Gmail Launches First Major Update In Years [VIDEO]

The Verge reports:

The world’s most popular email service is getting a big overhaul today. Google is making official the changes we saw leaked earlier this month, with email snoozing, nudging, and confidential mode making their debut alongside a substantial visual redesign for Gmail on the web.

The new Gmail begins a global phased rollout today, which is to say that it won’t be available to every one of Gmail’s 1.4 billion users right away, and the first to get it will be invited to opt in rather than being able to just turn it on themselves.

Mashable reports:

Among the new features: a new “confidential mode” that aims to, well, help keep messages confidential. With the feature, which is rolling out “in the coming weeks,” everyday Gmail users will have access to advanced security features that have typically been limited to corporate email systems like Microsoft’s Outlook.

This includes the ability to set expiration dates for specific emails (a la disappearing messaging apps like Signal), password protect emails, unsend messages, and the ability to prevent others from forwarding, printing, copying, or downloading sensitive messages (note that Google can’t do anything to prevent screenshots, though, so plan accordingly).

Neowin reports:

The new redesign is aimed at getting you to do more with your email, without actually leaving the main inbox screen. To that end, the firm will be making it easier to see and interact with received attachments like documents and images. If the crux of an email is simply filler to get you to read an attachment, you can bypass all that and jump straight in.

Google’s new redesign is also going to add more focus on tasks, and will also integrate Google Keep in the sidebar. Smart Replies – which debuted in Inbox by Gmail and will be making their way to more Android apps later this year – are also present in the new Gmail redesign. Google will surface contextual replies for emails that don’t need much thought, allowing you to deal with a barrage of emails with little effort.