# Gmail android app inbox check boxes gone?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gmail-android-app-inbox-check-boxes-gone/660609>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [June 10, 2013, 6:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gmail-android-app-inbox-check-boxes-gone/660609 "2013-06-10T06:26:36Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![CastleAnthrax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecd19e/32.png) [@CastleAnthrax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CastleAnthrax)\
**Post date:** [June 10, 2013, 6:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gmail-android-app-inbox-check-boxes-gone/660609/1 "2013-06-10T06:26:36Z")

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I’ve been using Gmail on my Samsung Reverb for several months. Normally, it lists the subject and author for each email, along with a check box next to each that lets you look at all emails received, tap to check it, and then delete all checked. As of a few days ago, the check box is missing, and now I hve to actually open each in order to get rid of it. I don’t see any relevant settings for this, and it’s super annoying. Anyone know what happend and/or how to fix it?

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**Author:** ![Coriolanus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/coriolanus/32/18769_2.png) [@Coriolanus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coriolanus)\
**Post date:** [June 10, 2013, 7:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gmail-android-app-inbox-check-boxes-gone/660609/2 "2013-06-10T07:19:01Z")

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If you go to Settings | General Settings, and scroll down you’ll see a checkbox that says “Hide Checkboxes”. So un-check that. I’m using version 4.3.1 on my Samsung Gio and it’s there.

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**Author:** ![SeaDragonTattoo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df705f/32.png) [@SeaDragonTattoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SeaDragonTattoo)\
**Post date:** [June 10, 2013, 8:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gmail-android-app-inbox-check-boxes-gone/660609/3 "2013-06-10T08:40:24Z")

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Mine shows a square “avatar” next to each email now, instead of the checkbox. The avatar is either the sender’s actual Google avatar if they have one, or the first letter of the sender’s name in a color block. Press the color block/avatar and the top changes to indicate that an item is selected, by showing a checkmark and the number of items checked. So press one, and you’ll see a checkmark show up with the number “1” next to it. Select another item and that number changes to “2”. From there you can choose the trashcan icon, move folder, etcetera. I like the change and thought it was pretty intuitive.

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**Author:** ![SeaDragonTattoo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df705f/32.png) [@SeaDragonTattoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SeaDragonTattoo)\
**Post date:** [June 10, 2013, 9:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gmail-android-app-inbox-check-boxes-gone/660609/4 "2013-06-10T09:20:30Z")

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Ooh, I also just learned that you can swipe the emails off the main conversations list. Change in General Settings to “swipe to delete” and you can do single emails that way. The default is swipe to archive. The Play store has updated app screenshots that might help.

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**Author:** ![CastleAnthrax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecd19e/32.png) [@CastleAnthrax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CastleAnthrax)\
**Post date:** [June 10, 2013, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gmail-android-app-inbox-check-boxes-gone/660609/5 "2013-06-10T13:57:16Z")

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Thanks, that fixed it.