Email Templates for Gmail, Outlook, and Any Mail App

PhraseVault® lets you save email templates once and paste them into Gmail, Outlook, Thunderbird, or Apple Mail on a supported Mac — wherever a message field accepts pasted text. Open PhraseVault with Ctrl+. on Windows or Cmd+. on a Mac, search for the reply, and press Enter to insert it. Gmail's built-in templates are handy for messages you only send from Gmail on the web.

How do Gmail templates work?

Gmail can save a message you send often, but only from Gmail on a computer, not from the phone apps.

1. On your computer, open Gmail. Click Settings, then See all settings.
2. Open the Advanced tab. Next to Templates, click Enable, then Save Changes at the bottom.
3. Click Compose and write the message you want to keep.
4. At the bottom of the compose window, click More options (the three dots), then Templates, then Save draft as template, then Save as new template. Give it a name.
5. To use it, start a new message, open More options, then Templates, and choose the template under Insert template.

That list belongs to one Gmail account. A second account has its own, and those templates don't show up in Outlook, Apple Mail, or another mail app.

How do I use the same template in every mail app?

Save the reply as a phrase with a name such as reply/received or meeting/request. Shared prefixes make related replies easier to find in search. A label such as Meetings or Follow-up groups the same templates when the library grows; click the label to show only those. See labels and filters. Click in the message, open PhraseVault, and type a few letters of the name or the text. Fuzzy search matches any word order and partial words.

On a Mac, allow PhraseVault in System Settings → Privacy & Security → Accessibility. Until you do, the text stays on the clipboard instead of pasting.

Use {{input:Name}} for a name that changes each time: PhraseVault asks you to fill it in before pasting. Use {{date}} to insert today's date automatically. You'll find more options in the placeholders guide.

For bold, lists, and links, set the phrase format to Markdown. A mail app that accepts formatted paste keeps that formatting, while a plain-text box receives the Markdown source, marks included.

Templates you can start from

Change the names, days, and tone so they sound like you.

Received, will reply:

Dear [Name], thank you for your message. I've received your request and will reply by [day].

Meeting:

Hi [Name], I'd like to meet about [topic]. Would [day] at [time] work, or is another time better?

Follow-up:

Hi [Name], I'm following up on my note about [topic]. Happy to answer questions, or to pick this up next week if the timing is better.

Short acknowledgment:

Thanks for sending this over. I'll review it and come back with a clear next step by [day].

What about Outlook and Thunderbird?

Word and classic Outlook have their own Quick Parts galleries; new Outlook and Outlook on the web also offer Quick Parts for emails. See Quick Parts in Outlook and Word for the steps and a comparison. Thunderbird can save complete messages as templates, and its Quicktext add-on offers reusable snippets.

Try PhraseVault free for 14 days — all features included, no credit card or account needed.