The new Gmail is rolling out to everyone, and you can hide that big sidebar now

Gmail’s new desktop design started rolling out this weekend. If you use the default theme, you’ll know it’s arrived when the entire Gmail interface turns blue. Gmail’s new design first entered the enablement preview in februaryAnd after collecting feedback and fixing a few things, it’s Google push design For everyone. Everyone hates Gmail changes, so let’s talk about what’s different and how to get it back.

A few things have changed between now and the February preview. The most striking change is the entire blue color scheme. The Google blog post reads: “You’ll notice that the new navigation now includes Material You, our updated look and feel for your Google apps.” Launched “Material You” with Android 12 As a color coordinated theme system that matches the color scheme of your operating system with your wallpaper. There is no color match with “Material You” in Gmail, despite only the blue color scheme.

Gmail still has a theme system, so you can change the color to whatever you want. Click on the Settings cog in the top right and then under the Theme section, click on View all. The background closest to the old Gmail is the solid “soft grey” background option. To really match your old Gmail background, you might want “white,” but that’s not an option. (You can also choose from your Google Photos collection via the My Pictures link at the bottom, I tried to upload a solid white background, but trying to apply it just throws an error message.) This “theme” screen is also where you can apply the strangely hidden dark mode in Gmail: just choose the black background option, and everything will turn out to be light text on a dark background.

Another change you might want to make includes fixing our biggest complaint with the new Gmail: this new, giant sidebar. Google has always had a strategy Stampede Whatever new products you want to promote in Gmail, the new Gmail design comes with a large, full-height sidebar with just four icons: one for Gmail, two for Google Chat (Google’s newest messaging app), and one for Google Meet (Google’s version from Zoom meetings). Gmail already has a sidebar, but this new design adds a file secondly Sidebar, which looks like a big banner ad for other Google communications apps. Fortunately, between the February preview and this default launch, it appears Google has listened to feedback and added an option to turn off the sidebar.

This new No Sidebar option isn’t very straightforward, but you can end the Gmail sidebar by turning off Google Chat and Google Meet. Simply head over to the settings gear, then the “Customize” link under “Chat & Meet”. Uncheck both checkboxes, and the sidebar will disappear, allowing you to take back a lot of screen real estate. It’s weird that the new Gmail worked this way when Old Gmail put the Gmail, Google Chat, and Google Meet controls all in one adjustable sidebar, but that’s what Google chose to do.

Turning off the sidebar layout not only makes the new Gmail look more like the old Gmail, but also makes the regular Gmail sidebar work the way it used to. With the sidebar layout, clicking the hamburger button to collapse the sidebar only shows the app switcher and not any of the Gmail controls—you’ll see Google Chat and Google Meet links instead of “inbox,” “stars,” “spam,” etc. . When you turn off Google Chat and Meet, minimizing the Gmail sidebar again displays the Gmail controls within Gmail. estate.

If you don’t really like the new Gmail, you can still, for at least a little longer, opt out of the new design. Click the settings gear, and you should still see the “Return to original view” option. This won’t last forever, however, and you’ll have to get used to the new Gmail eventually. The original was rough, but Google seems to have listened to the complaints about the second sidebar. If you check the correct settings boxes, you will see that there is no longer much difference between newer and older versions of Gmail.

Picture list by The Google