How to Add Custom Emojis in Google Chat

Before You Start

• Custom emojis only work with work and school Google accounts, not personal Gmail accounts.
• Your Google Workspace admin can turn custom emojis on or off, and can limit who is allowed to create them.
• Custom emojis stay inside your organization. You cannot share them with people outside it.
• Anything you upload appears in the emoji picker for everyone in your organization, so treat it like a public post at work.

Prepare the Image

Google's developer documentation for Chat custom emoji lists these limits, and notes they can change:

• PNG, JPG, or GIF
• A square image between 64 and 500 pixels on each side
• Under 256 KB

Crop tight so the subject fills the square, and check that it still reads at the small size it shows in a message. A transparent PNG looks cleaner in both light and dark themes. The Teamsmoji emoji maker can crop, resize, and export a square file in your browser, and the transparent background guide covers clean cutouts.

Create a Custom Emoji

Google documents emoji creation on a computer, in Google Chat or in the Chat section of Gmail:

1. Open any chat conversation.
2. At the bottom right of the message box, click Add emoji.
3. Next to Search emojis, click Create.
4. Upload your image, give it a name, and click Save.

Pick a short, lowercase name people will guess, like ship-it rather than final_v2_approved. Google's developer docs say names are lowercase and use letters, numbers, hyphens, and underscores. The naming guide has more patterns that stick.

Use and Find Custom Emojis

Open Add emoji and choose Custom emojis to see everything your organization has added. Hover over one to see its name. To review the ones you made, go to Custom emojis, then Manage, and search by name.

On Android and iPhone you can use custom emojis in the Google Chat app or the Chat tab in Gmail, through the same Add emoji and Custom emojis path. Google's mobile help does not include creation steps, so plan to upload new ones from a computer.

Delete a Custom Emoji

You can delete emojis you created: open Add emoji, go to Custom emojis, then Manage, and click Delete next to the emoji. Emoji managers can delete anyone's emoji from Settings, then Manage custom emoji.

Deleting is organization-wide. The emoji disappears for everyone and is replaced in the messages and reactions where it was used. For renaming tips and how Slack, Teams, and Discord handle removal, see deleting or renaming a custom emoji.

No Create Button?

If Create is missing from the emoji picker, the most likely reasons are:

• You are signed in with a personal Google account instead of your work or school account.
• Your admin turned custom emoji creation off for your organization or your team.
• You are on the phone app, where Google does not document creating emojis.

If your admin has creation turned off, you can still use existing custom emojis. Ask them to turn it on or to add the emoji for you.

For Workspace Admins

In the Google Admin console, go to Apps, Google Workspace, Google Chat, then Emoji Options. Admins with Google Chat admin privileges can:

• Turn Allow users to create custom emojis on or off for the whole organization or for specific organizational units. It is on for everyone except external guests by default.
• Add a short guidelines message and a link that appear when people create an emoji.
• Pick emoji managers with Allow users to manage custom emojis. This is off by default, which means nobody can browse or delete everyone's emojis until you choose someone.

Picking at least one emoji manager early saves trouble later. For a lightweight way to run the library, see managing a workplace emoji library.