How to Customize Gmail Settings for Max Productivity

Email clutter can sap your productivity, and Gmail’s default settings often compound the problem. Below are the practical adjustments you should make—on both desktop and mobile—to speed up load times, stay organized, and safeguard your privacy.

Disable Snippets and Hover Actions

Turning off snippets in Settings → General prevents Gmail from showing message previews in your inbox.

This creates more space and reduces visual noise, as you can see in the screenshot below.

While you are on the settings page, disable hover actions removes those quick-access icons that appear when you move your cursor over each email.

Here is a picture of the hover actions.

Not only does disabling hover actions streamline the layout, but many users report improved loading performance.

Default Reply and Undo Send

Under the same General tab, setting the default reply behavior to “Reply” (instead of “Reply all”) prevents unintentional group messages. Boosting the “Undo Send” window to thirty seconds gives you a vital buffer to rescind an email before it actually leaves your outbox. Remember to click “Save Changes” whenever you adjust any options.

Button Labels and Keyboard Shortcuts

If you find icons confusing, switching the top toolbar from icons to text is helpful.

Enabling keyboard shortcuts is also worthwhile, as it allows you to press keys like K to move to the next email, E to archive, or V to label and archive. If Gmail doesn’t automatically advance to the next email when archiving, enable Auto-advance in Settings → Advanced, save changes, then confirm your auto-advance preference in the General tab.

Turning Off Personalized Ads

Under Settings → General, locate the link for “importance signals for ads.” Clicking it takes you to your Google ad preferences. Opting out of personalized ads applies this change across your Google account, limiting data collection for ad targeting.

Disabling Nudges

Scroll down to “Nudges” in Settings → General to uncheck Gmail’s follow-up reminders. Though intended to be helpful, these prompts can be distracting if you prefer actively managing your own inbox timeline.

Insert Signature Before Prior Emails

On the Settings page, further down the General tab, enabling “Insert signature before quoted text” makes your signature appear as part of each new message, as opposed to a separate section tacked on after replies.

Hide Chat and Meet

Under Settings → Chat and Meet, turning off Google Chat and hiding Meet can keep the left sidebar from getting overcrowded, especially if you prefer using standalone apps or only opening these features in your browser when needed.

Hide Unused System Labels

In Settings → Labels, adjust which system labels are visible in the left pane. If you do not rely on Gmail’s “Starred” or “Important” categories, hiding them can create a more compact workspace. You can still access hidden labels like “All Mail” or “Spam” through the “More” dropdown.

Mobile App Tweaks

Swipe Actions and Conversation Density

On both iOS and Android, head to the app settings to configure swipe actions.

Setting one swipe to archive and the other to move (label and archive) quickly sorts messages while you’re on the go. Conversation list density can be set differently on mobile if you want a view distinct from your desktop.

Chat, Meet, and Privacy on iOS

iPhone users can pick a default browser when opening links or select “Ask me every time” for greater control. Under “Data Privacy,” disabling “Report additional Diagnostics” restricts how much data Gmail shares, while leaving on “Smart features” ensures Gemini is available on mobile as well.

One More Setting to 10x Your Email Productivity