Category: Google Inbox

Google is rolling out an update to Gmail and Inbox for both Android and the web that will create links for physical addresses, email addresses and phone numbers that are found in your email messages.  The update is on the fast track which means it should roll out to all users over the course of the next few days.

How it works is pretty straightforward and should save time for users.  If there is a physical address in an email message, the link will take you to Google Maps.  If there is an email address found, the link will open up your default email client and set you up to compose a new email to that address.  Finally, when you are on your Android phone, if there is phone number found, clicking the link will open up your default phone app to place a call to the number.

Google has rolled out a nice improvement to the search functionality in the Google Inbox app.  This latest update builds on the 1.30 update that rolled out last week and is a behind-the-scenes update.  So long as you have the latest version of the app, this feature will roll out to you over the course of the next few days.  Essentially, this new search function makes it far easier and faster to search for an email message.  By tapping the search function, you will see a quick list of the contacts you email with often, the businesses you email with often and a refinements section that allows you to search for messages that have attachments, photos or are from last week to name a few.  You can, of course, still search for any word, date or topic within the search function as you have always been able to do.

Google has begun rolling out a new update to Inbox, bringing with it several new features and some key enhancements to the email app.  Inbox by Google continues to develop rapidly as the go-to mail app for Android and these latest updates make it clear that this is the app for the future by the company.  The biggest feature change in this update is streamlined event tracking.  Now when an event has changed, you will see that update in your Inbox so you can view it at a glance.  Tapping on it will give you more details about the event and what has changed.

UPDATE:  I am updating this post as it is still one of the most read articles on the site.  Please check out the post I made on an update to Gmail.  In that post, I outline the back end changes Google made to Gmail that has fixed this issue for Marshmallow users.

Google Inbox is the new and improved email app for Gmail that been met with mix feelings.  It is certainly a more clean email app that puts your emails into bundles (think categories) automatically to decluter your device.  It works but if you are a hardcore Gmail user on your Android phone or tablet, it will take some time to adjust.  But personally I like it and encourage you to give it a try.  Google Inbox is another app that Google has ported out of their builds of Android as stand alone apps much like Google Calendar.

An reoccurring theme with Google Inbox is the notifications not activating properly.  The Google Play Store have plenty of reviews pointing this out and while Google has updated the app several times, it still is a problem for some.  I was one of those and after a lot of trying to sort it out, I was just about to uninstall the app.  Then I figured it out and since then – over two weeks now – it has worked flawlessly.  In this How To I’m going to show you the way that I disabled Gmail notifications and got Google Inbox notifications working.  It isn’t rocket science and certainly will fall into the “duh” category for some of you but if you are like me, I found it a bit challenging to sort out.