Gmail is one of the most popular email clients in the world and this week, it’s preparing to fix one of its few weaknesses. Starting today and rolling out over the next few weeks, Gmail’s desktop interface is getting a brand new settings sidebar that not only improves the UI, but makes several settings much easier to access.
In a blog post, Google details the latest update to Gmail’s web experience. The web app is being updated with a new Quick Settings sidebar which takes some of Gmail’s settings related to layout and places them in an area that’s easier to access. Those settings include email density, the inbox type, and also the background theme. Notably, too, all of these settings will be updated in real-time on the user’s screen.
This update — one of the biggest Gmail has rolled out in a while — won’t change any user settings that are already in place or add/remove any options either. The new sidebar just makes some of Gmail’s settings a lot easier to access as you can see below. The Quick Settings menu also allows users to quickly enable a reading pane for emails.
Google says that “Rapid Release” G Suite domains will start seeing this change today and over the next two weeks, but the wider rollout won’t start until June 22nd. When it does roll out to everyone — which will also be a gradual 15-day rollout — it will be the default setting in Gmail with the sidebar appearing any time a user presses the settings icon at the top of the screen.