Gmail inbox problem - why did it change?

June 2, 2016 12:03 PM

My gmail inbox is different and I don't want it to be. How do I make it like it was before?

Ever since I've had my gmail account, I log in and am shown all my current emails in my inbox (i.e. everything I haven't moved or deleted). Today I looked and there's just one line that says "no new emails". Did I push the wrong button or something? Why is it doing this?
I can still find my emails in other folders, i.e. "important", "starred", etc., but I want it to be like I had it before. What can I do?

posted by crazylegs to Computers & Internet (10 answers total)

Click the gear in the upper righthand corner. Click on "configure inbox". Uncheck all the boxes except "primary". That oughta do it.
posted by phunniemee at 12:16 PM on June 2, 2016

Is this on mobile or a desktop/laptop? Gmail by default now has different tabs in the inbox and sorts mail into them (e.g. primary, social, promotions, etc.). Is it possible you accidentally switched to a tab you don't normally use or created a new one?

Or, if you accidentally archived all your mail, a new email should still appear in your inbox, are you able to see new emails at all?
posted by Wretch729 at 12:17 PM on June 2, 2016

Oh, another thing to check if that doesn't have the results you want is when you go to settings, then the inbox tab, make sure that your inbox style is set to "default" and not "priority".
posted by phunniemee at 12:17 PM on June 2, 2016

Response by poster: All boxes except "primary" are already unchecked. I am able to see new emails. Inbox is set to "default."
posted by crazylegs at 12:21 PM on June 2, 2016

Go to "Al Mail". See if the emails have the "inbox" label on them. If they do, then I suspect you either accidentally reconfigured your inbox and I would follow phunniemee's advice or you clicked on a different tab that you normally do. If they don't have the "inbox" label then somehow you accidentally archived them all. Click on whatever email you want to move back to your inbox then click on the button that moves them to the inbox.
posted by AugustWest at 12:22 PM on June 2, 2016

Oh, is there a chance you accidentally clicked on take me to Inbox? As in capital I Google Inbox? Are you on mail.google.com or inbox.google.com?
posted by phunniemee at 12:24 PM on June 2, 2016

If they are still in the "all Mail" label, then they were archived. You can move them back to the inbox if you desire.

If they are not there at all in the "all mail" label then you somehow accidentally deleted them or Google did, but I have never heard of Google doing that
posted by AugustWest at 12:26 PM on June 2, 2016

Response by poster: I think I accidentally deleted them all, not sure how that happened but I still have access to what I need in my trash folder. Thanks for the help!
posted by crazylegs at 12:36 PM on June 2, 2016

Do you use Gmail on your phone? I've inadvertently deleted the entire contents of my inbox through the mail app multiple times; while I couldn't tell you the steps I took, it's stupidly, irritatingly easy to do. Every time it's exactly like what you're describing. After the first couple times I finally caught on and stopped emptying my trash from my phone. Guf!
posted by anderjen at 12:53 PM on June 2, 2016

On a PC at least it should be fairly easy to mass-undelete them. Select all then click the folder icon dropdown and move them to the inbox. Just so you don't accidentally clear the trash folder and lose them for real.
posted by Wretch729 at 1:06 PM on June 2, 2016 [1 favorite]