When The Verge’s Richard Lawler reported that Google was releasing its new, stylized version of Gmail for the web, I thought I’d take a look. Since my Gmail page hadn’t switched over yet, I clicked on the gear-like settings icon in the top right corner of my page, and then the link labeled Try the new Gmail look and refreshed my page.
As Richard writes, the change is not radical. There’s a new color scheme, which I rather like, and a few other interface tweaks. The main change though is the left side panel – now both side panels.
Previously, you had one panel that gave you access to a menu of different categories and labels in Gmail (like inbox, starred, trash, etc.). By clicking the three-line icon in the upper-left corner (also known as a “hamburger”), you can set this panel to display either icons and labels, or just icons. But now Google has added another sidebar that gives you instant access to several apps: Mail, Chat, Spaces, and Meet.
A new side panel offers access to the Mail, Chat, Spaces and Meet apps.
If you think two sidebars are a bit much (as I do, especially on a laptop display), you can make the category one disappear entirely by clicking the hamburger icon in the upper left corner.
Click the three parallel lines in the upper left corner to make the category panel disappear.
If you want to go to another category or label in your Gmail, you can find them by hovering over the mail icon in the new panel.
Hovering over the mail icon will bring up your category menu.
Want your second panel back? Click the hamburger icon again.
Get rid of the application panel
And what if you don’t really use Google Chat or Meet? It’s actually very easy to get rid of their icons – as well as this extra sidebar:
- Select Settings > Personalization.
- You’ll be prompted to choose which apps to use in Gmail. Uncheck Google Chat and Google Meet and click Done.
Get rid of the new application panel by unchecking these two boxes.
It is! You are now returned to a familiar sidebar. And as before, the hamburger icon will simply toggle between a sidebar with icons and labels, or just icons.
You now have the new Gmail without the app panel.
And if you’re just tired of it all, for now you can go back to the way things were by clicking Settings > Go Back to Original View. How long this option will be available depends on Google.
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