Add classification labels in Gmail

Important: To use classification labels, you need to sign in to a work or school account. Currently, classification labels are in beta.

• If you can’t find the option to add classification labels, contact your administrator.
• If you’re an administrator, learn how to create classification labels.

If you use Gmail at work or school, your administrator can ask you to add classification labels to emails. With classification labels, you can manage sensitive or important emails in your organization. For example, if your email contains confidential information, your organization’s data policy can require that you add a “Confidential” label to the email.

Your administrator can also set up rules that automatically apply classification labels to a message. For example, if your message contains personal identifiable information, the rule can detect it and apply a “Confidential” label to the message. This label is available to the message recipient if they’re a member of the same organization and have view permissions for the label.

Learn the basics of classification labels

• You can add up to 20 labels to each email.
• Only your administrator can create and edit labels.
• To add a label to an email, your administrator must give you view and edit access to the label.
  • If you only have view access to a label, you can’t modify or remove the label.
• You can’t:
  • Edit label names.
  • Add, edit, or remove labels from emails that you sent.
  • Search for emails by a label.
  • Find or add labels in the Gmail app.
• Follow your organization's data policy. If you don’t know your organization’s data policy, contact your administrator.

Add a classification label

1. On your computer, go to Gmail.
2. At the top left, click Compose.
   • You can also add a label when you reply to an email.
3. Under the “Subject” line, click the Classification line.
4. Select the label you want to apply.
   • If a label has multiple fields:
     1. Click Arrow .
     2. Fill in the fields.
     3. Click Apply.
5. To add another label, click the Classification line.
6. Select another label.

• To remove a label, click Remove .
• To change a label, click the label and select a different label.

Identify emails with classification labels

• Labels appear next to:
  • Emails in your inbox
  • The sender’s name in an email
• If there’s more than one badged label applied to an email, the label ranked the highest within your organization is displayed. To find the full list of labels applied to an email, you can open an email and click the label.
• If an email has multiple labels, or if the label doesn’t have a label name, you can open the email to find all details.
• To find all labels applied to an email: 
  1. On your computer, go to Gmail.
  2. Open the email.
  3. On the right, next to the sender’s name, click the label.
  4. In the “Applied classifications” pop-up, review details about each label.