Google has been slowly rolling out its new Gmail design to desktop users over the last few weeks and months — now it’s headed to all Gmail users who have ‘Chat’ turned on.
As per Google (via Android Police), this is the latest stage of a rollout that began earlier this year. Google first announced the new design for Gmail in January, then made it available on an opt-in basis. In June, it released the new Gmail to desktop users on an opt-out basis, and now it’s going to arrive for all users with Chat. Anecdotally, the new Gmail briefly arrived on my personal Google account and has since vanished. I am not sure how or why.
Anyway, the new layout — if you’ve somehow managed to make it this long without seeing it — adds some nice Material You-style theming to Gmail, adds a sidebar for quickly jumping between Mail, Chat, Spaces, and Meet, adds conversation bubbles, and more.
Alongside the visual refresh, Google also detailed that it’s making Gmail search more powerful. In practice, that means you’ll see helpful new search ‘chips’ (those little suggestion bubbles you see popping up all through Google apps and Android), options to quickly narrow search results, and more.
On top of that, Google says it will enhance Gmail search with “contextual contact suggestions with intent matching for names and email addresses.” That should help improve the results when trying to find a contact in Gmail. Finally, Google’s enhancements will add personalized suggestions to search results based on how frequently users interact with a person in Gmail.
Google rounded things out with a promise that it will launch an improved Gmail experience for tablet users, better emoji, new accessibility features, and more.
Source: Google Via: Android Police
