Gmail Features: The 13 That Redesigned the Inbox, and What Google Added Since

Gmail’s feature set covers four groups. Inbox management holds hover actions, snooze, nudges and display density. The sidebar holds Calendar, Keep, Tasks and Marketplace add-ons.

Sending controls cover confidential mode, Smart Reply and Smart Compose. Google documents eight Gemini AI features separately. Google publishes no master feature list and no feature count.

Now, a confession about this page. The 13 features below arrived with Google’s April 2018 Gmail redesign, and we kept calling them new.

You know the sun-bleached NEW sign in a shop window? The one taped up so long the exclamation point faded to pink? That’s what “new” was doing here.

All 13 stay, because every one of them still works. But I’ve added what Google shipped since, corrected four things this page got wrong, and checked every claim against Google’s own documentation.

Gmail is one of Google’s most widely used tools, passing more than a billion users back in 2016, and Google continues to add features that improve productivity, privacy, and organization within the platform. Whether you are managing a personal inbox or a business account through Google Workspace (formerly G Suite), these 13 Gmail features help you manage messages faster, integrate productivity tools directly into your inbox, communicate more efficiently, and protect sensitive information. Below, they are organized into four categories: inbox management, productivity integrations, communication shortcuts, and privacy and security.

What Inbox Management Features Does Gmail Offer?

Quick Answer: Gmail provides five inbox management features: hover-based email organization for one-click actions (archive, delete, mark read/unread, snooze), Snooze to delay emails until a chosen time, Nudges that automatically resurface emails you may have forgotten, adjustable display densities (Default, Comfortable, Compact), and a collapsible left menu that maximizes inbox reading space.

1. Hover-based email organization. When you hover over any email in your inbox, four action icons appear: Archive, Delete, Mark as Read/Unread, and Snooze. These one-click functions eliminate the need to open the email first or select it and then choose an action from the toolbar. For high-volume inboxes, hover actions significantly reduce the number of clicks required to process messages.

(Image Source: Google)

2. Snooze. Clicking the Snooze icon on any email removes it from your inbox and re-delivers it at a date and time you choose. Google suggests common options (later today, tomorrow, next week), or you can set a custom date and time. All snoozed emails remain accessible in the Snoozed folder in the left column at any time, along with their scheduled re-delivery times. Snooze is ideal for emails that require action but not immediately, it keeps your inbox focused on what matters right now without losing track of future tasks.

3. Nudges. If you have an email you have not responded to in several days and Gmail’s algorithm determines it likely warrants a response, the email moves to the top of your inbox with a brief reminder to reply or follow up. Nudges serve as a built-in form of Gmail reminders that prevent important messages from falling through the cracks. If you find Nudges more distracting than helpful, you can turn them off in Settings under the General tab, you can toggle “reply to” and “follow up on” nudges independently.

(Image Source: Google)

4. Display densities. Gmail offers three display density options that control how much information and whitespace appears in your inbox view: Default (includes attachment previews and more spacing), Comfortable (standard spacing without attachment previews), and Compact (minimized spacing to show the most emails on screen). You can switch between them at any time in Settings.

5. Collapsible left menu. Clicking the hamburger menu icon in the upper-left corner collapses the left sidebar into a narrow column of icons, giving you more horizontal space to read inbox emails. Hovering over the icons temporarily expands the full menu, and clicking the hamburger icon again restores it permanently. This is particularly useful on smaller screens or when you want to focus on message content.

What Productivity Tools Are Integrated Into Gmail’s Sidebar?

Quick Answer: Gmail’s right sidebar integrates Google Calendar (view and create events alongside your inbox), Google Keep (take and organize notes across devices), Google Tasks (create to-do lists from emails and check off completed items), and a direct link to the Google Workspace Marketplace for installing third-party add-ons that appear in the same sidebar.

6. Google Calendar integration. The Calendar icon in Gmail’s right sidebar opens an inline panel where you can view all scheduled events alongside your inbox and create new events without switching applications. This integration is particularly useful for scheduling meetings directly from email conversations without losing context.

