How to make Gmail look like Outlook

Gmail and Outlook are the two popular email services preferred by most of us today. Both email service has grown significantly over a period of time and continues to grow. Choosing one among the two email service providers is a daunting task. Both Outlook and Gmail have their own pros and cons.

Microsoft Outlook features a contact manager and calendar. In recent years, most individuals are eager to take full advantage of the great features and extensions that are tagged with a Google account. However, transitioning from Outlook to Gmail is not an easy task for a prolonged Outlook user.

For instance, Gmail has a conversion view which may seem quite off-center for people who were Long-term Outlook users. Switching from an Outlook client to Gmail is not as easy as it seems. Outlook users may take some time to get used to the default Gmail interface than the usual Outlook appearance, where emails are arranged by date and time. To make your transition smoother, we have outlined a few tips to make your Standard Gmail inbox look like Microsoft Outlook.

Make Gmail look like Outlook

Disable the threaded Conversation view under the Same subject Line
Get Outlook like appearance by Enabling Preview pane
Add a Google Calendar Gadget in your Inbox
Revert to default Gmail

1] Disable threaded Conversation view under Same subject Line

Gmail groups all the messages and its replies in a conversion which falls under the same subject line as a single inbox entry. While the conversion view is meant to efficiently manage the multiple messages in a single view, this threaded view can be confusing. Though the new version of Outlook also supports this conversion view, most of the users prefer to see the message and its replies having the same subject line separately. By default, the conversion view is enabled in Gmail; however, you can view the messages separately by disabling the conversion view.

Launch Gmail and click on the gear icon at the top right corner of the inbox.

Go to Settings and Scroll down till you come across the option Conversion View.

Click on the radio button with the option Conversion view off.

Click Save to apply changes.

2] Get Outlook like appearance by enabling Preview pane

The preview pane in Gmail makes your inbox mirror the default Outlook reading pane. Enabling Preview mode will allow you to quickly preview a Gmail similar to Outlook by simply clicking on an email list. Follow the below steps to enable Preview Pane to experience Outlook-like interface in Gmail.

Launch Gmail and click on the gear icon at the top right corner of the inbox.

Open Settings and navigate to the Advanced tab at the top of the Settings page.

Search for Preview Pane and, click on the radio button with option Enable.

Click Save to apply the changes.

Go back to your inbox, and click on the Toggle split Pane mode with down arrow button.

Select Vertical Split from the drop-down menu.

Once done, you will be able to preview any email in inbox, similar to Outlook.

3] Add Google Calendar Gadget in your Inbox

Outlook features the calendar view in the mail. Enabling The Google Calendar gadget to the inbox will make your Gmail appear like Outlook.

Launch Gmail and click on the Calendar icon at the right corner of the inbox.

Create Calendar events, modify events, and invite others.

Click Save to apply the changes.

Once done, you will see Google Calendar events in the inbox.

Additionally, Gmail features many other options that are present in Outlook. For instance, Gmail has an option to create a task list with an option to add, change, and delete a task similar to Outlook. You can also add a signature to email to make them look like Outlook.

Once you are accustomed to Gmail, you can anytime revert back to the Default Gmail interface. Follow the below steps to get back the default Gmail Look.