Recently a friend whom I introduced to Gmail complained that he could not find links in the margin of the newest version of the Gmail inbox. I can’t find “Sent Mail,” he said. I can’t find “Drafts.”
Here’s how to restore these familiar and handy links:
1. When viewing your Gmail inbox click on the icon of the gear in the top right of that window.
2. In the pull-down menu select “Mail Settings.”
3. If you are not interested in having important messages shown separately from all mail, at the “Inbox type” line select “Classic”. This should reset your inbox margin links to what they were before the new inbox interface took effect.
4. On the other hand, if you do want to separate your most important messages from general mail, in the “Inbox type” line select “Priority inbox.” This will then give you more control over links to be shown in the left margin of your inbox.
5. Look for a line that shows “Empty” To the right on that line click on “Add section” and then select “more options.” A menu of other links will appear, including “Drafts” and “Sent Mail.” By clicking on these choices you will add links to them in the left margin of your inbox.
By the way, a quick way to view any category of emails in Gmail is to type in the search mail window the word, “in” followed by a colon, and after the colon type the category of email you want to see. For instance, if you want to see all your unread messages, in the mail search window type “in: unread” and press the “Enter” button. In an instant you will see all your unread messages. This is much faster than searching down through your stack, page by page!
Similarly, if you want to see all your messages in the trash, in the mail search window type “in: trash”. If you want to see all your suspected spam messages, type “in: spam”. And so on.
Related articles
- Turn Off Importance Markers in Gmail if You’re Not Using Priority Inbox [Gmail] (lifehacker.com)
- How to set up and use Gmail on your Android phone (recombu.com)
- Are Your Emails Top Priority? (aweber.com)
- Master the New Gmail with These Tips, Shortcuts and Add-Ons [Gmail] (lifehacker.com)
- Using Gmail on a BlackBerry smartphone (blogs.blackberry.com)
- Five Gmail tips that will make you an inbox ninja (zdnet.com)
clicking on the gear did not bring down “mail settings”, so clicked closest – “settings”, nothing close to “classic” showed up, so still have the right margin issue, where I cannot see the date or whatever else may be out there
I’d like to set In box margins, too. Having a mail several lines long–or a loooong mail- and having to use the slider to read the second half of the message si annoying. In fac,t i refuse to do it.
It would also be pleasant if the questions on this site were answered.
Sorry for the delay in answering, Daniel. Have been traveling, and away from the blog.