5 Useful Ways to Fix Slow Gmail

Quick Tips

• To speed things up, reduce the number of emails per page and tabs Gmail loads.
• Disable unwanted features, such as Chat, to load Gmail faster.
• Consider using Gmail offline if your internet connection is weak or unreliable.

Try These Basic Fixes

• Use fewer filters and labels: Gmail may load slower than usual if you use too many filters and email labels to organize your messages. While Gmail allows up to 500 labels and 500 filters, it’s recommended to use fewer to ensure optimal performance, as each filter and label requires additional processing.
• Try another browser: You can use Gmail in a different browser to rule out any issues with your current browser. If Gmail works fine in the other browser, disabling extensions in your previous browser or clearing its cache and cookies should help resolve the issue.

Fix 1: Reduce the Number of Emails per Page

By default, Gmail shows you 50 emails per page. However, you can configure it to load fewer emails per page to speed things up. Here’s how:

Step 1: Open Gmail in your web browser. Click the gear icon at the top right corner and select See all settings.

Step 2: Under General, use the drop-down menu next to the Maximum page size to reduce the number of emails per page.

Step 3: Scroll down to click Save Changes.

Fix 2: Reduce the Number of Tabs

Gmail uses machine learning to separate your inbox into five categories that appear as tabs: Primary, Social, Promotions, Updates, and Forums. You can uncheck the tabs you don’t use to speed up Gmail further.

Step 1: In Gmail, head to Settings > Inbox.

Step 2: Uncheck the categories you don’t use and hit Save Changes at the bottom.

Fix 3: Turn off Gmail Advanced Settings

Gmail offers several advanced features, such as automatic replies, custom keyboard shortcuts, and more, to enhance your experience. However, these features can sometimes overwhelm Gmail, making it load slowly. You can temporarily disable these advanced features to see if that speeds up Gmail.

Step 1: In Gmail, head to Settings > Advanced.

Step 2: Select Disable for all the features and click the Save Changes button.

Fix 4: Disable the Chat Feature

Google Chat is one of those half-baked features in Gmail that is hardly useful. It uses more resources and slows down Gmail while loading. Thankfully, disabling it is straightforward.

Step 1: Open Gmail in your web browser. Click on the gear icon > select See all settings.

Step 2: Switch to the Chat and Meet tab and select Off next to Chat. Then, hit Save Changes.

Fix 5: Use Offline Mode in Gmail

Offline mode in Gmail lets you view, delete, and even respond to your messages without an active internet connection. So, if you’re ever in an area where internet connectivity is unreliable, Gmail’s offline mode can help you access your inbox quickly. However, it’s only available on Google Chrome for now.

To use Gmail’s offline mode, you’ll need to enable it first. To do so, open Gmail’s settings > go to the Offline tab > tick the box for Enable offline mail.

Your Gmail inbox and outbox will get updated automatically after you connect your PC to the internet.