Gmail has recently modernised its look. If you use it, you would have had a prompt to try out the new look. The new Gmail is all good and well until you try adding a contact. That was easy before but now it’s changed.

Here’s where you had to go to add a contact in the old version:

But here’s the new version:

While some things are still the same, others have changed. The menu is directly above the email list – you know, the actions you want to take with your emails. There’s now a funky in-line menu option, too:

When you hover over an email, the in-line menu shows up like it is on the right-hand side, meanwhile, the main menu disappears. The folders are highlighted on the left there, but if you click on the icon that looks like a menu in the upper left (next to the Gmail envelope) that folder list disappears and the page spreads out. So, where have the contacts gone? 🤷🏽‍♀️

It’s the box in the upper right-hand corner of the Gmail page, next to the bell symbol (that’s notifications). When you click on that, Contacts may or may not be in that dropdown selection of Google apps. If it’s not, click on ‘More’.

Your contacts probably won’t be in the same position as they are here but at least you know how to find them now! 😅

So, we’ve found the Contacts. You might know what to do from here but if you don’t – or you want to make a group contact list, read on…

Adding a contact

Like most emailing platforms these days, Gmail remembers when you’ve replied to someone new or when you’ve typed an email address in the ‘To’ box and autofills an email address for you. Sometimes you want to make someone an actual contact in your email address book. Here’s how to do it:

See the + icon in the bottom right-hand corner? Clicking on that brings you to this next page:

You can fill in as much or as little as you want.

You don’t have to specify Home, Work, or Other; I just wanted to show you what would happen if you clicked there. Once you’re happy with the details for your contact, click ‘Save’ in the bottom right-hand corner.

Making a contact group

Wow! This is a time saver! You want to send an email to a bunch of people at the same time. This group could be people you attend a reading group with, a group of work colleagues, other members of a band you’re in – anything! How do you create a group list? Going back to our Adding a Contact page:

See ‘Labels’ on the left there? There are only 2 groups in my example here. To make a new group, click on ‘+ Create label’ (underneath the groups there). You can add individuals by clicking on one of your groups, or if you go to your contact list, you can do it this way:

Clicking on the 3 dots at the far end of the contact’s listing (which is blanked out) brings the dropdown list you see here. Can you see the groups I already had, listed at the bottom there? By clicking on one of those groups, the contact gets added. This particular contact is part of the Herts & Essex SfEP group but not a member of the SfEP minibus group (don’t ask!). To remove someone from a group, click on the group and it will untick ➡️ they’ve been removed from the group.

Are you using Gmail? Got any Contact tips you want to share?