When Google gave its Gmail service an overhaul in 2018, the company took the opportunity to add some new features to the web and Android versions of the app. These include being able to recall an email, snooze messages, and the so-called Nudges.
These remind you of messages that have sat for a few days without a response, and while they can be very handy in some circumstances it can also become an annoyance. But it’s simply to turn Nudges on or off, so you can choose whether Gmail brings older messages to your attention or not.
What is Gmail Nudges?
As an aid to productivity and managing a busy inbox, Nudges is basically an AI-powered reminders system that checks for any emails you may have overlooked, failed to respond to for a few days, or messages you’ve sent to others but not received an answer and could therefore do with chasing up.
When such a message is found, it will be pushed back to the top of your inbox with a little alert on the right saying “Sent 5 days ago. Follow up?”
The principle is sound, but if you have your own system for classifying and responding to emails then it could quickly become an irksome extra thing to deal with, rather than the helpful hint that Google intended.
How to turn off Gmail Nudges in Windows
Thankfully, Nudges is a simple feature to disable on the desktop version of Gmail. To do so, open your browser window and go to Gmail. Click on the Settings icon (looks like a gear cog and sits just above the right side of the main pane in which your emails are listed).
From the drop-down menu choose Settings then scroll down until you find the section marked Nudges.
In here you’ll find two options – Suggest emails to reply to and Suggest emails to follow up on - each with a respective tickbox.
To disable them, simply untick the box then scroll to the bottom of the page and click Save changes. To enable them, do the opposite.
How to turn off Nudges in the Android app
Open Gmail on your Android phone then tap on the three-lines icon in the top left corner. From the menu that appears, scroll down to the bottom and tap on Settings. Next tap on your account name, then scroll again until you find the Nudges section.
This opens a new page with two options – Suggest emails to reply to and Suggest emails to follow up on – each accompanied by its own tickbox.
Now, just untick the boxes and the Nudge alerts will cease.
Check out our other Gmail tips.
Author: Martyn Casserly, Contributor
Martyn has been involved with tech ever since the arrival of his ZX Spectrum back in the early 80s. He covers iOS, Android, Windows and macOS, writing tutorials, buying guides and reviews.