How to Enable or Disable Tabbed Inbox in Gmail?

Google’s Gmail now groups your emails into different categories and puts theme in different tabs. It means now your inbox can be organized into tabs. The inbox tabs feature looks cool but it is not necessary that everyone will love it. That’s why Gmail has other options too! This article is for those who needs help in enabling the new inbox tabs feature of Gmail or those wants to hide or disable inbox tabs.

The default categories for Gmail inbox tabs are Primary, Social, Promotions, Updates and Forums. Primary means messages from friends and family. Social denotes messages from social websites such as social networks. Promotions tab will keep offers and other marketing mails. The Updates section will have auto-generated updates including receipts, bills and confirmations. And the Forums category will keep all the messages from groups, discussion board and mailing lists. Gmail will automatically categorize incoming emails into those categories. When new messages arrive in a tab, Gmail will indicate that with a number and names of some recent senders. So, you can check that tab for new emails. And when there’s no indication of new emails, you can avoid checking that tab.

How to enable new Tabbed Inbox feature in Gmail?

1. Open Gmail and login.
2. Press the setting button (gear icon) on the right corner of the screen.
3. From the drop-down menu, select Configure Inbox option.
4. A new window will appear (looks like the screenshot). Select the tabs you want in your new inbox and press Save button.
5. Allow Gmail to refresh. An welcome message will appear. Enjoy the new tabbed inbox of Gmail.

How to hide certain inbox tabs in Gmail?

The tabs in your inbox can be customized and even disabled. If you want to show or hide certain tabs, follow these steps:

1. Go to Gmail and login.
2. Press the + icon on the right of inbox tabs.
3. Select tabs to enable window will appear. Use the check boxes and select the tabs you want to show or hide.
4. Click the save button.

That’s it! The tabs that are unchecked in the 3rd step above will disappear from your inbox. Note: Hiding a tab will move the messages from that category to the Primary category (tab).

How to Hide all Inbox Tabs in Gmail?

Some users may want to completely disable the inbox tabs feature. Wondering how to do that? It is easy! Simply follow these steps:

1. Login to your Gmail account.
2. Press the + icon on the right of inbox tabs.
3. A new options window will appear (Select tabs to enable window). Uncheck all the check boxes to hide all tabs. The Primary option is not removable, as that category will hold all the messages when other tabs are hidden or disabled.
4. Click the save button.

That will switch off all inbox tabs. The Primary category will show all the emails. But no tabs will appear.

How to re-enable Gmail Inbox tabs?

So, you disabled tabs in your Gmail inbox and now want them back? Wondering how to do that? If yes, follow these simple steps:

1. Go to Gmail and login.
2. Press the gear icon on the upper right corner of the screen.
3. Select Configure inbox option. Check the tabs you want to show in the inbox.
4. Click Save.

Your inbox tabs will reappear. In this way, you can get back hidden inbox tabs in Google’s Gmail.