Gmail's Search Function Just Got a Major Upgrade

[MacRumors]

Google is rolling out an improved Gmail search function powered by AI that the company reckons will "show you the most relevant results, faster."

Search in Gmail has traditionally returned results from your inbox in chronological order based on keywords. That's not great if the email you need was sent months or years ago.

What the new method does to improve things is factor in elements like how often you contact someone, which emails you've clicked the most, and how recently the emails arrived in your inbox.

"With this update, the emails you're looking for are far more likely to be at the top of your search results — saving you valuable time and helping you find important information more easily," claims Google.

The new "most relevant" search results are rolling out globally for users with personal Google accounts, and are accessible on the web and in the official Gmail app for iOS and Android. If it's appearing for you already, you'll be able to toggle between "most relevant" and "most recent" results. Google says it will expand the new feature to business users in the future.

Article Link: Gmail's Search Function Just Got a Major Upgrade

 

[t0rqx]

Made possible by harvesting more data.

 

[majkom]

well, at least it works, whatever search on apple platform made by apple is real PITA

 

[Oblivious.Robot]

Thank you, it should honestly help. It was tedious to search through specific mails before.

 

[ridgero]

Gmail Search was always a pain

 

[hagar]

Meanwhile at Apple: crickets…. Followed by the release of the most amazing productivity app ever: Image Playground! Even scientists use it to decorate their publications. But, obviously this sorcery requires the latest hardware.

 

[kirky29]

The search function in the Mac/iOS Apple Mail app is terrible—I always switch to Gmail when I need to find something. So this is a welcome update for me!

 

[shornby]

The search function in the Mac/iOS Apple Mail app is terrible—I always switch to Gmail when I need to find something. So this is a welcome update for me!

Me too. I always use Gmail for search. Searching in Apple Mail for iPhone produces a list of messages that aren’t sorted by date - or anything else. Search results are completely arbitrary and useless.

 

[Benjamin Nabulsi]

Took years for a web search company to allow basic search in their product! I genuinely believe any business that uses Google Suite is not serious about their business's efficiency.

 

[Sheepish-Lord]

Made possible by harvesting more data.

At least they’re doing something with it and their AI. Apple Mail app can’t even get badge notifications to sync between devices without opening the app…

 

[Bigwaff]

Posted by the MacRumors Bot and using the term “reckons”. An AI with a US southern drawl… can you hear it?

I guess the “bot” just reposts. Still find it funny.

 

[CarAnalogy]

It's kind of sad that this is big news, that Google made a usable search function. This is what it was originally known for. They were the first major service to say don't use folders, there are no folders, everything is tags and search.

And now their quality has fallen so far and the bar is so low that now that they've made it decent again, it's a big deal.

 

[Dark_Omen]

Meanwhile at Apple: crickets…. Followed by the release of the most amazing productivity app ever: Image Playground! Even scientists use it to decorate their publications. But, obviously this sorcery requires the latest hardware.

Glad I switched everything to Google. I don't have much info worth harvesting from my life anyways.

 

[Rafagon]

That's cute, but crippled if it only works from the official Gmail app.

I get my Gmail through the stock iOS app, and I'm not budging.

 

[ghanwani]

First they should fix the spam filter.

 

[Lounge Deluxe]

I'm using Mimestream to access my 2 Gmail accounts on my desktop, would I also benefit from this improved search function or does that only apply to web based Gmail use?

 

[xaanaax]

It already works so much better than in outlook, so looking forward to this.

 

[idahoidahoidaho]

Apple's mail search, something I use every day in the real world for real things, is the most antiquated 2007 coded embarrassment available on the phone. I could list issues for days. The fact that time was spend making and flubbing Image Playground before just fixing the simple things like Mail search has me very worried. I literally have to go to gmail.com, search there, then go back to mail app if I ever want to actually find something.

 

[Altis]

Search in Gmail has traditionally returned results from your inbox in chronological order based on keywords. That's not great if the email you need was sent months or years ago.

What the new method does to improve things is factor in elements like how often you contact someone, which emails you've clicked the most, and how recently the emails arrived in your inbox.

Is a basic sorting algorithm now what qualifies as "AI"?

The first two are just counts and the last is the same sort-by-date with different wording.

 

[bigheaddoug]

Hopefully, they can now focus on making the app not show me email I archived three months ago in my inbox.

 

[freedogshampoo]

Can they finally add a function to sort by most frequent sender?

 

[It’s always something]

First they should fix the spam filter.

Adding a way to flag non-spam in the spam box would be nice too.

Edit: I have in mind the Apple Mail app.

 

[yyzguy]

Gmail search in desktop web browser has always worked 100x better than search in the Gmail mobile app. I’m baffled as to why they are so different

 

[newyorksole]

That's cute, but crippled if it only works from the official Gmail app.

I get my Gmail through the stock iOS app, and I'm not budging.

same

on the flip side though… I keep all of my inboxes to a MINIMUM so I can just scroll for a second or two and find what I’m looking for.

 

[MacBH928]

so now it tracks you more and builds a bigger profile on you.