Google’s Gmail apps are considered essential for anybody who uses the email service as their primary mode of contact online. Over the years, Gmail has gone through significant design changes, with many new features that enhance user experience. Many of these additions allow users to choose how the Gmail app appears when it is launched and customize how certain smartphone gestures work.

One of the key changes made to the Gmail app is being able to switch to a darker interface, an update Google has been providing across its many products and services as of late. Users can also modify the inbox’s overall view in terms of message density to make it less strenuous on the eyes. Many people may not know that Gmail also has a setting that lets users assign specific functions to certain phone actions executed while the app is active.

Related: Gmail Dark Mode: How To Enable On Android, iPhone, Or Desktop

By default, swiping left or right on an email in the Gmail app will send it to ‘Archive,’ which won’t delete it from the mailbox but will remove it from the inbox view. However, a setting lets Gmail users assign a different action when the swipe gesture is executed in either direction. To set new swipe actions for Gmail on an iOS device, launch the iPhone app and tap on the hamburger icon on the top-left corner of the screen to pull up the sidebar menu. Next, scroll to the bottom and hit ‘Settings'(gear icon). Next, pick ‘Mail swipe actions’ and tap on either ‘Right swipe’ or ‘Left swipe’ and select from the list of actions to change the one that’s currently assigned to both phone gestures. The active action should have a checkmark next to it.

Other Gmail Swipe Actions Worth Enabling

Gmail user on phone

To modify swipe actions on an Android device, launch Gmail and tap on the hamburger icon on the top-left corner of the screen. Then, scroll to the bottom, hit ‘Settings,’ then choose ‘General settings.’ Next, tap on ‘Swipe actions.’ Depending on the Android phone model, Gmail may look a bit different and say ‘Mail swipe actions’ instead. Finally, tap ‘Change’ next to either ‘Right swipe’ or ‘Left swipe’ and choose from the list of available actions.

Swipe actions let Gmail users quickly act on emails while looking through the conversation list. There are six action options to choose from. ‘Archive’ is usually the default, followed by ‘Delete,’ which most Gmail app users might find more valuable than the former. ‘Mark as read/unread’ lets users keep important emails that may need a deeper look later, a bit more visible in the inbox. ‘Move to’ quickly files an email under a specific category or label. Finally, ‘Snooze’ lets an email pop up as a new email at a later time. And There’s always the ‘None’ option to disable a swipe action.

Users can undo almost all swipe-assigned Gmail actions by tapping ‘Undo’ on the pop-up message that appears at the bottom of the screen. More adept Gmail users may want to assign different mail actions to either swipe options to make the app more efficient. Those easily confused by unlabeled commands — which is what swipe gestures essentially are — or regularly touch the screen and accidentally trigger actions may find it more beneficial to assign both swipe actions to do the same thing, such as delete or archive the Gmail email.