Gmail now learns from your behaviour, but there’s a catch
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Gmail is getting a huge improvement in search that will actually work for more users as long as you enable the right settings.
The email provider has long offered a search feature and even offers specific filters and parameters to help its users find the right content in a crowded inbox, but despite these advanced efforts it doesn’t take advantage of the platform’s full capabilities.
To that end, Gmail now uses machine learning to understand what you’re looking for.
Gmail search update
The new process revolves around past searches to understand the type of results you click based on the keywords you use in the search bar, which will now work in a more conversational way, similar to the Google Assistant.
The improvement allows the search function to look beyond contacts’ last names, such as in the past, to their full name and email address, as well as past emails and how often they contact you.
To enable Gmail’s contextual search, you’ll need to enable Web & App Activity in your Google account, which can be problematic news for customers concerned about their privacy and how their data is used.
The move is part of a slew of updates being rolled out by Gmail in an effort to maintain its spot as one of the most popular email clients amid competition from rivals including Proton Mail and Apple Mail.
Another notable change of late is the redesigned Gmail interface which, like Tech Radar Pro reported at the time, the only view available became November 2022.