We’ve been tracking the progress of the Google interface refresh for Gmail since February, and as promised, the company says it will now be available to all Gmail users who have Google Chat. The rework brings Meet, Chat and Spaces closer together as part of the overall experience and incorporates elements from Google’s Material Design 3.
It doesn’t stop there, saying we should see improvements to Gmail for tablet users, better emoji support, and more accessibility features later this year, among other upgrades.
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If you use Gmail for work, it may already be rolled out to your account. For those who just can’t stand the change, you can opt out and go back to the old look, at least for now.
If you want to switch back, Google’s instructions are quite easy to follow:
- Click on the top right Settings.
- Under ‘Quick settings’, click Go back to the original Gmail view.
- In the new window click Reload.
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The updated UI moves the Mail, Meet, Spaces, and Chat buttons to a single list at the top of the left bar instead of displaying multiple conversations of each in a list. They’re still easily accessible without everything on the screen at once, and you can quickly jump into a section in a conversation, as a list pops up when you hover over the icon.
The changes are part of Google’s overall new approach to the Workspace suite (including Docs, Sheets, etc.) that should offer a more unified style and new AI-powered features like the Gmail search improvements just announced.