Gmail Label Sharing: A Complete Guide for 2025

As the founder of a software company that works with customer support teams on a daily basis, I see teams struggling with the same challenges repeatedly.

Cluttered inboxes. Disorganization. Lost support tickets. Duplicate responses. Slow response times.

Luckily there are solutions right within Gmail that make it easier to manage team emails.

Whether you’re leading a growing support team, scaling customer service, or just need a streamlined solution, I’ll walk you through your options for Gmail label sharing.

We’ll cover everything from basic Gmail organization practices to the setup of a fully collaborative support solution right within your inbox.

(Simply looking for the step-by-step instructions? Click here to skip ahead.)

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💡 Quick guide to Gmail label sharing

• Setup time: 10-20 minutes
• Skill level: Intermediate 
• Key challenge: Labels can’t be shared natively in Gmail

BEST FOR:

• ✔️ Support teams → to organize customer inquiries by type
• ✔️ Project teams → to track email threads by project
• ✔️ Sales teams → to categorize leads and opportunities

SHARING OPTIONS:

1. Google Groups: Basic shared labels for team discussions
2. Google Workspace: Admin-controlled label sharing
3. Keeping: Advanced label sharing with team collaboration features

Why share Gmail labels?

Struggling with email organization? You’re not alone. 

Miscommunication, missed deadlines, and frustrated customers are a reality for all too many growing teams.

Without shared labels, team email collaboration can be challenging. Gmail labels can help organize the influx of daily emails your support team receives.

Shared labels enable your team to:

• ✅ Work collaboratively with a universal email organization system
• ✅ Group similar emails together efficiently
• ✅ Ensure the right agent handles related conversations
• ✅ Process ticket queues faster

Since 54% of office professionals report wasting time searching for files in cluttered systems, shared labels can help your team save time and energy on repetitive tasks, and boost overall efficiency.

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Common use cases for shared labels

Shared labels can be used for:

• Customer support → to organize tickets, manage priority, and streamline assignment
• Project management → to collaborate as a team, track milestones, and organize client communication
• Sales teams → to communicate with clients, organize leads, and track deal stages

What is a Gmail label?

A Gmail label is a tag that can be applied to any email which is sent, received or drafted. They mimic the function of splitting your emails into categories, and can be used to organize your inbox and improve collaboration. The major difference between Gmail labels and folders is that you can apply more than one label to a single email.

How labels work

You can add a label to any email in your inbox.

Gmail labels are displayed in the left-hand sidebar of your inbox. Clicking a label will display all emails in that category.

Your labels can also be nested to create hierarchies.

You may select to keep your emails in the inbox or move them into folders.

How to create Gmail labels

In Gmail, you can create labels in three ways:

Method 1: From an open email

1. Select “Label As” icon in menu bar
2. Choose “Create New Label”
3. Name your label

Method 2: From inbox

1. Navigate to left-hand menu
2. Click plus icon
3. Enter label name (and subcategory if desired)

Method 3: From Settings

1. Select gear icon > “See all settings”
2. Go to “Labels” tab
3. Click “Create new label”

Limitations of personal labels

Gmail was designed for individual use, which means:

• Labels are specific to individual users
• You can’t share labels in standard Gmail (even if you use a Google Shared Inbox)
• Customer support agents must work in silos

Gmail might be a good solution for a brand new startup, but as your ticket volume grows you’ll find it extremely limiting.

Luckily there are solutions that allow you to share Gmail labels and unlock full sharing capabilities.

Gmail label sharing methods at a glance

Feature	Native Gmail	Google Groups	Google Workspace	Shared Inbox
Setup Time	5 mins	10-15 mins	15-20 mins	5-10 mins
Cost	Free	Free	Paid (Workspace)	Paid
Best For	Individual use	Small teams	Large organizations	Support teams
Label Sharing		Basic	Admin-controlled	Advanced
Team Features	Limited	Basic	Moderate	Full

Method 1: Native Gmail options

Native Gmail users can delegate access to others, up to a maximum of 10 delegates per account. Delegates can read, send, and manage emails on the owner’s behalf, but can’t change settings, passwords, or create new filters.

May be appropriate for:

• Executive assistants managing email
• Giving temporary access
• Small teams sharing client communications

To get set up, simply follow these steps:

Step 1: Open Gmail Settings (gear icon) then click “See all settings”

Step 2: Go to “Accounts and Import” tab

Step 3: Under “Grant access to your account” click “Add another account”

Step 4: Enter delegate’s email address

Step 5: Click “Next Step” then “Send email to grant access”

Overall, Gmail delegation is great for specific use cases but has a number of limitations and still restricts users from label sharing.

