Gmail

That headline is a bit silly, because if we’re being honest, Gmail’s Android app is pretty damned fantastic for finding virtually all your emails. However, if you just know that you’re meant to have received something and you just can’t find it, it looks like logging into the web interface for Gmail might be prudent. Why?

Google is making some changes to the way that Gmail indexes your email. Noting that some emails are accidentally marked as spam or thrown in the Trash, search can sometimes struggle to find missing emails. Google will now index email in your Trash and Spam folders, whereas before only Trash was indexed.

While this might make it easier to find those missing emails relating to penis enlargement, it should also make it easier to find those emails which sometimes get marked as spam but which really aren’t.

Further, if your query is too vague or general, Google will now prompt you to enter some other limiting search query, e.g. by date, subject, or sender.

These changes are being rolled out to Gmail in the next few days. It’s anticipated (though not stated) that these changes will come to Gmail on Android too.

Source: Google Blog.
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Darren Ferguson

We use Google Apps in our workplace but most staff view it in Outlook. I’ve seen at least one case where emails did not appear in Outlook but were viewable in the web client. They were however old ones, not new unread ones.

Phill Edwards

I still use Gmail (I find Inbox a bit confusing to be honest) and I agree it’s great. But one thing I’ve always had a problem with is searching for emails, which I think is ironic for such a great Google product. If I have an email thread, I want to keep some emails in that thread and others I’m not interested in so I press delete. But I think the whole thread then goes into Trash which then makes it difficult to find later. E.g. if I’m looking for an email I know I sent, it may not be… Read more »

SachmoJoe

I’ve only very recently moved over to Inbox after trying it a while ago and like you, getting confused. It’s handy if you like to keep a clean inbox which I’ve been suddenly converted to. Everything you tick gets archived – not deleted, so it remains searchable but gets it out of your inbox. You can adopt this approach in Gmail too, i.e. archiving instead of deleting, and you won’t run the risk of deleting things you want to hold on to.

Pumpino

If you’re using an IMAP server (not Gmail), can you choose to hide certain emails without deleting them from the server?

Darren Ferguson

I hate it bringing up Hangouts conversations.

Dave

On the web you can delete individual emails in a conversation thread, but AFAIK not possible in the app.

Dave

Just like someone else suggested, archiving instead of deleting is what you want to do.

maslenmatt

I use inbox. It seems to do everything I need.

Ammad

I use inbox as well for my personal mail. Has completely changed the way I interact with email. Makes everything so simple.

Still using Gmail for work and use filters to find the mail I want. Haven’t had any issues so far.

Pumpino

Does anyone still use the Gmail app? Aqua Mail is so much better!