The appearance of your most frequently used apps and most visited websites is something that a lot of people want to customize. Since your email inbox is likely among your most visited sites, it would make sense that you would want to change the view in Gmail so that you can see more or less emails on the screen.
Gmail is one of, if not, the most popular email clients in the world. It provides email service to many for free, and you can even set up a custom domain name if you want to use you own branded email.
Gmail also has a number of different ways that you can change the view of your inbox. Our tutorial below will show you how to switch between different display densities, as well as how you can enable or disable the conversation view option. Note that the steps below were performed using the new version of Gmail.
How to Change the View in Gmail (Newer Version)
- Sign into Gmail.
- Click the gear icon.
- Choose the desired Gmail view.
Our article continues below with additional information on changing the view in Gmail, including pictures for these steps.
How to Switch Between Default, Comfortable and Compact View in Gmail (Legacy Method)
When you are using the new Gmail version there is a setting called Display Density. This allows you to select the type of view that you want to use. The three options are Default, Comfortable, and Compact. The Compact view shows the most messages in the inbox at once.
Step 1: Go to your Gmail inbox at https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/#inbox and sign into your Gmail account if you haven’t done so already.
Step 2: Click the gear icon at the top-right of the window.
Step 3: Select the Display density option.
Step 4: Choose the type of Gmail view that you want (Default, Comfortable, or Compact), then click the OK button.
How to Turn on or Turn Off Conversation View in Gmail
The steps in this section are going to show you how to either switch from conversation view or switch to conversation view. This is the setting in Gmail that groups messages together if they are all part of the same conversation. Some people like it and some people don’t, so find out how to change this setting for your Gmail account.
Step 1: Sign into your Gmail account and go to your inbox.
Step 2: Click the gear icon.
Step 3: Select the Settings option.
Step 4: Scroll down to the Conversation view option, then choose whether to turn conversation view on or off.
Step 5: Scroll to the bottom of the menu and click the Save changes button.
Would you like to have access to some features that Gmail is testing? Find out how to enable experimental access in Gmail so that you can try them out.
Additional Reading
Kermit Matthews is a freelance writer based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania with more than a decade of experience writing technology guides. He has a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in Computer Science and has spent much of his professional career in IT management.
He specializes in writing content about iPhones, Android devices, Microsoft Office and many other popular applications and devices.