Last year, Google revealed plans to turn Gmail, the company's popular email service, into a communication and work powerhouse by introducing chat, video calls and Google Docs functionality.
Today's announcement on the official The Keyword website marks the launch of the new Gmail.
Google made the decision to keep it disabled for the majority of users in the beginning. If you have not been selected by the company as part of an experiment, chance is that you won't see the new Gmail interface and its functionality right away.
For that. you need to flip a switch in the Gmail settings to get started:
- Open the Gmail web interface.
- Select the cogwheel icon to display the quick settings, and there the "see all settings" option.
- Go to Chat and Meet.
- To enable the new Gmail interface, select Google Chat next to Chat, and select Save Changes.
- To disable the new Gmail interface, switch to Off.
The new Gmail interface is loaded once you hit the save changes button on the page.
Chat, Rooms and Meet are all displayed in the sidebar underneath the mail folders.
- Google Chat is the main chat app.
- Google Rooms lets you join chat rooms.
- Google Meet for video calls.
Google improved the integration of its Google Docs service next to that. If someone posts a link to a document, you may now open it "in chat" to have it displayed right away; this does not work in some cases currently, e.g. if you have received a link in an email or or pop-up chat window.
To make matters confusing, Google plans to rename Rooms to Space over the summer. New functionality will be introduced according to the company's announcement, including "n-line topic threading, presence indicators, custom statuses, expressive reactions, and a collapsible view".
Gmail users may change their status in the top right corner when the new interface is enabled. A click displays options to switch from "automatic" to "do not disturb" and "set as away".
There you may also disable notifications, e.g. the sound that the app plays when a new message arrives.
Closing Words
Gmail users who don't want the new interface can keep it turned off for now. It remains to be seen for how long that option will be available. It seems likely that Google is going to promote the new functionality on Gmail eventually, e.g. by showing popups to users prompting them to switch to the new interface and functionality.
Now You: will you use the new Gmail if you are a user of the service?
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