How to Set Up Multiple Inboxes in Gmail (Search-Based Panes)

Gmail's Multiple Inboxes feature and the task of managing multiple Gmail accounts share almost the same search query — and they are completely different things. Multiple Inboxes is a layout mode inside a single Gmail account. It adds up to five extra panes to your inbox view, each populated by a search query you define. You might use one pane to show starred messages, one for emails you are waiting on a reply to, and one for mail from a set of VIP senders. The panes update as mail arrives, so you always see the current state of each filter at a glance.

If what you actually want is to see two or more Gmail accounts in one view — your work inbox alongside a personal one — the Multiple Inboxes layout is not the tool for that. The companion post on managing multiple accounts in Gmail covers that workflow. This guide is only about the split-pane inbox layout: how to turn it on, the queries that make it useful, and the limits worth knowing before you commit to the setup.

The primary keyword this post ranks for — how to set up multiple inboxes in Gmail — pulls in readers who want either feature. Reading the first two paragraphs should tell you which road you are on.

Before you start#

Three things to confirm before you open settings.

First, Multiple Inboxes is a desktop-only layout. It works in Gmail accessed through any modern desktop browser — Chrome, Firefox, Edge, or Safari on a Mac or PC. It does not appear in the Gmail iOS or Android app. You can open individual labels on mobile, but the multi-pane split view only renders in a full-width browser window on a desktop machine.

Second, Multiple Inboxes is mutually exclusive with Gmail's other inbox types. If your Gmail currently shows Categories tabs (Promotions, Social, Updates, Forums), or if you use Priority Inbox, enabling Multiple Inboxes will disable those features. You choose one inbox type at a time — everything else resets. You can always switch back, but the transition clears any active tabs.

Third, have a rough list of what you want each pane to surface. Gmail allows up to five panes, each driven by a single search query. Useful panes answer a specific question about the state of your inbox — 'which emails am I waiting on a reply to?' is a pane; 'all emails' is just the inbox again. The query recipes section below gives you a starting set.

How to set up Multiple Inboxes in Gmail, step by step#

These steps apply to Gmail on the web, opened in a desktop browser. The settings page layout has been stable for several years, but Google occasionally reorganizes tabs — if a step looks slightly different from what is described, the feature is still there.

1. 1

   Open Gmail and click the settings gear

   Click the gear icon in the top-right corner of Gmail. A Quick settings panel slides out on the right. Click See all settings at the top of that panel to open the full settings page. The inbox type option is not available from the Quick settings panel — you need the full settings page to reach it.

2. 2

   Navigate to the Inbox tab

   In the full settings page, click the Inbox tab in the row of tabs across the top. This tab holds the inbox type selector, the pane configuration rows, the pane position setting, and the per-pane maximum message count. If you do not see the Inbox tab, confirm you are on the full settings page and not the Quick settings panel.

3. 3

   Select Multiple Inboxes from the Inbox type dropdown

   Near the top of the Inbox tab, find the Inbox type dropdown. It will likely read Default, Priority Inbox, or another setting. Click the dropdown and select Multiple Inboxes. Gmail immediately shows five pane configuration rows below the dropdown. If you currently have Categories tabs active, a note will appear confirming they will be disabled when you save.

4. 4

   Enter a search query for each pane you want

   Each row has a Search query field and a Section name field. Type a Gmail search query into the Search query field. Any search operator that works in the Gmail search bar also works here: is:starred, label:follow-up, from:([email protected]), has:attachment is:unread, and combinations joined with OR or AND. Leave any row blank to skip that pane — you do not have to use all five. Test unfamiliar queries in the Gmail search bar first to confirm they return the messages you expect before saving them to a pane.

5. 5

   Name each active pane

   In the Section name field next to each active query, type a short heading. Follow-up, Waiting on, VIPs, Urgent, and To read are common choices. This label appears as the pane heading in your inbox view and in the small toggle that collapses or expands the pane. Keep names short — the pane heading area is narrow, and long names truncate.

6. 6

   Set the maximum messages per pane

   Below the five pane rows, set the Maximum page size — how many messages each pane displays at one time. The default is ten; the maximum is twenty-five. A lower number keeps panes compact and fast to scan; a higher number gives you more context at the cost of a longer page. Ten is a reasonable starting point for most panes.

