Look Ma – no Gmail Inbox Tabs!

For the most part, I really do like Gmail. True, the interface takes a lot of getting used to, and whether any of it is truly intuitive is up for debate, but it’s fast, readily available across multiple platforms (mac, pc, phone, tablet etc), has lots of space, and is pretty configurable. So, once you learn how to do things in Gmail, it really does do a pretty good job. That said, this Inbox tab thing really had me rankled. I mean, why on earth would I go through all the effort of creating filters that allow me to organize email my own way, for someone else to come along and throw them up on the screen in some arbitrary way?

Gmail has introduced inbox tabs

Well, if you’re like me, and one whole day of those tabs was more than enough, then you probably want them gone. Fortunately, it’s pretty easy to make that happen, and I’ll show you how.

Step 1 – Click the Gmail Settings Cog. Gmail Settings Cog
Step 2 – Click “Configure Inbox.” Gmail Configure Inbox
Step 3 – Uncheck social and promotions, and anything else that is checked except primary. Gmail Uncheck Tabs to disable them
Step 4 – With the boxes unchecked, it should look like this. Then just click Save. Gmail tabs deselected then click save
You’ve done it! There are no longer any Gmail Inbox Tabs. You can now resume your normal inbox browsing! Gmail Inbox back to normal - no tabs