Google is integrating package tracking tools into Gmail, making it easy to check where your purchases are at a glance while scrolling through your emails. In a blog post published on Wednesday, the business said that “a simple, useful view of your item tracking and delivery information directly in your email” would be available in the coming weeks.
Gmail will display the delivery date on the list item for any shipping email, eliminating the need to open the email and click a tracking link to see when you should expect the goods. If you go inside the email, you’ll notice a card with extra information. At the present, it seems that the function will be opt-in — when it becomes available, you’ll be able to enable it through a message in your inbox or via settings.
According to Google, Gmail will also be able to warn you when a shipment is delayed and move the order email to the front of your inbox. That functionality, though, seems to be coming later, since the article states it will be available “in the coming months.”
The features will be compatible with “most major U.S. delivery companies,” but there is one glaring omission: Amazon. The retailer’s shipping notification emails do not contain tracking information or even tell you what goods have arrived.
According to Google spokesperson Madison Veld, Amazon’s email format means that Gmail will be unable to display tracking information for it, stating that the feature will be available “for participating merchants” and that “if a tracking number is not included in the merchant’s order email, the package tracking feature will not be available.”
That isn’t unique to Google — other package delivery programmes have struggled to keep up with Amazon in the past — but it does imply that you won’t be able to depend exclusively on Gmail to keep track of your stuff. Nonetheless, the skills Google is providing should be useful for folks who don’t need the strength of a separate package monitoring tool.
