Skip to main content

Revisiting Multiple Inboxes

The Gmail Multiple Inboxes have gone through some basic changes, and I thought it would be nice to write a short article on them, to make it contemporary. I could have updated my original blog on that topic- About Multiple Inboxes, but I like to keep a record of how things progress with regards to different Gmail features and hence was a bit reluctant to remove the original text and screenshots. 

The most important change has been the transfer of this feature from the Advanced tab under Gmail settings to the Inbox tab as an inbox layout option.


Once that layout is selected, the relevant sections where you can include your search definitions for individual panels and also their relative position with respect to the inbox are displayed.


Filling out the "search query" for the Multiple Inboxes panels will require some thinking on your part based on how you like to manage your emails. 

For example, 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 the options are entered, click on the Save Changes button and you should be set. 


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

Comments

  1. Unknown14 September 2020 at 03:09

    Hi! Thanks for the post. I hope you can help my with my set up. I have already defined the filters in a very simple way (the come from specific email addresses or domains). Each filter gives specific labels. I have set up the multiple inboxes so that each inbox is for a specific label. All these works fine. There's a slight "problem" though: when I open the emails that appear in the specific label inbox, all the messages of the conversation open; but if I open them from the inbox (in the bottom) then only the last one opens (which is the desired behaviour). Do you have any idea how to change the setup so that the label-specific inboxes work the way the inbox works? Thanks in advance for your help!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Please do not post spam or promote your own site(s). All comments are moderated and such comments will not be published.

Also, please keep your comment relevant to the topic of the article.

Finally, please do not post any of your personally identifiable information such as phone number, email address or other important details as this is an open platform.

Popular posts

Gmail 101

Wendy Durham (CWD in her A Gmail Miscellany blog and wdurham in the Gmail Help Forum ) was a Product Expert and a prolific contributor when it came to explaining the intricacies of Gmail and Google accounts. Due to changes to Gmail and Google Accounts over the recent years, some of her well-known blog articles are no longer applicable. The three most used articles have been updated here to be consistent with the current version of Gmail and in some cases, Google Account. This will keep them useful going forward as a tribute to her dedication to user education. The current version of the article is updated based on the changes introduced in the Gmail UI as of January 2022, following the announcement here .  All your Gmail basics in one place! A primer for new users of Gmail, which explains how to find your way around Google's innovative email service and to perform the basic email tasks of reading messages, sending messages and organizing your mail using Gmail's web interfac...
5 comments
Read more

Revisiting Canned Responses (Templates) in Gmail

I wrote my first blog on Canned Responses here - Exploring the Advanced Tab in Gmail Settings: About Canned Responses , noting "Believe it or not, there is no article on Canned Responses in the Gmail Help Centre. Probably because it has always been a lab feature in the past and now included under the Advanced tab under Gmail settings in the new Gmail. So, today we take a look at this very popular feature in Gmail and the different ways we can use it.". That has remained the case, so with a change of UI, there is a need to rewrite the tutorial on how we can perform the following functions for a Canned Response or as they are now known, Templates . Create a Template Insert a Template Edit or Overwrite a Template Delete a Template Thankfully, the prerequisites haven't changed. To start using Templates in Gmail, it needs to be enabled from the Advanced tab under Gmail settings. As always, be sure to click on the Save Changes button on the bottom of the page. ...
45 comments
Read more