How to Remove the Updates Tab in Gmail

Introduction

Gmail's default layout organizes emails into tabs such as Primary, Promotions, Social, and Updates. Incoming emails are automatically categorized based on their content. Less important emails, such as marketing, social, or update emails, are not included in the primary inbox. This prevents the inbox from getting cluttered and makes it easy to view important emails at a glance.

However, you may want to disable the Updates tab for various reasons. For example, you may constantly miss emails like bills or order confirmations because they are moved to the Updates tab instead of the Primary inbox. Another reason could be that Gmail may incorrectly classify important emails into the Updates tab.

Some Gmail users also prefer a unified inbox over a tabbed one. One reason for this could be that they do not use email communication often.

In this article, we'll describe what the Gmail Updates tab is and how to disable it. We'll also discuss some methods for customizing the tab if you don't want to remove it but personalize it according to your needs.

What is the Updates Tab in Gmail

The updates tab is one of the tabs in Gmail's tabbed layout, which was introduced in 2013. As the name suggests, this tab stores updates such as order confirmations, shipping updates, receipts, and bills. Because these emails do not require immediate attention, Gmail stores them in the Updates tab instead of the Primary inbox. Gmail uses machine learning algorithms to decide which category an incoming email belongs to.

How to Remove the Updates Tab in Gmail

Here's how you can remove the Updates tab in Gmail.

1. Click on the gear icon and select "See all settings".
   
2. Navigate to the Inbox tab and uncheck "Updates" in the Categories section.
   
3. Scroll down to the bottom and click "Save Changes".
   

Note: Once you disable the "Updates" tab in Gmail, all future emails that would have been categorized under this tab will now be moved to the Primary tab.

Alternative Methods for Managing Updates Email

Disabling the Updates tab will put all updates emails in the primary inbox, making it difficult to manage. If you receive a lot of emails, you may not want to remove it. Here is what you can do instead of disabling it:

Move to Primary

Gmail allows you to move an email from one tab to another if you feel it doesn't belong there. For example, you can move emails under the Updates tab to the Primary inbox if they were misclassified by Gmail. Or it may be that the email is actually an Updates email, but you want to include it in the primary inbox because it is important to you.

Here's how to do it:

1. Select the emails you want to move from the Updates tab to the Primary tab.
2. Drag the selected emails to the Primary tab.
   
3. Select the "Yes" option from the notification at the bottom.
   

If you select the "Yes" option, all future emails from the selected sender will be included in the primary inbox, so make sure to check it.

Set Up a Gmail Filter

Set up a filter if you want Gmail to automatically move updates emails from a specific sender or containing certain words/phrases to the Primary tab.

Filter Emails by a Sender

1. Click on the "Show search options" button.
   
2. In the From field, type the email address of the sender whose emails you want to include in the Primary tab.
   
3. Click "Create filter".
4. Choose "Primary" from the "Categorize as" dropdown.
5. Select the last option also to apply the filter to matching conversations.
   
6. Lastly, click "Create filter".

Once this filter is set up, all future Updates emails containing these words will land in the Primary inbox rather than the Updates tab.

Filter Emails Containing Specific Words/Phrases

1. Click on the "Show search options" button.
   
2. In the Has the Words field, type the words or phrases you want to filter, such as "receipt" or "invoice". Use OR condition to match any of the terms.
   
3. Select "Updates" from the Search dropdown.
4. Click "Create filter".
5. Choose "Primary" from the "Categorize as" dropdown.
6. Select the last option also to apply the filter to matching conversations.
   
7. Lastly, click "Create filter".

Once this filter is set up, all future Updates emails containing these words will land in the Primary inbox rather than the Updates tab.

Conclusion

The updates tab is useful as it moves less important emails to a separate section from the primary inbox. However, you may want to disable it if it doesn't suit your needs. The Gmail tabbed layout is configurable, and you can disable any tab you don't want to keep and move its emails to the Primary inbox instead.

Alternatively, you can keep the Updates tab but move only specific types of emails from it to the Primary inbox. You can do so by dragging those emails to the Primary tab or setting up a filter to do so automatically. You can also choose to filter emails from a specific sender or those containing specific words or phrases.