Organize your emails into categories

You can use categories in Gmail to reduce clutter and focus on emails that matter to you. When you use the “Default” inbox type, Gmail automatically sorts your emails into these categories:

Primary: Emails from people you know and messages that don’t appear in other tabs.
Social: Messages from social networks and media-sharing sites.
Promotions: Deals, offers, and other promotional emails.
Updates: Automated confirmations, notifications, statements, and reminders that may not need immediate attention.
Forums: Messages from online groups, discussion boards, and mailing lists.

Choose which categories to show

Important: You can only choose from the current categories. You can't create your own categories.

An animation showing how to add inbox categories for Gmail on Android

On your Android phone or tablet, open the Gmail app .
At the top left, tap Menu Settings.
Choose your account.
Tap Inbox type Default Inbox.
Tap Inbox categories.
Check or uncheck a category.

Tips:

If you have more than 250,000 emails in your inbox, you can’t turn on inbox categories. To get below the limit, delete or archive your emails.
To show starred messages in the “Primary” category, check the box next to “Include in Primary.”
When you turn on notifications for new mail, you only get notifications about messages in the “Primary” category. Learn how to change Gmail notifications.

Categorize your email

If you find an email in the wrong category, you can move it. Over time, this helps Gmail learn your preferences and sort your email more accurately.

On your Android phone or tablet, open the Gmail app .
Open the email.
Tap More Move to.
Select a category.

Tips: You can also:

Create a filter: For specific senders, you can set up a filter that:
- Marks their emails as important.
- Directs their email to a specific category.
Learn how to create rules to filter your emails.

Star an email: After you star an email, it appears in the “Primary” category and it's already in. Learn how to star emails in Gmail.

Organize low priority emails

For emails that don’t require your immediate attention, such as order confirmations and reminders, you may find them under the “Updates” category.
To help you prioritize important emails, “Updates” may be enabled if the “Primary,” “Social,” and “Promotions” categories are on.
To turn off the “Updates” category:
1. On your Android phone or tablet, open the Gmail app .
2. At the top left, tap Menu .
3. Tap Settings.
4. Select your account.
5. Tap Inbox categories.
6. Uncheck the box next to “Updates.”

Best practices for Gmail categories

To turn off categories, change your inbox type. Learn how to change your Gmail inbox layout.
To search for emails in a specific category:
1. At the top, in the search bar, enter category:
2. Enter the category name before your search term. For example, category:social party

To search for flight confirmations, hotel bookings, or restaurant reservations, enter: category:reservations. However, you can’t add "Reservations" as an inbox category.
Archived emails don’t appear in categories.
- To find archived emails, go to Gmail and select All mail label.
While you can't create custom categories, you can use labels to organize your emails. Learn how to create labels to organize Gmail.

Organize your emails into categories

Choose which categories to show

Categorize your email

Organize low priority emails

Best practices for Gmail categories

Related resources

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