Method 2: Google Groups

While you can’t create shared labels in Gmail, Google Groups allows you to do so. Group owners and managers can turn on the shared labels feature for their groups, enabling team members to collaborate using shared labels and filters.

May be appropriate for:

• Department teams needing basic collaboration
• Project groups sharing updates and discussions
• Organizations with limited budget needing free solutions

To turn on shared labels in Google Groups, follow these steps:

Step 1: Sign in to Google Groups

Step 2: Click the gear icon to open the group settings for your group

Step 3: Check the box that says “Enable shared labels for this group” then save changes

While some teams might find it useful to take advantage of label sharing in Google Groups, it will require users to work in the Google Groups interface instead of Gmail. 

This means leaving the environment you’re used to, and will require more switching between tabs.

Method 3: Google Workspace options

Google Workspace allows for Gmail label sharing, with two options in terms of control settings. Administrators can allow users to share labels, or can set specific permissions and restrict sharing within certain organizational units.

May be appropriate for:

• Large organizations
• Teams requiring centralized control
• Companies with specific compliance requirements

To get set up, follow these steps:

Basic sharing

1. Enable label sharing in Admin Console*
2. Go to Workspace settings
3. Navigate to Gmail > Labels
4. Enable “Allow users to share labels”

*Note: Label sharing options are only available with certain editions of Google Workspace.

Admin-controlled sharing

1. Access Google Admin Console
2. Go to Apps > Google Workspace > Gmail
3. Select label sharing settings
4. Choose sharing permissions
5. Apply to organizational units

Admin-controlled sharing gives you enterprise-level control over sharing, with advanced security options and audit logging. 

Method 4: Keeping

Google Groups is not entirely suitable for a growing customer support team. It lacks important collaboration features that your team needs to resolve customer tickets. 

That’s why Keeping was created. Unlike other solutions, it works natively within Gmail while adding critical functionality that allows growing customer support teams to collaborate seamlessly.

May be appropriate for:

• Growing customer support teams
• Teams wanting to stay in Gmail interface
• Companies needing advanced collaboration features

Keeping’s answer to shared Gmail labels is tags. Instead of labels, Keeping allows teams to add context to a ticket or keep track of certain topics in their shared mailbox by adding a tag.

To get started:

1. Create tags in Keeping settings
2. Add new tags via preferences page
3. Share automatically with the team
4. Apply tags to emails as needed

In addition to shared labels, Keeping gives you a number of other team features right within your familiar Gmail interface including collision detection to prevent duplicate responses, shared notes for easier team collaboration, and email assignment for tracking ownership. Plus, with shared templates and automated workflows, your team can work in a more efficient and organized manner.

Auto-replies are just the beginning

Keeping turns Gmail into a fully featured help desk with auto-replies, shared notes, and powerful collaboration features.

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Best practices & troubleshooting common issues

Even when everything’s set up correctly, Gmail label sharing may present challenges. To make the most of your collaborative system, it’s important to establish good practices from day one. 

Best practices include:

• Keeping label names short and clear
• Use consistent color coding
• Ensuring nesting is limited to 2-3 levels
• Regularly cleaning up unused labels
• Documenting your team’s label system and process

Let’s troubleshoot some of the common issues that arise with Gmail label sharing.

Team coordination issues

🚫 Problem: Multiple team members creating different labels

⭐ Quick fix: Establish naming conventions

The best practice is to create and document processes for label hierarchies at an organizational level.

Permission problems

🚫 Problem: Labels not showing up for team members

⭐ Quick fix: Check sharing settings and refresh Gmail

To avoid this issue, set up proper access levels for your team initially through your chosen method.

Synchronization issues

🚫 Problem: Labels not updating across team members or seeing “sync failed” message

⭐ Quick fix: Force refresh (Shift + Refresh) then wait 5-10 minutes

If all else fails, attempt to sync again with a different browser.

Frequently asked questions about Gmail label sharing

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Choosing the right collaborative solution

Basic Gmail can be a great option for managing your customer support emails at first. However, it was designed for individual users rather than customer support teams. As your team grows, you’ll likely find you require extra functionality that Gmail doesn’t offer.

Depending on your needs, you can select which Gmail label sharing method works best. Small teams may get by with Google Groups, while large organizations may find Google Workspace meets their needs. Growing teams with customer support needs may opt for a dedicated tool like Keeping.

For teams needing advanced collaboration, Keeping offers:

• Advanced reporting
• Multiple mailboxes
• Shared notes and templates
• Quick installation
• Affordable pricing

It takes just moments to install Keeping, but the productivity and efficiency gains will transform your team’s workflow for the long term.