Gmail app on Android that *doesn't* combine my inboxes by default?

May 10, 2019 6:56 PM

I don't want my personal and work Gmail/G-Suite inboxes combined by default but every Android app I can find seems to think I do. Any alternatives?

I have a personal Gmail account and my company uses G-Suite. I have both accounts set up on my Pixel 3.

Every single mail app these days (including the native Gmail app) seems to make a big thing about combining my inboxes but I don't want that, at least not as my default inbox setting. I want to be able to view my two inboxes completely separately, and switch between them in the app as needed.

Any suggestions for apps that will let me do that?

To be clear, the apps I use currently (native Gmail and Spark) do let me view them separately, but not by default. Both display a.combined view on launching, then I have to chose inbox via the left-hand side menu.

posted by infinitejones to Computers & Internet (6 answers total)

For native Gmail my experience is that it displays whatever your last view is. So if you never look it your inboxes combined, it never shows them to you that way (after perhaps the very first launch on first install)

Are you finding that is not the case? Or is this still not what you want?
posted by lollusc at 7:22 PM on May 10, 2019

How about using Gmail filters to direct your incoming messages into labels named WorkInbox and PersonalInbox, based on the 'to' address? By having the filters bypass the Inbox, your main inbox would stay empty, and you'd select which messages you want to work with by clicking a label.
posted by davcoo at 8:02 PM on May 10, 2019

Best answer: When you tap the hamburger menu (the three horizontal lines) in the upper left corner of the native Gmail app and select "Inbox", you'll need to set that for each account in your app (switch between accounts by tapping the icon in the upper right corner).

Is that what you've been doing already?
posted by theory at 8:36 PM on May 10, 2019 [1 favorite]

Gmail doesn't combine your inboxes. It'll only do that if you select "all inboxes." Just keep it set to "inbox." You will see this at the top left corner, the three lines. I have five email addresses and I use them all as separate inboxes.
posted by AppleTurnover at 9:26 PM on May 10, 2019 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: OK, I've worked it out - in the native Gmail app it hadn't occurred to me tap the icon at the top right to switch between the two Google accounts on my phone. I was trying (and failing) to switch between them from the options in the hamburger menu at top left instead.

Thanks all!
posted by infinitejones at 10:27 PM on May 10, 2019

You can probably also look into "work profiles", which will fully separate your work account from your personal one, including separate app icons.
posted by lorimt at 4:31 AM on May 11, 2019