Social and Promotions should basically just contain the "unimportant crap". If something is mis-categorized, you can drag it to the correct section and Gmail should learn from its mistake.
Also, as mentioned below, you can revert to the un-tabbed inbox by going to the Inbox section of the settings and disabling all tabs other than Primary, or by selecting one of the split inboxes (Unread first, Priority, etc).
Why have tabs when there's already priority inbox, labels, and filters?
It seems like the new feature is essentially just a way to do automatic (learned?) labeling -- yet it won't let you build your own tabs using already-defined custom labels. :-/
> If something is mis-categorized, you can drag it to the correct section and Gmail should learn from its mistake.
The mistake is making me worry about this shit in the first place.
> Also, as mentioned below, you can revert to the un-tabbed inbox by going to the Inbox section of the settings and disabling all tabs other than Primary, or by selecting one of the split inboxes (Unread first, Priority, etc).
There are things that are interesting - news of upcoming band tours, shipping updates, phone bills - but not of importance when I first check my emails in the morning.
Plus, it has the added benefit that emails which land in anything but the main inbox don't notify your phone, removing a distraction.
May I contact you with a Google question? I've encountered a technical problem which I would like to report, but I am having trouble finding an appropriate communication channel. The technical problem itself is interfering with my ability to use the typical channels.
If you are willing to help point me in the redirect direction, then please contact me via the info in my profile. (I was hoping to contact you privately, but your profile is blank.)
I won't harass you, and I don't expect support from you personally - I'm just hoping you might be able to point me in the right direction, in terms of how to report the tech problem.
Do you mean "Policy is against giving users any meaningful ability to train their filters, but if Neptune is in the Third House, Gmail might learn from its mistake"?
Wow. I just discovered this new misfeature is on my android Gmail app and didn't go away when I killed it on the web version. Where's the option to kill social and promotions on the Gmail app?
Also, as mentioned below, you can revert to the un-tabbed inbox by going to the Inbox section of the settings and disabling all tabs other than Primary, or by selecting one of the split inboxes (Unread first, Priority, etc).
Disclaimer: I'm a Gmail engineer.