Google today updated its Inbox email service with new search features. The improved version is rolling out now on the desktop as well as on Google Play and Apple’s App Store.
The short story is that search in Inbox now makes it easier to find information buried in emails. “Emails can contain all sorts of important information–from your friend’s new address, to a flight confirmation number or a link to pay a bill,” Google explained. “The challenge is, these bits of info are often buried inside larger conversations.”
Inbox can now get you information related to your query directly in the service’s search results. Examples include finding addresses, phone numbers, membership numbers, flights, events, bills, package tracking, and so on. Inbox will show its findings at the top of search results (as shown below on the left) without you having to open individual emails.
Google refers to that new section as “quick answers.” Below those, there’s now a new “top results” section that orders emails by relevance (as you can see above on the right). The normal list of email results now sits below both these sections, ordered by date as before.
However, Google hopes that “chances are you won’t have to look here often.” In other words, both new additions are supposed to replace the normal email search results you’re used to using in Gmail. The company expects you’ll only scroll down there as a last resort, however, it’s not confident enough to remove the section completely.
Google eventually hopes to replace Gmail with Inbox. The company has said time and time again that it is listening to user feedback and will not make such a move unless its users want Inbox over Gmail.