Google has revealed a new-look Gmail inbox, centered around message sorting tabs.

Changes to the unfinished service were announced via the internet search engine's official blog post, designed to cut down on spam and improve email efficiency.

"We get a lot of different types of email: messages from friends, social notifications, deals and offers, confirmations and receipts, and more," says Itamar Gilad, product manager, Google.

"All of these emails can compete for our attention and make it harder to focus on the things we need to get done.

"Sometimes it feels like our inboxes are controlling us, rather than the other way around.

"But it doesn’t have to be that way. Gmail is getting a brand new inbox on desktop and mobile that puts you back in control using simple, easy organisation."

On the desktop, Gilad says the new inbox groups your mail into categories which appear as different tabs, allowing users to choose which categories they want.

"Your inbox is organised in a way that lets you see what’s new at a glance and decide which emails you want to read when," Gilad says.

"You can easily customise the new inbox—select the tabs you want from all five to none, drag-and-drop to move messages between tabs, set certain senders to always appear in a particular tab and star messages so that they also appear in the Primary tab."

In the Gmail for Android 4.0+ and Gmail for iPhone and iPad apps, users will see their Primary mail when they open the app.

But if the new inbox isn't quite your style, Gilad says users can simply switch off all optional tabs to go back to classic view, or switch to any of their other favoirite inbox types.

"The new inbox is rolling out gradually," Gilad says.

"The desktop, Android and iOS versions will become available within the next few weeks.

"If you'd like to try out the new inbox on Desktop sooner, keep an eye on the gear menu and select Configure inbox when it appears in the Settings options."

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