Google today updated Gmail for Android with a slew of new features for managing your email on the go. You can download the new version now directly from Google Play.
First and foremost, the app now lets you view all your mail at once, regardless of which account it’s from, via the new “All Inboxes” option. In short, this view lets you read and respond to all your messages without having to switch between accounts.
This is a feature that probably should have been there from the start, or at least when Gmail gained support for multiple email accounts. Still, better late than never.
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Next up, threaded conversations are now available for Yahoo, Outlook.com, and other IMAP/POP accounts. This means all your messages, not just those sent to your Gmail account, can now be stacked into individual conversations.
If you were holding back from using the Gmail app to handle all your email, the above two features should help you change your mind. Given that Android 5.0 Lollipop replaces Google’s Email app with Gmail, this is an inevitable progression.
Google says it has also improved Gmail’s search functionality. The Android app now features “better” auto-complete, so you can find what you need even faster.
It’s not clear what exactly “better” entails, but based on the screenshot above, we assume the search function simply offers more suggestions. That said, we’re not sure how a search for “we” brought up either of the two emails since we can’t see their full contents.
In today’s update, Google is also promising more responsive animations, larger attachment previews, and the ability to save files to Google Drive with a single tap. The company did not say when it expects to bring these improvements over to its iOS app, which got its own sizable update earlier this month.
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