7. Google Keep. The Keep icon opens a note-taking panel where you can create, view, and organize notes directly from the Gmail interface. Notes sync across all devices, so anything you capture in Gmail is immediately available on your phone, tablet, or any other device where Keep is installed. Keep is useful for jotting down quick thoughts, saving reference information, or creating checklists while processing emails.

8. Google Tasks. The Tasks icon opens a task management panel where you can create to-do lists from incoming emails or external responsibilities and check off items as you complete them. Tasks remain one of Gmail’s most underused features despite being one of the most practical, turning emails into actionable items with due dates keeps your workflow organized without requiring a separate project management tool.

9. Google Workspace Marketplace add-ons. A “+” icon at the bottom of the right sidebar opens the Google Workspace Marketplace, where you can browse and install third-party extensions and add-ons. Compatible add-ons appear as additional icons in the same sidebar, keeping all your productivity tools accessible from a single interface without switching between applications.

What Communication Shortcuts Speed Up Email in Gmail?

Quick Answer: Gmail offers three communication shortcuts: suggested replies (pre-written response options at the bottom of incoming emails), inline contact tagging (type “+” in the body text to add a recipient), and hovercards (hover over any contact to see quick-action icons for email, calendar, chat, and video calls).

10. Smart Reply, formerly called suggested replies. At the bottom of certain incoming emails, Gmail displays short text clips as suggested responses based on the email’s content. Clicking a suggestion opens a draft with that text pre-filled, which you can edit further before sending. Suggested replies are useful for routine acknowledgments and simple responses, common phrases like “Sounds good, thanks!” or “I’ll take a look”, that would otherwise require typing the same words repeatedly.

11. Inline contact tagging. In the body of a Gmail message, type “+” followed by a contact’s name or email address. Gmail generates a list of matching contacts you can select, similar to tagging people on social media platforms. This adds the person as a recipient without navigating away from the body text to the To or CC fields.

12. Hovercards. Hovering over a contact’s name, email address, or photo in Gmail displays a hovercard with key information about that person along with quick-action icons. From the hovercard, you can immediately email them, schedule a Google Calendar event that includes them, start a chat conversation, or initiate a video call. Check out our guide on how to make a Gmail video call for more details. Hovercards provide one-click access to multiple communication channels without leaving your inbox.

How Does Gmail Confidential Mode Protect Sensitive Emails?

Quick Answer: Gmail Confidential mode prevents recipients from forwarding, copy/pasting, downloading, or printing an email’s contents. You can set an expiration date after which the email disappears from the recipient’s inbox. An optional SMS passcode sends the recipient a unique code they must enter to access the email, functioning as message-specific two-factor authentication. You can revoke access early from your Sent folder.

13. Confidential mode. When composing a message, click the lock-and-clock icon in the bottom toolbar to activate Confidential mode. Once enabled, recipients cannot forward the email, copy or paste its content, download attachments, or print anything in the message.

You can also set an expiration date. When the date arrives, the email is automatically removed from the recipient’s inbox. For additional security, enable the SMS passcode option, you enter the recipient’s phone number, and Gmail sends them a randomly generated unique code they must enter to view the email. This functions as message-specific two-factor authentication that you can toggle on or off per email.

If you need to revoke access to a confidential email before the expiration date, navigate to your Sent folder, find the original message, and remove access manually.

What Google Added to Gmail After the 2018 Redesign

Google has shipped four inbox features and eight Gemini features since the 13 below launched. Almost none of them appear in Gmail features roundups, which is where that sun-bleached sign starts costing readers something.

Four Gmail Inbox Features Google Documents Today

• Summary cards. Google says these surface “Order tracking, Events, Travel, Bills, Promotions” from your mail, per Google’s summary cards documentation.
• Package tracking. Google says it gives “a simple and helpful view of your package tracking and delivery information,” per Google’s package tracking page.
• Purchases view. Google says it gathers order, shipping and delivery confirmations “in one place,” per Google’s purchases documentation.
• Subscription management. Google says “you can manage all your active email subscriptions in one place,” per Google’s subscriptions page.

The Eight Gemini Features Google Documents in Gmail

Google lists exactly eight Gemini features for Gmail on its Gemini in Gmail page. Every cell below quotes Google’s own description.

