If you’re looking for an email, Gmail wants to help you find it

In our collective quest to chase the elusive state of inbox zero, some of us (hi) prefer to strictly employ deleterious methods to manage our email. For the rest of us, this may be achieved with the help of folders and labels. But the trick with archival, though, is with finding that one message later on. Gmail, now more than ever, seems eager to help you do just that.

Specifically, Gmail on Android is now more keen on showing the search filters carousel when you enter into a folder or label view. 9to5Google reports from using v2022.05.01 of the app that the carousel has parameters for the label or folder itself as well as sender and recipient, if there are attachments, read status, and date. The filters bar can be hidden by taking the inverted pyramid icon on the top-right corner, but this setting doesn't stick in place when you switch to another label or folder.

The filters carousel already appeared when users initiated a search. ​​​​​But this boundary jump doesn't seem to appear widespread, so we're presuming this is being done as part of an A/B test.

Gmail for the web gained these search filters back in September with the notable use of the Chips paradigm from the Material You design language when it came to labeling people.

For the chumps like me who either press “delete” with menace, the more aggressive carousel deployment would be extremely handy. We're stuck having to use the “in:trash” operator constantly when we inevitably have to search for something we put in the dumpster. And then there's the dread of trying to find something that's just gone past 30 days old… you know, when the message gets sent to the ether.