Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Mobile
  3. News

Google updates Gmail for Android with rich formatting and instant RSVP features

By

gmail formatting options quick rsvp android update rich text
Image used with permission by copyright holder
The formatting tools in the Gmail app for Android have long been a tad shallow, quite frankly. You couldn’t underline phrases or italicize words, for instance, or even change the background color of text — those tasks had to be performed on the Web. But in news that persnickety writers and English professors everywhere will no doubt welcome, that’s changing. Today, Google released an updated version of Gmail that adds the aforementioned rich text editing, in addition to an “instant RSVP” feature.

Within the updated version of Gmail, editing the appearance of text couldn’t be simpler. Once inside Gmail’s compose interface, highlighting the character, word, or sentence you wish to edit summons a new “format” option. Tapping on it logically presents you with new array of transformations — bold, underline, italicize, font color, and font background — that can be applied to text new and old.

Recommended Videos

Separately, Gmail for Android’s getting another feature: instant RSVPs for Google Calendar and Microsoft Exchange. The new Gmail automatically embeds three RSVP response options, “Yes,” “Maybe,” and “No,”  within emails that contain calendar invitations. Tapping on the event opens your itinerary for the given day and time, while selecting “Yes” adds the event to your calendar.

Related

The Gmail enhancements are the latest in a series over the past few months. In January, Inbox, Google’s task-oriented alternative client for Gmail, gained an improved search interface that quickly surfaces information like flight numbers, addresses, event times, phone numbers, and bills. In December of last year, Inbox gained the ability to consolidate emails related to flights and hotel bookings into convenient, glanceable “Trip Bundles.” And last November, the Inbox team introduced Smart Reply, a feature that uses artificial intelligence to generate appropriate email replies.

Why all the attention? The answer’s simple: critical mass. During Google’s most recent earnings call in early February, CEO Sundar Pichai revealed that Gmail’s reached over a billion users — a lot of potential eyeballs for the ads which the company serves through email.

The new version of Gmail is scheduled to hit the Google Play Store sometime today.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Kyle Wiggers
Kyle Wiggers
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Kyle Wiggers is a writer, Web designer, and podcaster with an acute interest in all things tech. When not reviewing gadgets…
The 6 biggest announcements we expect from Google I/O 2024
Google I/O 2019

Google will hold its annual developer conference, Google I/O 2024, on May 14 in Mountain View, California. The event is about a month away, and we're expecting a few big announcements.

As with any Google I/O event, this year's conference will start with a big opening keynote presentation from CEO Sundar Pichai. But what actual announcements are we looking forward to? Here are a few of the biggest things that we are likely to see at Google I/O 2024.
Android 15

Read more
Google just released the first Android 15 beta. Here’s what’s new
The Android 15 logo on a smartphone.

Google has just released the first public beta build of Android 15, marking an end to the developer-focused test phase. The beta version’s release also means that Android 15 is finally in a state where it can be tried by the masses without people having to worry about too many bugs leaving their phone in a sorry state.

The first beta version of Android 15 doesn’t introduce a ton of new features, as most of the notable additions have already appeared in the Developer Preview builds. Google’s blog post, however, mentions the following features as the key highlights

Read more
Android phones finally have their own version of AirTags
Renders of Chipolo's new Point trackers that work with Google's Find My Device network.

Google's new Find My Device tracking service will soon launch with an important third-party provider. Chipolo has announced two new trackers for the service: the Chipolo One Point item tracker and the Chipolo Card Point wallet finder.

By offering these trackers, Chipolo will be among the first companies in the market to provide trackers that work with Google's new tracking network. Google announced its new Find My Device network last year. In short, it's Google's answer to Apple's Find My network. Find My Device can use other nearby Android devices to track your lost phone, item tracker, etc. — just like how Find My uses iPhones and other Apple devices to locate lost iPhones and AirTags.

Read more