How to Star Emails In Gmail And Use Multiple Stars (2026)

What is Starred in Gmail?

Tag certain messages for priority, importance, or topic.
Choose the star color and symbol to use.
Locate starred emails quickly through the menu or Search.
Keep the messages in your Inbox or assigned a label.

How to Star an Email in Gmail

Adding a star to an email in Gmail is super easy to do, whether using the desktop or mobile app.

On Desktop

Visit Gmail and go to your Inbox, a category tab, or a label.
Select the email you want to star and do one of the following:
- Click the Star icon to the left of the email in your message list.
- Choose More (three dots) → Add star in the top toolbar.
- Mark the Star icon in the header of an open email.

To remove a star, cycle through the Star icon until it's empty or select More → Remove star in the toolbar.

On iPhone and iPad

Open the Gmail app on iPhone or iPad.
Go to your Inbox or choose a location in the menu.
Select the email you want to star and do one of the following:
- Tap the Star icon to the right of the email in your message list.
- Mark the Star icon in the header of an open email.

To remove a star, tap it so it appears empty.

On Android

Open the Gmail app on your Android device.
Go to your Inbox or choose a location in the menu.
Select the email you want to star and do one of the following:
- Tap the Star icon to the right of the email in your message list.
- Mark the Star icon in the header of an open email.

To remove a star, tap it so it appears empty.

Gmail Starred vs. Important

Before you move onto using multiple stars and star systems, it’s good to understand the difference between stars and importance markers in Gmail as these are often confused.

Starred: Assigned by you, the user (as described above).

Important: Predicted by Gmail using the yellow importance marker.

If you receive an email marked as Important, you can deselect the marker to teach Gmail that the conversation is not important. You can also mark emails as important in Gmail to teach the system the reverse.

How to Use Multiple Stars in Gmail

Using a single star in Gmail is fine if you only mark an email here and there. But you can also use the other color-coded stars (and symbols) for marking different types of messages.

To set this up:

Go to Settings → See all settings → General → Stars.
Drag the stars you want to use from the Not in use section to the In use section in the order you want them to appear.
Select Save Changes at the bottom.

This lets you expand your markings and even create an efficient system when using Gmail on your desktop.

As examples, consider using one of these:

Green-star: Finance
Orange-star: Health
Blue-star: Travel

Red-bang: Urgent
Orange-guillemet: Action needed
Blue-info: Reference

To use the multiple star system, click a star next to or on an email and continue clicking until you reach the star you want.

Multiple-Star Limitations

Multiple stars are currently only available in Gmail on the web.
Only one star can appear on an email at one time.
Selecting stars in Conversation View can affect the entire thread.

How to Use Stars as a Reminder System

Another effective way to use multiple stars in Gmail is as a reminder system or to-do list. This is handy if you organize your Inbox or a particular label by task; and it works well if you don’t use the built-in option to turn an email into a task.

Here are a couple of example systems:

Red-bang: Due today
Purple-question: Waiting (answers/others/research)
Green-check: Complete

Red-star: Do first
Orange-star: Do next
Yellow-star: Follow up
Green-check: Complete

While using multiple stars this way is popular among other Gmail users, it does come with its limitations as well.

Starred emails don’t automatically return to the top of your Inbox after a reply.
Important messages can still become buried.
Using stars successfully depends on consistent manual assignment.

To assist you with this type of star system, look at how to pin emails in Gmail. You’ll learn how to display Starred First in your Inbox and use Multiple Inboxes for starred and other important emails.

How to Find Starred Emails

Because you may not mark every email you receive with a star, there’ll likely be a time when you only want to see your starred messages. There are a couple of ways to do this on both desktop and mobile.

Starred folder: Select Starred in the left-hand menu.

Search: Use a Gmail search operator to find all starred emails or those with a certain star. You should also use this method if you are missing starred messages in the Starred folder (reported by some users).

Examples:

is:starred
has:yellow-star
has:red-bang
has:green-check
has:blue-info

💡 Tip: You can hover over a star in the Gmail Settings to see the exact name to use with a search operator.

Automatically Star Emails in Gmail with Clean Email

As you’ve learned, adding stars to emails in Gmail is a manual process, and unfortunately, this can become a cumbersome task over time. To bypass manual work, you can sign up for Clean Email and automatically star emails.

Advantages:

Star emails from certain senders
Set up on desktop and mobile devices
No Gmail filters to review or manage

To star emails from a particular sender in Clean Email:

Select Senders in the menu.
Choose the sender.
Enable the Add Star to New Messages toggle.

Automatically star messages with Clean Email

All future emails you receive from that sender will be starred automatically. Plus, you can clean large groups of messages while excluding and protecting your starred emails, and create mailbox rules to automatically apply labels or delete emails with the Auto Clean feature.

FAQs

What do the different Gmail star colors mean?

Gmail colored stars do not have specific meanings in themselves. The colors are meant to be visual indicators for however you choose to use them.

How do I mark a starred email as done?

You can either remove the star or use the green-check star to show completion. Some users simply archive starred emails when they finish with them; however, these messages can still show up within the Starred menu option and star searches.

Why have my starred emails disappeared?

Starred emails can disappear because of Gmail display glitches, the use of third-party email apps, and messages moved to the Trash.

Why are some emails starred automatically?

Emails can be starred automatically due to custom filters you’ve created to add stars and third-party apps that trigger a star action. Also, be sure that what you’re seeing is a Star and not an Importance marker (yellow arrow).

How do I delete other emails but keep starred messages?

First, find all emails without stars using the -is:starred search operator, noting the minus sign at the start. Then, select and delete the results. Confirm your starred messages are intact by choosing Starred in the menu or searching with is:starred.