Gmail’s new ‘summary cards’ help you take action on your emails, like tracking packages and checking into flights | TechCrunch

Competition in the email market is heating up. After Apple’s iOS 18 introduced a slew of Gmail-like features to Apple’s Mail app, including categorization of transactions, updates, and promotions, as well as the addition of Smart Replies (in the coming iOS 18.1 update), Google on Wednesday announced a set of enhancements for Gmail, too. Google’s popular email service will now add revamped “summary cards” to help users better organize and take actions in their inbox, like tracking packages, checking in for flights, setting reminders, marking bills as paid, and more.

The company says the summary cards will visually organize information from across all related emails and will appear across email categories like Purchases, Events, Bills, and Travel. With the addition, users won’t necessarily have to read through individual emails to find the information they need, like receipts, bills, travel confirmations, and dinner reservations.

Google says the changes are meant to reflect Gmail users’ evolving habits, but Apple’s iOS 18 Mail update could have sparked the company to move more quickly. 

As the feature rolls out, the new summary cards will appear at the top of a message, offering quick access to information you may need at a glance — like when a package is due to arrive, when a flight is scheduled to land, when a bill is due, or information about the seats you booked on your concert ticket, among other things. 

At the bottom of the summary card, Gmail users can click on blue buttons if they want to take additional actions, like tracking the package, viewing an order, viewing their ticket, getting directions to a show, setting a reminder to pay a bill, managing their airline booking, and more. 

The launch builds on Gmail’s existing summary cards, which had offered snippets of information at the top of an email, like package tracking information. However, the updated cards will allow you to do more as the cards are now dynamic and will update in real time with new information. Plus, Google has introduced a set of new actions that weren’t previously available, including the ability to check in for a flight, set a bill pay reminder, or invite others to an event. 

Gmail will also introduce a new “Happening soon” section in your inbox where it will organize timely summary cards for easy access. Later, the cards will also be surfaced in Gmail searches. 

The feature will begin rolling out on October 2, initially with the launch of purchase summary cards across iOS and Android, which some users had already spotted ahead of the official announcement. Over the month ahead, Gmail will introduce additional summary cards and the “Happening soon” section for purchase-related emails. Further down the road, all four card categories — purchases, events, bills, and travel — will begin appearing across individual emails, the “Happening soon” section, and search.