Gemini feature	What Google says it does
AI Inbox	Google says it helps you “review top priorities and topics to catch up on from your inbox.”
AI Overview in search	Google says it generates “a concise summary or answer from your emails directly above search results.”
Conversation summaries	Google says it summarizes “long email conversations with key points and replies.”
Help me schedule	Google says it can “propose times to meet in an email to someone else.”
Help me write	Google says it drafts new emails or refines existing text “based on a prompt.”
Proofread	Google says it gives suggestions “beyond spelling and grammar for conciseness, tone, and style.”
Suggested Replies	Google says these are “detailed, context-aware reply suggestions at the bottom of an email thread.”
Summarize and draft	Google says the side panel summarizes threads and drafts replies inside Gmail.

Gemini in Gmail used to cost extra, and that changed on 15 January 2025. Google said this in its Workspace Updates announcement:

Today we announced that we’re including the best of Google AI in Workspace Business and Enterprise plans without the need to purchase an add-on.

Google added in the same post that it no longer sells the Gemini Business, Gemini Enterprise, AI Meetings & Messaging and AI Security add-ons.

One Gemini feature is moving the other way. Google states this on its own Gemini in Gmail page:

Google AI Pro and Google AI Ultra subscribers in the US may no longer see Ask Gemini in Gmail or be able to open the Gemini in Gmail side panel.

Gmail’s features tell you what’s sitting in your inbox. How fast your team answers it is a separate measurement. Our quarterly study of 25.4 million emails puts the work-hours average at 4 hours 10 minutes.

Four Corrections to What Most Gmail Features Guides Say

Google’s documentation contradicts four claims this page used to make, and those claims still circulate widely. Naming them beats editing them out without a word.

Correction: Smart Reply and Suggested Replies are now two different features

Smart Reply and Suggested Replies are separate products in Google’s documentation, and this page used to treat them as one. Google draws the line itself:

Smart Reply: This feature is for quick, shorter responses and is available to anyone who uses Gmail. Suggested Replies: This feature is for longer, detailed responses. It uses Gemini in Gmail to review email context and draft personalized messages matching your tone and style.

Item 10 below describes Smart Reply, the free one. Google documents both on its Smart Reply page.

Correction: Google doesn’t call them hovercards

Google’s published term is “person information card,” and its documented verb is “point at or tap.” The word hovercard survives officially only for Google Drive files.

Search Google’s help center for hovercard and you’ll come up empty. The feature is real; the name this page gave it was ours.

Correction: Google doesn’t call it a hamburger menu

Google labels the control “Show main menu” and “Hide main menu,” and describes the object as a collapsible panel. Hamburger menu appears nowhere in Google’s Gmail documentation.

Correction: confidential mode doesn’t stop screenshots

Google’s consumer page states that confidential mode “doesn’t prevent recipients from taking screenshots or photos of your messages.” Treat that as the reliable wording.

Confidential mode controls forwarding, copying, downloading and expiry. A recipient holding a phone camera defeats all four.

Where Google’s Own Gmail Documentation Disagrees With Itself

Checking this page against Google’s documentation surfaced four places where Google publishes two answers to one question. All four were live on 12 August 2026.

1. Confidential mode and screenshots. Google’s consumer page says it can’t stop screenshots. Google’s admin page says Gmail “always tries to block screenshots of confidential mode messages and attachments.”
2. Gmail’s daily send limit. Google publishes three numbers: 500 a day on the consumer limits page, 2,000 on the Workspace admin page, and 5,000 as the bulk-sender threshold.
3. Spam rate, on a single page. Google’s sender guidelines say to keep spam rates “below 0.3%” in one section and “below 0.10%” in another.
4. Hover actions. Google’s 2018 announcement lists RSVP as a hover action. Google’s current help page lists archive, delete, snooze and mark as read, with no RSVP.

What Google Documents About Gmail Features, and What It Doesn’t

Every row below reflects what Google published as of 12 August 2026.

