Gmail On The Web Finally Updates Its Archaic Settings Menu

27 May 2020, 16:36

The web-based Gmail has just gotten a small but large update, for the settings menu.

It's an update that most people likely wouldn't notice, but it is a big update for those that use the settings menu quite often. Seeing as the older UI was pretty difficult to use. Especially considering the rest of the Gmail web app had been updated recently.

Introduction of the Quick Settings Menu

With this redesign, Google has moved the Settings gear icon to the top part of the UI. So it's up there with the search bar and the Google apps launcher. So it takes up less space.

When you click on the Settings icon, it'll open up a quick settings menu. Which now features a more rich and interactive version of the text-only list that was on the older version of the settings menu. It pops out to the right of your inbox, and it also adds a couple of extra features.

The sidebar now shows the traditional theme options, as well as Inbox Type tweaks. There is also the Reading Pane and Email Threading options in this Quick Settings Panel. So it gives you just about all of the usual settings that you would need, in a quick and easy to use panel in your inbox.

You can still access the full settings screen by clicking on "see all settings" which is located at the top. Good on Google for not hiding that button and making it tough to find.

Rolling out at some point soon

Google hasn't mentioned when this is going to be rolling out, just that it's coming.

Google also stated in its blog post this morning that it is going to be coming to G Suite and Google accounts at the same time. So thankfully it won't be a staged rollout where it hits regular Google accounts first and then G Suite accounts much later. Which is often the case with other features that Google rolls out, G Suite accounts get the features much later. Sometimes even years later.

This new settings update could be rolling out as soon as this week, or even starting next month or later on. With Google it's pretty tough to say. But where it has already been announced on Google's blog, it likely will be sooner rather than later. Of course, since this is for the web, it's going to be a server-side update, so there's not much we can do to force the update.