How "Inbox" interacts with Gmail - thanks to the team at Google!

How Inbox works with Gmail

Inbox was built by the Gmail team to give you a new way to stay organized and get back to what matters. Everything from Gmail (your emails, contacts, and labels) is available in Inbox. Gmail and Inbox stay in sync so what you do in one app carries over to the other. Gmail and Inbox have many of the same features, but there are differences. To get the most out of Inbox, try to use it for all your email. You can always switch to Gmail when you need to.

Haven't tried Inbox yet? Learn about new features in Inbox and how to get an invite.

How features in Inbox and Gmail work together

Table comparing common actions

Some features work just the same in Gmail and Inbox, like archive and done. For some other Gmail actions, there's an Inbox feature that does something similar, but works a bit differently.

Common actions that are the same
Gmail	Inbox
Archive	Done
Delete	Move to Trash
Report spam	Move to Spam
Compose	Compose
Common actions that are similar
Gmail	Inbox
Star	Pin
Read later (mark as unread)	Snooze
Email yourself	Create a reminder
Organize with inbox categories	Bundle labels in your inbox
Create labels & filters	Create custom labels & automatically add emails

How actions in Inbox affect Gmail

Your emails are synced between Gmail and Inbox, so in general, what you do in Inbox also happens in Gmail. Here are a few important examples:

• Moving an email to Trash in Inbox deletes it in Gmail.
• If you create or delete a label in Inbox, it will be created or deleted in Gmail.
• When you automatically add emails to a label, or choose the "Always do this" option when moving emails, a filter will be created in Gmail.

Some features that are only in Inbox won't carry over. For example, reminders aren't visible in Gmail.

Settings in Gmail that carry over to Inbox

Some settings can only be changed in Gmail, but they'll carry over to Inbox. Here are a few examples:

• Vacation responder
• Filters that delete or forward emails
• Turn keyboard shortcuts on or off
• Sending mail as a different address
• Importing and forwarding emails

To change your language settings, go to google.com/settings/language.

Gmail features not in Inbox

This is just the beginning for Inbox and we're working hard to add more features. You can help us prioritize bysending us feedback.

Related articles

• Get started with Inbox
• How to get Inbox
• Organize your emails with labels
• 
  

[ed - imho, it is not too bad.  It captures some gmail Priority Mail features in a simpler way, like adding a "lower-priority" grouping that is easy to manipulate, it does more quickly display the attachments in the mail when that is the point of the mail, and it integrates some functionality I only got by adding Boomerang to gmail (delay the reading of a mail).

I still need Gmail with boomerang for the "send later" features that I use on the PC, as Inbox doesn't have that.  On my wifi-only tablet I still like the gmail caching of some categories in priority inbox in gmail for offline use, I'll have to see if Inbox interoperates nicely there in offline mode or not.  It does seem that Gmail and Inbox do interoperate smoothly as advertised when on wifi, so certainly it is possible to use both, especially on a PC.  YMMV  :-) ]



How Inbox works with Gmail - Inbox by Gmail Help