Question	Status	What Google publishes
How many features does Gmail have?	Not documented	Google publishes no feature count and no master feature list.
Is there a Gmail-only “what’s new” page?	Not documented	Google publishes Workspace-wide release notes with dated rows, and no Gmail-only page.
What happened to Gmail Labs?	Documented	Google announced the Labs retirement in March 2017, and every Labs help page now returns an error.
Where did Inbox by Gmail’s features go?	Documented	Google says snooze, Smart Reply, Nudges and high-priority notifications moved into Gmail.
Is the pre-2018 Gmail interface documented?	Not documented	Google’s help center carries no page on classic Gmail or an old-versus-new comparison.
Can you switch back to classic Gmail?	Retired	Google removed the opt-out after 16 October 2018, though a live Google blog post still describes it.

Two of those rows are worth sitting with. Google runs the product and publishes no list of what it does, so every “Gmail has 40 features” headline you’ve read was somebody’s guess.

Frequently Asked Questions About Gmail Features

What inbox management features does Gmail offer?

Gmail provides hover-based organization (one-click Archive, Delete, Mark as Read/Unread, and Snooze), a Snooze function that delays emails until a chosen time, Nudges that resurface unanswered emails as automated reminders, three display density options (Default, Comfortable, Compact), and a collapsible left menu that maximizes inbox reading space.

How does Gmail Snooze work?

Click the Snooze icon on any email to remove it from your inbox temporarily. Choose a date and time, from Google’s suggestions or a custom option, and Gmail re-delivers the email at that time. All snoozed messages remain accessible in the Snoozed folder in the left column at any time before their scheduled return.

What are Gmail Nudges and how do you turn them off?

Nudges automatically move emails you have not responded to in several days back to the top of your inbox with a reminder to reply or follow up. Turn them off in Settings under the General tab, where you can toggle “reply to” and “follow up on” nudges independently.

What productivity tools are built into Gmail’s sidebar?

Gmail’s right sidebar includes Google Calendar (view and create events), Google Keep (notes across devices), and Google Tasks (to-do lists from emails). A “+” icon opens the Google Workspace Marketplace for additional third-party add-ons that appear in the same sidebar.

What is Gmail Confidential mode?

Confidential mode prevents recipients from forwarding, copy/pasting, downloading, or printing email content. You can set an expiration date and optionally require an SMS passcode for access. You can revoke access before expiration from your Sent folder. Activate it by clicking the lock-and-clock icon when composing a message.

What are Gmail suggested replies?

Google calls this feature Smart Reply, and it shows short text options at the bottom of certain incoming emails. Clicking a suggestion opens a draft with that text pre-filled for editing before sending. Google now uses “Suggested Replies” for a separate Gemini feature that drafts longer replies.

How do you tag contacts inline in Gmail?

Type “+” in the body of a Gmail message followed by a contact’s name or email address. Gmail shows matching contacts you can select to add as recipients, similar to social media tagging. This works without leaving the message body to navigate to the To or CC fields.

What are Gmail hovercards?

Google’s published name for this is the person information card. Hovering over any contact’s name, email address, or photo in Gmail displays a card with their information and quick-action icons to email them, schedule a Calendar event, start a chat, or initiate a video call. Hovercards provide one-click access to multiple communication channels without leaving the inbox.

How many features does Gmail have?

Google publishes no feature count for Gmail and no master list of Gmail features. Any article naming a specific number is estimating. Google’s closest published resource is its Workspace-wide release notes page, which lists new features by release week.

Are the 13 Gmail features in this list still available?

Yes. All 13 features in this list still work in Gmail as of August 2026, and Google has retired none of them. Two were renamed: Preview Pane is now the reading pane, and what this page called suggested replies is Smart Reply.

What is the difference between Smart Reply and Suggested Replies in Gmail?

Smart Reply gives short pre-written responses and is free to anyone using Gmail. Suggested Replies is a separate Gemini feature that drafts longer, context-aware replies and needs an eligible Google AI or Workspace plan. Google documents both on the same page.

What Gmail features has Google retired?

Google has retired Gmail Labs, Inbox by Gmail, Hangouts inside Gmail, and Google+ integration. Labs retirement was announced in March 2017 and Inbox by Gmail closed at the end of March 2019. Hangouts on the web redirected to Google Chat from 1 November 2022.