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Link for the lazy: https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/#settings/general https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/#settings/general Find "Smart Features", uncheck, and pr

Link for the lazy: https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/#settings/general https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/#settings/general Find "Smart Features", uncheck, and press save, which will reload Gmail. Then find "Google Workspace smart features" and click the "Manage Workspace smart features settings" button and unselect everything.

magixx 11mo ago
They disable so many features when you remove "Smart features" i.e. Grammar, Spelling, Autocorrect, Smart Compose/Reply (those templated suggested replies), Nudges, Package tracking, Desktop notifications. Google really wants to punish you for doing that.
- johnnyanmac 11mo ago
  Turning off the inbox categories feature was particularly annoying. A feature they had for a good decade before deciding they weren't jsut happy with collecting my data.
  - qwerpy 11mo ago
    Yep I went through this sad journey with my gmail this week. Got tired of seeing "coming soon" packages cluttering up my inbox, so I looked into how to turn them off. It turned off the categories. Reminds me of the dark pattern used by many apps, where if you turn off notifications to avoid ads/spam, you also lose useful notifications.
    - jeffbee 11mo ago
      There's an entire setting for "Turn on package tracking" alone. You do not need to disable Smart Features altogether.
      - qwerpy 11mo ago
        I never enabled that and I verified it's not enabled. However I still have the "Happening Soon" section in my inbox that has status of some packages. My guess is that Smart Features will (along with everything else it does) scan your emails to populate "Happening Soon" with package status, and if you then enable "Turn on package tracking", it will also periodically poll the shippers for those packages to keep the status up to date. My complaint still stands. I want to entirely remove "Happening Soon" without disabling categories. It's not even the "Google reading your emails" creepiness. I just don't want my UI to be cluttered.
        jeffbee 11mo ago
        I see. The "Happening Soon" section of the inbox is populated with stuff other than order tracking, such as your airline tickets. So I can see why you'd have to disable the whole shooting match to get rid of it. But I agree that it would be nice for some people if there was an inbox layout setting to just get rid of it altogether.
  - aerotwelve 11mo ago
    It is unbelievably manipulative that they tied this organizational feature with this new LLM-training scam they have running now. Learning to not rely on inbox categories does make it easier for me to finally leave Gmail for a real email provider though, so maybe this will all work out in the end.
  - dom96 11mo ago
    ugh, yeah, I was going to turn this off but not having inbox categories is a deal breaker
jeffbee 11mo ago
What do you believe you have gained by throwing those switches?
- phatfish 11mo ago
  It makes Gmail a normal email client again?
- greyadept 11mo ago
  I think I’m improving my security posture. For example, I’d hope that prompt injection attacks against Gemini AI will be less likely to scoop my data.
  - jeffbee 11mo ago
    These switches don't control whether your emails are used to train models. They control whether you get to use machine inference features on your own emails.
- defrost 11mo ago
  Reclaiming my English. I'm Australian, I use Australian idioms, spelling, contractions, et al in emails to regular contacts for 20+ years via gmail (Yet Another Early Gmail Invite User). Despite having selected UK English (there's no 'Strayla option) gmail via the web still insists on suggesting I morph into a cookie cutter middle north American Engrish typer. Yes, Engrish .. AmerEngrish is an abomination. Feck that shite. Hard.
mariusor 11mo ago
For me this feature has been disabled for as long as I remember it being there. I think it predates the AI craze by quite some time.
- deleted 11mo ago
  [deleted]

magixx 11mo ago

They disable so many features when you remove "Smart features" i.e. Grammar, Spelling, Autocorrect, Smart Compose/Reply (those templated suggested replies), Nudges, Package tracking, Desktop notifications. Google really wants to punish you for doing that.

johnnyanmac 11mo ago
Turning off the inbox categories feature was particularly annoying. A feature they had for a good decade before deciding they weren't jsut happy with collecting my data.
- qwerpy 11mo ago
  Yep I went through this sad journey with my gmail this week. Got tired of seeing "coming soon" packages cluttering up my inbox, so I looked into how to turn them off. It turned off the categories. Reminds me of the dark pattern used by many apps, where if you turn off notifications to avoid ads/spam, you also lose useful notifications.
  - jeffbee 11mo ago
    There's an entire setting for "Turn on package tracking" alone. You do not need to disable Smart Features altogether.
    - qwerpy 11mo ago
      I never enabled that and I verified it's not enabled. However I still have the "Happening Soon" section in my inbox that has status of some packages. My guess is that Smart Features will (along with everything else it does) scan your emails to populate "Happening Soon" with package status, and if you then enable "Turn on package tracking", it will also periodically poll the shippers for those packages to keep the status up to date. My complaint still stands. I want to entirely remove "Happening Soon" without disabling categories. It's not even the "Google reading your emails" creepiness. I just don't want my UI to be cluttered.
      - jeffbee 11mo ago
        I see. The "Happening Soon" section of the inbox is populated with stuff other than order tracking, such as your airline tickets. So I can see why you'd have to disable the whole shooting match to get rid of it. But I agree that it would be nice for some people if there was an inbox layout setting to just get rid of it altogether.
- aerotwelve 11mo ago
  It is unbelievably manipulative that they tied this organizational feature with this new LLM-training scam they have running now. Learning to not rely on inbox categories does make it easier for me to finally leave Gmail for a real email provider though, so maybe this will all work out in the end.
- dom96 11mo ago
  ugh, yeah, I was going to turn this off but not having inbox categories is a deal breaker

jeffbee 11mo ago

What do you believe you have gained by throwing those switches?

phatfish 11mo ago
It makes Gmail a normal email client again?
greyadept 11mo ago
I think I’m improving my security posture. For example, I’d hope that prompt injection attacks against Gemini AI will be less likely to scoop my data.
- jeffbee 11mo ago
  These switches don't control whether your emails are used to train models. They control whether you get to use machine inference features on your own emails.
defrost 11mo ago
Reclaiming my English. I'm Australian, I use Australian idioms, spelling, contractions, et al in emails to regular contacts for 20+ years via gmail (Yet Another Early Gmail Invite User). Despite having selected UK English (there's no 'Strayla option) gmail via the web still insists on suggesting I morph into a cookie cutter middle north American Engrish typer. Yes, Engrish .. AmerEngrish is an abomination. Feck that shite. Hard.

mariusor 11mo ago

For me this feature has been disabled for as long as I remember it being there. I think it predates the AI craze by quite some time.

deleted 11mo ago
[deleted]