The Gmail Inbox

The first window you’ll see after signing into your account is the inbox. Unread messages will display with bolded type. Each email will list the sender (who it’s from), the subject line, a portion of the email’s content, and the date or time the message was received. (Your browser window’s width will determine how much you can see.) After reading your email, you can Archive messages (keep them but remove them from the inbox), Delete unwanted emails, or Apply labels to organize your messages.

Reading messages

Click on a message in your email list to open the message for reading. Once a message is selected, a new set of tools will appear.

New messages have the label “Inbox” applied to them. You can archive, trash, move and label messages as you read them. Here is a closer look at your options:

• Archive. Removes the inbox label so that the message doesn’t clutter up your inbox but does not delete the message. Use for messages you want to keep but remove from the Inbox.
• Report Spam. If you receive an email that is obviously spam, you can report it to Google with a simple click. Spam is defined as email that you didn’t request and that has a deceptive header or subject line. Companies are allowed to send you unsolicited email but must have opt-out information and not be deceptively labeled. Use only when justified: Reporting falsely can hurt a legitimate business.
• Trash. Applies the Trash label and removes the inbox label. The message remains in Gmail Trash for 30 days but you can manually delete them sooner. Messages are retrievable until deleted.
• Mark as unread. Removes the ‘read’ status of the email. The email will appear bold in the inbox.
• Snooze. Choose when to be reminded of the email. When the snooze expires, the email will pop back up in your inbox as if it had just arrived.

• Move to. Adds a label and removes the Inbox label so that the message isn’t in the inbox anymore.
• Apply Label. Add (or remove) labels from a message. You can apply more than one label to a message.
• More. Additional options, including creating a task related to the email.

Opening and saving email attachments

Messages with attachments like photos or files will display a clickable button in the Inbox list if you are using the default ‘density’ view in Settings. If you use another density option, the email will have a paperclip icon on the right, and you will have to open the email to view the attachment.

Click the attachment button. Gmail will open it within the window, if possible. The background will be tinted black so you can clearly see the attachment. Move the pointer within the window to show possible commands at the top of the window. To close the attachment, click the left arrow at the top or on any tinted portion of the background.

You can open pictures, videos, documents, and more within the Gmail window and can add them to your Google Drive or save them to your computer. Attachments like Word documents, PDF files, and pictures can even be printed within Gmail.

Category tabs

Gmail scans messages arriving in your Inbox and attempts to categorize them based on the sender. By default, the Primary, Social, and Promotions categories are enabled. Google will place email from individuals in Primary, email from sources like Facebook, Meetup, and Twitter in Social, and email it detects as advertising in Promotions. Any message that is not displayed in a category tab is displayed in the Primary tab.

You can choose what categories to display in your Inbox.

• Click Settings > See all settings, then select the Inbox tab to add additional categories or deselect all to combine messages into one inbox.

You can override where a sender’s messages go. Drag messages from one category to another and tell Gmail to do the same with all future emails from that same sender. For instance, you can drag a notification message from Facebook, which would normally go to the Social tab, to the Primary tab and teach Gmail that you always want future Facebook notifications to go to Primary.

The Reading Pane

You can choose to open your emails in a Reading Pane within the inbox. This can make reading many emails faster since you won’t have to return to the inbox to open the next email.

To turn on the Reading Pane, select Settings. Scroll down the Quick Settings to the Reading Pane section and select whether you want the Pane to the right or bottom of the inbox.