Google began alerting that a “new Gmail experience” would be previewed in the coming weeks. Alongside features like quick reply to emails, the ability to snooze emails until later, and a new sidebar to place calendar appointments side by side with messages. We’ve now learned Google will also introduce “Confidential Mode,” which lets Gmail users stop recipients from forwarding certain emails, or restricts the ability to copy, download, or print them. This will also let Gmail users require a passcode to open emails, which will be generated via SMS, or set an expiration date on sent emails.
Meanwhile, one screenshot shows that hovering over an email in the inbox view will surface quick actions towards the right to archive, delete, mark as read, and snooze.
Google has confirmed its Gmail update is coming soon, and a message to an early access program revealed that it should be available in the coming weeks. Google’s I/O developer conference starts on May 8th this year, and it’s likely that this new Gmail design will be part of the show, alongside some updates to other Google web services.