Google announced a new change to its popular email provider, Gmail.
Users can now assign certain types of emails to customizable tabs located at the top of the inbox. Settings allow Gmail users to control which type of messages they read at once or which ones they ignore entirely.
Gmail released the news in an official blog post as well as a video displaying the upcoming changes. These changes will give Gmail users more control over what they see in their inbox.
“We get a lot of different types of email: messages from friends, social notifications, deals and offers, confirmations and receipts, and more,” wrote Itamar Gilad, product manager of Gmail. “All of these emails can compete for our attention and make it harder to focus on the things we need to get done. Sometimes it feels like our inboxes are controlling us rather than the other way around.”
The five tabs are designed to remedy the problem of inboxes overwhelming the user and are labeled as primary, social, promotions, updates and forums. Users have the option to use all five, or none of them.
For those who do not want to use the new features, the option to use the classic Gmail is still available.
Google will release versions of the new Gmail compatible with computers, iOS devices and Android devices. The new Gmail will be available sometime in June.
