Get Back the Old Gmail Interface Permanently!

You might have been wondering around making Gmail Old look permanent. If so, this post will tell you how to do that in no time!

In a previous article, I covered how to switch back to Old Gmail interface temporarily. But as of now, Google has started freezing the new look (which is highly criticized), you basically have no other choice than reading your mails on this new interface. But I have some ways which can help you to get back the glorious old look of Gmail permanently!

Switch back to Gmail Old Inteface permanently

The first one is the recommended way to get back to old Gmail. The method I’m going to share here is for the users who have a browser support of Stylish (Mozilla Firefox and Google Chrome, in general). Stylish is a browser extension which lets you pick custom skins (UserStyles) for your favorite websites.

I have written a UserStyle which will let you see your Gmail in it’s previous look. Below mentioned is the step-by-step method to do so:

1. Install Stylish extension on your Web Browser. (install links: Stylish for Chrome and Firefox).
   You should also search web to get Stylish for your Safari browser.
2. After installing stylish on your browser, you’re required to do only a one-click install of my UserStyle The Return of Old Gmail.
   
3. Now, go to your Gmail account. What are you seeing? There must be the return of Old Gmail, you are back to your favorite Gmail old Interface. Am I right?

Below screenshot explains how your Gmail look before and after installing the UserStyle:

The Return of Old Gmail UserStyle features

The UserStyle does the following thing for you:

• Changes new Gmail styles to the older ones (not all)
• Hides the annoying “About the new look” link
• Reverts back the Top Navigation to the classic one (in Gmail only)
• Implements Classic Gray-Blue Gmail theme
• Makes Gmail of Elastic height instead of fixed height
• Removes the Toggle between Chat and Invite block (I’m working to show both one after the other, only one block will be showed which you’ve toggled on the new look)

This UserStyle performs best on Mozilla Firefox and Google Chrome. However, some default styles are unchangeable on Google Chrome which strictly implements some inbuilt parameters for Gmail.

Please consider rating my userstyle after trying it by visiting this link: Rate The Return of Old Gmail

I’m still working on the limited height of chat sidebar and mail-list in Gmail. I’ve fixed the limited height of mail-list but not of Chat sidebar since it looks really odd with a full Chat list in sidebar.
Just updated the style to version 3.2, in which I’ve fixed the limited mail list scrolling, made the top navigation more robust, styled the mail list box from scratch and done a couple of more fixes for Chrome. So, install The return of Old Gmail 3.2 and tell me how is it. I’m looking for more suggestions to make this userstyle more better. Hope, you liked the post, do share with your friends annoyed by new Gmail. If you’re having problems with the UserStyle or have a suggestion to improve it, drop in a comment, I’ll try to sort them out.

The next way I’ve found on web is a simple bookmarklet to revert to Gmail old look. This bookmarklet allows you to use the unavailable option “Revert to old look temporarily” in your Gmail settings. It has worked for me for a couple of weeks, but suddenly stopped working (Google might have removed the option permanently). I’m sharing this bookmarklet in hope it may work for some of you by chance.

Drag-drop the below given bookmarklet to your Bookmarks menu, sign into your Gmail and click the bookmarklet from your Bookmarks menu while staying on your Gmail window/tab, an alert will appear saying Settings menu updated. Click “revert to old look temporarily” in the settings menu to complete, just click that Settings or Gear icon, if you see “Revert to old look Temporarily” option there, it’s all done! Click it and see if you’re able to revert to old Gmail or not.

Click the bookmarklet after your Gmail is completely loaded in the browser. If it doesn’t work for a different Gmail account, clear cookies in your Browser, then try again.

Revert Gmail Bookmarklet

Another way to get rid of new Gmail look is to switch to HTML view in Gmail. Just open log into your Gmail and click this link (https://mail.google.com/mail/?ui=html) to switch to HTML mode in Gmail.

source:http://techably.com/make-gmail-older-look-permanent/4215/