Google messing with Gmail again

[djr33]

Why????

I hate everything* that has been added to gmail in the past few years. I want a simple layout (not lots of odd scrolling parts), no chat-like "new compose", and no new inbox [that] put[s me]back in contro (https://mail.google.com/mail/help/intl/en/features.html).

My simple question: How can I remove the labels Social, Promotions, Updates, Forums from being used in Gmail? I don't want my labels (as a dropdown to add/remove labels) cluttered with stupid terms I don't use. I have my own labels.

My more complicated question: why can't Google just leave it alone? These updates really frustrate me, especially when, this time anyway, I had no warning or chance to reject it (at least for a while).


(*Well, not everything. I like that typing "unr...." in the search bar brings up the pseudo-label "unread" to find all of my unread messages. But there was a simple workaround before, and it was silly to not have that in the first place. But otherwise, yes, everything.)

[Beverleyh]

I have a GMail account but I never login online for much of the same reason. I only got one to link with YouTube and Analytics, etc., but I only have it feeding emails into my iPhone.

I much prefer the Yahoo layout but even that service frustrates me. I plugged my sisters iPhone into my laptop to set her up an iTunes playlist, and the next thing I know, all of her contacts have been imported into my Yahoo email account. AAARRRRRRGGGGGGGHHHHHH!!! I'm not much of an iTunes buff but all this auto-importing/backup cloud contacts stuff winds me up! My contacts are in my phone and I want them to stay there, and only there... apart from my handbag-dwelling notebook with a rubber band round it ;) That's my idea of secure backup storage - LOL

[djr33]

I know what you mean. I turn off auto-everything to the extent that I can. But then they "fix" it so it's "better" and ignores what I want.... :rolleyes:

[Beverleyh]

I hate it when that happens. I guess they like to work on the notion that it's easier to ask for forgiveness than it is to ask for permission ;) Not that they ever ask for forgiveness, but oh well.

[marain]

If wishes were horses, beggars would ride ;-)

[djr33]

The reason I object so strongly is because my 'wishes' as you call them are that Google would stop making changes because they're annoying and excessive (or stop forcing me to update with these changes-- I don't mind options). I'm not asking for a "feature request". It would be unfair of me to expect Google to do something just because I want them to. But is it unreasonable for me to want them to not make their product systematically worse? I've been using Gmail since the beginning and overall I love it, but in the past year or so I've become increasingly frustrated with these awkward non-improvements, and I'm wondering whether it's time to give up. That's pathetic, in my opinion. All I want is no changes, or optional ones.

[ajfmrf]

You guys think you have it tough with gmail.....

My local internet/cable phone service is provided by a company called Thames Valley Communications.

It is a local company that was owned by the town/city I live in untill a couple months ago.

About 10 months ago they went to gmail instead of their own email .I


Now all of my emails go through gmail and though it looks like my original email it works differently.

Xtra folders appear and disappear, emails disappear, and it checks for new messages when it wants to now ehn I want it o( I click on the 'get new mail' and nothing happens,not a single thing to let you know you even clicked the button.

I have an gmail account that I rarely use because I don't like it-messy and confusing to me.

It stinks that this change happened-I hate it.....:cool:

[djr33]

Universities are doing similar things. And that sounds confusing.


But the ironic part is that I like Gmail and generally it's an improvement (for me) over all other kinds of email. But now it's doing the stupid hand-holding that makes all products worse for users who do know what they're doing. I really have no objection to those options being available (or even the default for new users-- I can imagine people who would find them useful). But I don't want them.

[ajfmrf]

And I don't want gmail/my mail..........:(

[djr33]

If you really don't like it, you can just access it remotely instead. Gmail is a complicated interface for what I think is a normal kind of email. I have my iPhone's "mail" app set up to access my Gmail account on the go, and the interface is very different, with "normal" options, nothing specific to Gmail.
So I don't see why you couldn't do the same. In my case, I actually want Gmail, just not the "enhanced" updates.

[traq]

I use Thunderbird. I hate all online email portals.

[ajfmrf]

I use Thunderbird too,but it is migrated somehow into google mail and I don't like the way it works.looks or smells(lol)

[traq]

I use Thunderbird too,but it is migrated somehow into google mail and I don't like the way it works.looks or smells(lol)

....?

[ajfmrf]

Sorry for the confusion-

I use thunderbird on my computers.

My internet service provided by Thames valley communications has google doing their email now.

On one of my computers when the change was first done it had several folders and stuff I have never seen before.I still even after 10 months don't know
much about why those folders are there .

All I know is it make things a lot more difficult with my cellphone-A droid razor hd and my emails have that awful gmail look and all

I can't do anything about it unless I want to change from my local internet provider.And they do have a great price compared to the bigwigs......

[djr33]

You can get a different email address. I've never liked ISP emails, for at least the reason that you only keep it as long as you keep the service.

[james438]

Gmail is just too frustrating for me. I keep disabling all of these new features, but I can't even get close to the bare bones version I want. Today I finally decided to use the basic html version and then set it as my default setting.

For those unaware you can access the basic html version here:

https://mail.google.com/mail/?ui=html

After that I clicked on the link at the top of the page to set it as my default view. After reading more about it here (https://support.google.com/mail/answer/15049?ctx=gmail) and reading about all of the features that are disabled I knew that this was ideal for me. Another silly thing is that there is no option that I can find anywhere on the standard version of gmail that in anyway points to the html only version.

[djr33]

Gmail is just too frustrating for me. I keep disabling all of these new features, but I can't even get close to the bare bones version I want. Today I finally decided to use the basic html version and then set it as my default setting. I hate the HTML only version because it's slower and doesn't have some of the very basic helpful features like expanding/contracting messages or autofilling emails. I really like basic gmail (though it's fine if you don't). But everything after that is annoying. I'd be very happy with a "basic gmail from 2006" look though. I suppose I can consider using html only at some point (I have used it on occasion-- it takes much less bandwidth than the full version. I realized that when I was on a severely limited internet account in Ecuador, where it took about 10-20mb just to load gmail once!! crazy...).


Another silly thing is that there is no option that I can find anywhere on the standard version of gmail that in anyway points to the html only version. Weird! I just checked and you're right. For a long time there was a tiny link at the bottom of the page (near the copyright) but that seems to be missing. Another example of assuming users don't want customization.
The link still appears when the page loads too slowly (which happens surprisingly often, even in modern browsers and broadband connections. And you can set it as default. But apparently you can't get there from the full version. Odd.

[james438]

Yeah, I hate it when businesses try to make things "user friendly." User friendly ends up meaning less options. Most people seem to like that though, so I am in the minority on this sadly.

I prefer basic gmail too, but basic gmail has become so bulky with so many features to clutter up the screen and so many of my setting keep getting changed for the worse that the html version (if you know where to find it) is now preferable for me to the other versions.