Gmail is rolling out a new Purchases tab and a smarter way to sort Promotions, tightening its grip on one of the most chaotic corners of modern life: tracking what you bought and when it’s arriving. The update concentrates receipts, shipping notices, and delivery updates in a single view while elevating the promotional emails you actually care about.
It’s a pragmatic tweak with outsized impact. With e-commerce volumes climbing and inboxes bulging, Gmail’s machine learning is being put to work to reduce the time it takes to find that one tracking number or time-sensitive offer.
What the new Purchases tab actually does
The Purchases tab pulls together emails tied to orders and deliveries—think receipts, shipping confirmations, and out-for-delivery alerts—into a single, dedicated view. If you’re waiting on multiple packages, this becomes a command center for everything en route.
Importantly, Gmail isn’t stripping out existing conveniences. Packages expected within 24 hours will still bubble to the top of your inbox, and those helpful summary cards remain. The tab simply adds a consolidated, filterable place to scan all purchase-related messages without dredging the search bar.
Google says the Purchases view is coming to both web and mobile. That parity matters; a quick glance from a phone at the doorstep should be as effective as a full desktop sweep when reconciling receipts later.
Promotions gets “Most relevant” sorting and nudges
On mobile, the Promotions category is gaining a “Most relevant” sort option that prioritizes messages from brands you interact with most. Rather than a strictly chronological firehose, Gmail will surface the deals and newsletters most likely to matter first.
Google is also extending “nudges” to Promotions, highlighting time-sensitive offers (think expiring discounts or limited drops). If you’d rather keep the old behavior, you can stick with “Most recent” sorting. The relevance sort and nudges are opt-in by design: utility without forcing everyone into a new workflow.
Why these changes matter
The average inbox is an archive of modern commerce. According to Adobe’s Digital Economy research, U.S. consumers spent over $220 billion online during the most recent holiday season, while the Pitney Bowes Parcel Shipping Index reports more than 20 billion parcels shipped annually in the U.S. alone. That scale creates a simple problem: keeping receipts and tracking updates findable without a forensic search session.
Gmail, which serves well over a billion users globally per estimates from industry analysts such as Statista, already uses machine learning to detect transactional emails and surface tracking info. The Purchases tab and relevance sorting are logical next steps: less hunt, more signal. For small-business owners who live in their inbox, or families juggling multiple delivery addresses, this can shave real minutes from the daily routine.
There’s also competitive context. Outlook and other major email apps have leaned into AI-powered triage, while retailers push shoppers toward brand apps for tracking. Consolidating purchase intelligence inside Gmail helps keep users engaged without forcing a pivot to separate tracking apps.
How to find and control the features
On mobile, look for category chips at the top of your inbox; Purchases will appear alongside Primary, Social, and Promotions. On the web, it shows up in the left navigation as a dedicated view. If you don’t see it yet, it’s rolling out in stages.
To adjust categories, go to Gmail Settings, then Inbox, and toggle Categories. For Promotions sorting on mobile, open the Promotions tab and switch between “Most relevant” and “Most recent.” Nudges for Promotions can be managed in Settings under Nudges.
Privacy-minded users should note: Google stopped using Gmail content for ad personalization years ago, and features like package tracking, smart features, and personalization can be controlled in Gmail settings and your Google Account. The Purchases tab relies on the same parsing that currently powers package tracking and summary cards.
Real-world gains
Picture the week before a big trip: new luggage, a power adapter, and last-minute travel-size toiletries are all en route from different merchants. The Purchases tab lets you see what’s arriving when, verify that the suitcase is on schedule, and quickly retrieve the receipt for a price adjustment—all without wading through newsletters and alerts.
Or consider deal-heavy events when Promotions can balloon. “Most relevant” ranking pushes offers from retailers you actually redeem, while nudges flag limited-time discounts before they lapse, reducing the chance that value gets buried under volume.
The bottom line
Gmail’s Purchases tab and smarter Promotions are small changes with practical upside: faster retrieval of receipts and tracking details, fewer missed deals, and less inbox friction when order volume spikes. If email is your shopping ledger and logistics dashboard, these updates make it feel a lot more like a tool—and a little less like a to-do list.