With the launch of the new Gmail, the writing was on the wall, but today Google made it official: Inbox by Gmail, the company's experimental email client for Gmail, will be closed by the end of March 2019. [19659002] Google says it is making this change to focus its attention "exclusively on Gmail." While it makes sense, it's a shame to see Inbox navigating towards sunset, as it pioneered many of the features that have now become part of the new Gmail.
I would have loved for Google to continue experimenting with Inbox. After all, that was one of the reasons why the company started the Inbox project to start. It is difficult to test radical experiments with a service that has a billion users, after all. Today, however, Google now seems willing to try new things directly in Gmail. Smart Compose, for example, made its debut in the new Gmail (and many experts read it correctly as a sign that Inbox was on the block).
While the new Gmail now has most of the functions of Inbox, one that is very badly missing travel packages. This useful feature, which automatically groups all your flight, hotel, event and car reservations into one package, is one of the best features of Inbox. We understand that Google plans to take this to Gmail early next year, hopefully before Inbox closes.
So there you have it. Inbox for Gmail will close in six months, but I would not be surprised if Google resurrected the idea in a few years to test some other experiments by email. Until then, here is Google's guide to moving from Inbox to Gmail.