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Changing colors in Gmail Labels

Labels are among the unique features of Gmail. So, while reading through the Gmail Help article on Labels, Create labels to organize Gmail, I was a bit surprised when I realized that it does not contain instructions on how to change the color of the labels. 

When a label is created in Gmail, they are assigned a default color which is somewhat dark grayish.


To change the default color, head over to the left panel section of the Gmail page where the labels are listed, locate the label, and hover the mouse pointer over it. 

When you do that, you will notice a 3-dot (overflow/more menu) icon appear on the right side. Click on it to see a list of label-related actions. Click on the first option that reads Label color to see a palette of preset combinations.


Click on any to select and apply that combination of text and background color to that label.

If you do not fancy any of the preset color combinations of the palette, or if you have exhausted them owing to a large list of labels, you can create your own combination of background and text colors to apply to your labels. For that, click on the Add custom color option below the palette and from the next pop-up window shown below, click to select the background and text colors for that label and click on the blue Apply button.


Should you wish to remove any previously applied color combination and apply the default color, select the Remove color option for that label.

These are the steps. You can't presently change colors of the labels from the Gmail mobile apps. But if required, you can access the Gmail standard view from your mobile device and perform the above actions.

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