, your account background is white, while all text is black. While not bad, the white and black look can get boring after a period of use. Fortunately, Gmail offers a setting for users to change their account theme or wallpaper. You can add wallpapers from different sources, including your phone’s or computer’s image gallery.
However, changing your wallpaper isn’t the only way to personalize your Gmail account. You can also change your Gmail inbox layout and email density. To know how to do all this, read below.
How to Change Your Gmail Theme
On your Gmail, you can choose a theme to change the background or wallpaper. Options available when changing your theme include dark mode, user-uploaded images, and free stock themes. Here’s how to change your Gmail account’s theme to one of the available options.
Step 1: Open the Gmail page in a web browser and sign in with your account details.
2nd step: At the top right of your Gmail window, click the gear icon representing settings.
Step 3: In the options, click on “See all settings”.
Step 4: Click the Themes tab at the top of the Settings window.
Step 5: Click Set Theme.
Step 6: In the new window, select one of the following options:
- Default theme: White background.
- Dark mode: black background.
- Pre-uploaded theme: single-color backgrounds or background images provided by Google or other users.
- Upload an image: select a personal photo from your Google photos.
Depending on the type of theme you choose, you may be able to make further changes to the text background and background image visibility.
Step 7: After selecting your preferred theme, click the text background icon at the bottom of the page.
Step 8: Choose between having light or dark text with your theme.
Step 9: Click the Blur icon at the bottom of the page.
Step 10: Drag the slider to adjust the blur of the background image.
Step 11: Click Save to save all your changes.
How to Change the Email Density in Your Gmail
The density of emails in your Gmail account affects their appearance. It is similar to the line spacing you have in word processing documents. Simply put, the less space you have between emails, the more emails you can see at a glance. However, the more space you have between emails, the lower the number of emails you can see at a glance.
Step 1: Open the Gmail page in a web browser and sign in with your account details.
2nd step: At the top right of your Gmail window, click the gear icon representing settings.
Step 3: Scroll down to the Density group.
Step 4: Choose your preferred density from the following options:
- Default: this setting displays a moderate amount of space between elements on the messaging screen. An email containing an attachment will also show a second line showing them. With this, you can quickly open an attachment without opening the email itself.
- Comfortable: this setting displays less space between items on the messaging screen. It does not display the second line of an email with attachments.
- Compact: this setting dramatically reduces the space between email screen elements, allowing you to see more emails at a glance.
How to Preview Emails in Gmail
By default, when you click on an email in your Gmail inbox to view its contents, the email fills the screen. If you want to read your email while viewing your inbox list, you’ll need to edit your reading pane. Here’s how:
Step 1: Open the Gmail page in a web browser and sign in with your account details.
2nd step: At the top right of your Gmail window, click the gear icon representing settings.
Step 3: Scroll down to the Reading Pane group.
Step 4: Choose your preferred reading pane from the following options:
- Do not divide: this option opens an email in your inbox and takes over the whole screen.
- Right or Inbox: With this option, you can view the emails in your inbox and read the email content at the bottom of the page.
- Below is the inbox: With this option, you can view the emails in your inbox and read the email content at the bottom of the page.
How to Customize Apps in Your Gmail
Google integrates functionality from its other products into Gmail. These products are Google Chat and Meet. Instead of opening them in a separate tab, you can use them from within Gmail. Here’s how to enable the option to use Google Chat and Meet in your Gmail account. The steps also apply if you want to disable the use of apps in your Gmail.
Step 1: Open the Gmail page in a web browser and sign in with your account details.
2nd step: At the top right of your Gmail window, click the gear icon representing settings.
Step 3: Scroll down to the Apps section in Gmail.
Step 4: Click Customize.
Step 5: In the pop-up window, check the boxes next to Google Chat and Google Mail to enable them. If you want to disable them, uncheck the boxes.
Step 6: Click Done to save your changes.
Filtering unread emails in your Gmail account
Another way to personalize your Gmail is to change the look of your inbox. By default, your Gmail inbox organizes emails in the order you receive them. However, you can choose to show unread emails in your inbox or show priority emails.