Gmail AI Inbox: How to Turn It On or Off

Gmail’s new AI Inbox is a separate view that pulls the to-dos and updates out of your email so you don’t have to dig for them. Here’s what it does, who gets it, how to find it if it’s missing, and how to switch it off if you’d rather keep the classic inbox.

What Gmail AI Inbox actually does

AI Inbox doesn’t replace your normal inbox. It sits alongside it as its own view and reads your Primary tab to build a short briefing. There are two parts:

• Suggested to-dos: emails that need something from you, with the action in bold. A bill with a due date, a form someone’s waiting on, a question you haven’t answered.
• Topics to catch up on: summaries of what’s changed across long threads and projects, such as travel plans, bookings and order confirmations.

It only looks at the Primary tab, so nothing in Social or Promotions makes it in. It also skips spam and anything you’ve archived, deleted, muted or snoozed, and it can’t read attachments, delegated inboxes or encrypted emails. Google describes it as a beta feature, so expect the details to shift.

Who gets AI Inbox

As of October 2026, AI Inbox is only available in the United States with the account language set to English. Beyond that, it depends on the kind of account you have:

• Personal Gmail: you need a paid Google AI plan (AI Plus, AI Pro or AI Ultra). It isn’t listed for free personal accounts.
• Work or school (Google Workspace): Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus and Frontline Plus got it first. Google says Business Starter, Enterprise Starter and AI Pro for Education will follow over the next few months.

For Workspace, the rollout is staggered. Rapid Release domains started on 12 October 2026, and Scheduled Release domains begin a gradual 15-day rollout from 26 October 2026. Admins don’t need to do anything; it appears in the Gmail menu once your account is eligible.

How to open AI Inbox

On a computer

1. Open Gmail in your browser.
2. In the left panel, click AI Inbox.
3. To get the latest items, click Refresh at the top.
4. If something seems to be missing, scroll to the bottom and click View all. Some items are generated but not shown by default, and View all is only available in a web browser.

In the Gmail app

1. Open the Gmail app on Android, iPhone or iPad.
2. Tap Menu at the top left, then AI Inbox.
3. Pull down from the top of the screen to refresh.

AI Inbox not showing? Check these

If you can’t see AI Inbox in the left panel, work down this list. In most cases it’s one of the first three.

1. Region and language. Your Google Account needs to be in the US with English as its language. Outside the US it won’t appear at all yet, no matter what plan you have.
2. Plan. Personal accounts need AI Plus, AI Pro or AI Ultra. Workspace accounts need one of the eligible plans above, and Scheduled Release domains may still be waiting on the rollout.
3. Smart features are off. AI Inbox needs both Smart features in Google Workspace and Smart features in other Google products turned on. Go to Settings › See all settings › General, scroll to Google Workspace smart features, click Manage Workspace smart feature settings, turn both on and save. Smart features can take a few hours to take effect.
4. AI Inbox is hidden. Go to Settings › See all settings › Inbox and make sure Show AI Inbox is ticked.
5. It’s still learning. Your first to-dos and topics can take up to 7 days to appear. If you haven’t sent or received much email recently, the view can also be empty.
6. Wrong account. If you’re signed into more than one Google Account, check you’re looking at the eligible one.

If the view looks outdated rather than missing, check your internet connection and click Refresh.

How to turn off Gmail AI Inbox

If you’d rather not have it in your sidebar, you can hide it in a few clicks. This doesn’t affect anything else in Gmail.

1. Open Gmail on your computer.
2. At the top right, click Settings (the gear icon), then See all settings.
3. Click the Inbox tab at the top.
4. Untick Show AI Inbox.
5. Scroll down and click Save Changes.

Google’s help pages don’t list a separate switch in the mobile app, so use the setting above in a browser. It applies to your account, not just that device.

Want to go further and turn off smart features too?

Hiding AI Inbox leaves Gemini and the rest of Gmail’s smart features running. Turning off Smart features in Google Workspace (the same Manage Workspace smart feature settings page as above) stops AI Inbox at the source, but it also switches off things you may rely on, such as events from Gmail appearing in Calendar and Gemini summaries. The separate Turn on smart features in Gmail, Chat, and Meet checkbox on the General tab controls the Primary, Social and Promotions tabs, Smart Compose, Smart Reply and the summary cards above emails. Untick that one only if you’re happy to lose those too.

Using to-dos and topics

Once AI Inbox is populated, each item has a few controls:

• View or Reply opens the email behind a to-do so you can act on it.
• Mark done clears a to-do once you’ve handled it.
• More options (the three dots next to an item) lets you Remove to-do, give feedback or report a problem to Google. Topics can’t be removed, only given feedback.
• Mark all as read on a topic marks the updates, and the underlying emails in your inbox, as read.

If you find the classic inbox easier to scan, our guide to Gmail conversation view covers turning threading off and showing the newest message first, and the Gmail tips and tricks list has the settings most people never find.

AI Inbox tidies what comes in. Your replies are a different story.

The reason a feature like AI Inbox exists is that email threads get long and noisy. Every time someone replies in Gmail, the whole earlier conversation is quoted underneath their message, hidden behind the three dots, and sent again. Ten replies in, each email carries the previous nine, and everyone on the thread is scrolling past the same text to find the new bit.

AI Inbox summarises that mess on your side. It does nothing for the people you email. The fix on the sending side is to stop Gmail including previous emails in your reply, either by deleting the quoted text each time or by letting ThreadTrim remove it automatically before you hit Send.