7. 7

   Choose the pane position and save

   The Multiple Inboxes position dropdown controls where the extra panes appear relative to your main inbox: to the right (side by side with the main inbox), below the main inbox (stacked vertically), or above it. Right works best on wide monitors at 1440 pixels or above; below is more stable if you have limited horizontal space or prefer to see your primary inbox at the top of the page. Click Save Changes at the bottom of the Inbox tab. Gmail reloads and the pane layout is active.

What should each pane search for?#

The pane query is where Multiple Inboxes either becomes useful or becomes decoration. A pane that shows what you already see in your main inbox adds nothing. The useful panes answer a question that the flat inbox cannot — not 'is this email new?' but 'does this email need a specific kind of attention?'

Three pane patterns hold up in practice. Action panes show messages you have explicitly flagged as needing a reply — is:starred works if you star emails as a to-do marker, or label:follow-up if you use that label. Delegation panes show threads where you are waiting on someone else — label:waiting if you label them that way, or a query like in:sent -label:replied to surface sent mail that has not yet received a response. Signal panes show high-value senders by name or domain — from:(@client.com) or from:([email protected]) pulls all mail from that sender group regardless of whether it landed in the inbox, promotions, or elsewhere.

The table below gives a starting set of query recipes you can drop directly into the Search query fields.

Does Multiple Inboxes work on mobile?#

No. The Multiple Inboxes pane layout is rendered only in Gmail on the web, viewed in a desktop browser. Opening Gmail on an iPhone, Android phone, or tablet — whether through the native app or a mobile browser — will not show the pane layout you configured on desktop. The layout setting is account-wide, but the presentation is desktop-only.

On mobile, you can still access the same underlying filtered views manually. In the Gmail app, tap the hamburger menu and open any label you have set up as a pane filter. That gives you the same filtered message list as a pane — just not arranged side by side. The labels and stars used by your pane queries exist on mobile; the split-pane display of them does not.

The platform support summary is in the table below.

What to do when it is not working#

The most common problem is a pane that is empty when you expect messages in it. The search query is almost always the cause. The fastest diagnostic is to copy the query exactly as you typed it into the pane configuration field, paste it into the Gmail search bar, and run it. If Gmail returns results in the search view, the query is valid and the pane will populate — it may just need a moment after saving. If Gmail returns nothing, the query has a syntax error or is not matching anything in your account.

Common query mistakes include label names with spaces (the correct format is label:project-name with a hyphen, not label:project name with a space), operator names with a capital letter (is:starred not Is:Starred), and FROM clauses without parentheses when combining multiple senders (the correct form is from:([email protected] OR [email protected]), not from:[email protected] OR [email protected]).

• Multiple Inboxes option is missing from the Inbox type dropdown: your Google Workspace administrator may have locked inbox type changes for your account. Contact your IT admin, or test the same setting on a personal Gmail account to confirm.
• The setting does not save: scroll to the bottom of the Inbox tab and click Save Changes. Unlike some Gmail settings, pane configuration does not auto-save. Navigating away before saving loses all pane changes.
• Emails appear in both the main inbox and a pane at the same time: this is default behavior. A pane shows all messages matching its query, whether or not they also appear in the main inbox. If you want exclusive sections where each message appears in only one place, the Priority Inbox layout handles that differently.
• The layout looks broken or panes stack unexpectedly: choose Below inbox as the pane position instead of Right of inbox. The right-side layout requires significant horizontal screen width and can collapse or wrap on monitors narrower than roughly 1200 pixels.
• The Multiple Inboxes option is greyed out: this can happen when the Reading pane is active. Open the gear icon, find Reading pane in Quick settings, set it to No split, then return to the full settings Inbox tab and try again.

A faster way: skip the query maintenance#

Gmail's Multiple Inboxes solves the right problem — your inbox is one undifferentiated list, and different emails need different kinds of attention — but the solution is static. It is desktop-only, capped at five panes, and the queries are yours to write, test, and keep current. When your workflow changes, you update the queries. When a VIP sender rotates to a new address, your signal pane silently stops catching them.

AI Emaily handles the same triage without the query maintenance. The AI categorizes incoming mail — follow-ups, threads you are waiting on, messages from priority senders, unsolicited outreach — and routes them into the right view automatically, across Gmail, Outlook, and any other inbox you connect. The smart search layer lets you ask your inbox in plain language rather than build and debug operator syntax. We build AI Emaily. If you want a more adaptive version of the workflow Multiple Inboxes is pointing at, app.aiemaily.com is where to start.