Gmail wants to become your one-stop productivity web app, whether you like it or not
The pandemic led to a rise in the adoption of tools like Google Meet and Chat as work from home became the norm and millions of people worldwide started holding online meetings and classes. Google used this opportunity tointegrate Chat and Meet with Gmailon mobile. Now, the company is further deepening this incorporation with a new layout for Gmail on the web that combines Chat, Spaces, and Meet with the primary inbox view. The companyfirst teased this design last yearwhen it renamed Rooms to Spaces and integrated it with Docs, Meet, and other services.
The new layout features a new navigation menu on the left that will allow users to easily switch between their emails, conversations in Spaces or Chats, and meetings in Meet — all without having to switch browser tabs. The menu replaces the sidebar entries for these three services found in the current Gmail design, and everything looks much more in line withGmail’s Material You overhaul on Android.
There will also be notification bubbles to inform users of anything important that requires their attention. When in Chat or Spaces, users can view the entire conversations list on a single screen, while the inbox view will show the full list of emails and labels as it currently does. Google says in itsannouncementthat it will roll out a unified search in the coming months to show the email and chat results in the search bar — quite the step-up compared to the current solution that makes you toggle between these results.
The integrated view will first be available on an opt-in basis to users starting February 2022 and become the default view for Gmail users by April. For a short time, an option to revert to the older layout will be available, but it will be entirely removed by the end of Q2 2022. A streamlined navigation experience will also be rolled out to Google Chat users on the web around the same time.
The opt-in option will start rolling out starting February 8, 2022, so prepare to have your email workflows overturned sooner rather than later.
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