About Multiple Inboxes

When we discuss inbox layouts in Gmail, we mostly talk about the default tabbed categories, the various "firsts", Priority Inbox but miss out on the very functional Multiple Inboxes which has been available as a lab feature in classic Gmail and now included as a feature under the Advanced tab in new Gmail.

The flexibility of Multiple Inboxes lies in its ability to display emails in a section (or "inbox") matching a search result. The system allows up to five (5) such inboxes to be displayed allowing you to focus more on the emails you consider important.

In a recent blog post, Google has announced that multiple inboxes will be enhanced to support independent scrolling, a unified toolbar, and adjustable width in right-side configurations. Multiple inboxes will also no longer support three-pane layouts with the preview pane (renamed “reading pane”) view.

To enable the Multiple Inboxes feature, you would need to disable the default tabbed category layout of Gmail. To do that, visit the Inbox tab under Gmail settings and uncheck the boxes for Social, Promotions, Updates, and Forums.

Then head over to the Advanced tab and enable the Multiple Inboxes feature. Be sure to click on the Save Changes button below.

That done, you will notice a new tab added under the Gmail settings - the Multiple Inboxes tab, where you can include your search definitions for individual panels and also their relative position with respect to the inbox.

Now you need to fill in the "search query" for the Multiple Inboxes panels. I have the habit of archiving emails once they are dealt with. So, most of my Multiple Inboxes panel queries would either include the term "label: inbox" or "in: inbox". That way, once I archive them, they disappear from my inbox and the Multiple Inbox panel views. That said, if I want a panel to display archived emails, I can do that as well. Just look at the Twitter panel in the screenshot below to see what I am talking about.

Once completed, this is how my Multiple Inboxes tab under Gmail settings and my Gmail inbox looks like:

If you want to have panels for specific labels in your multiple inboxes views, and also want those emails not to appear in the Primary inbox, simply amend the filter which applies the label to also archive the message, removing it from the primary inbox.

The filter definition should look like this:

Matches: from:(username@example.com)
Do this: Skip Inbox, Apply label "Labelname"

Be sure to apply the updated filter definition to existing messages.

Finally, if you have set your Multiple Inboxes to be positioned above the inbox, bear in mind that the Settings icon will be positioned just above the inbox and below the Multiple Inboxes.

Note: This blog was originally published on August 5, 2018. It was subsequently updated on February 18, 2019, to include the latest announcements and keep it relevant.