Important emails landing in Promotions / Social tabs

Here’s a Gmail-only, step-by-step, super detailed fix for when important emails keep landing in Promotions or Social.

---

1) First, do a quick “one-time fix” for the sender (fastest)

On desktop (best way)

1. Open Gmail in a browser.
2. Go to Promotions or Social tab.
3. Find an email from the sender you want to fix.
4. Drag and drop that email into the Primary tab.
5. A small message appears at the bottom like: “Conversation moved to Primary. Do this for future messages?”
6. Click Yes.

This trains Gmail to put future emails from that sender into Primary.

On mobile (Android / iPhone)

You can’t drag tabs the same way on most Gmail mobile views, so do this:

1. Open the email that landed in Promotions/Social.
2. Tap the 3-dot menu (top right).
3. Tap Move to.
4. Choose Primary (or Inbox if Primary isn’t shown).
5. Repeat 2–3 times for that sender (Gmail learns from repeated moves).

---

2) Create a filter (most reliable long-term solution)

Filters are your “hard rule” so Gmail stops guessing.

Desktop steps

1. Open Gmail.
2. Top search bar: click the sliders icon (Show search options).
3. In From, type:
   • The exact email (example: billing@company.com)
     OR
   • The domain (example: @company.com)
4. Click Create filter.

Now pick actions carefully:
5. Check Categorize as → choose Primary
(If you don’t see “Categorize as,” skip this and use the label method below.)
6. Check Never send it to Spam.
7. Optional but useful:

• Star it
• Apply the label (create a label like “Important” or “Clients”)
• Mark as important (if available)

8. Click Create filter again.

If “Categorize as Primary” is not available

Do this instead (works well):

• Apply label: Important
• Star it
• Mark as important
  Then use Priority Inbox (explained later) so those always show at top.

---

3) Add the sender to Contacts (helps Gmail trust the sender)

1. Open the email.
2. Hover over the sender name/email.
3. Click Add to Contacts (or the contact icon).
4. Save.

Do this for:

• clients
• payment emails
• important tools (Upwork, Payoneer, Stripe, etc.)
• school/work accounts

---

4) Make Gmail show you the tabs you actually want

Sometimes the real problem is: tabs are hiding stuff.

Desktop

1. Gmail → top right gear icon → See all settings
2. Go to Inbox tab.
3. Under Inbox type, keep “Default” for tabs, or choose something better (see section 6).
4. Under Categories, you’ll see checkboxes like:
   • Primary
   • Social
   • Promotions
   • Updates
   • Forums

Fix options:

• If you miss important stuff in Promotions/Social, you can:
  • Uncheck Social and/or Uncheck Promotions to remove those tabs
  • Keep only Primary + Updates (common setup)

5. Scroll down → Save Changes

If you remove tabs, emails won’t disappear, they’ll just land in one inbox view.

---

5) Teach Gmail using “Important” signals (simple training)

Gmail uses your behavior. Make it obvious.

For senders you care about:

• Always open their emails
• Reply sometimes (even short replies)
• Star important ones
• Mark as important (if shown)
• Avoid leaving them unread for days

Also:

• If Gmail marks something wrongly, click:
  • Not spam (if it went to spam)
  • Or move it to Primary like in step 1

---

6) Use “Priority Inbox” so important emails always show first

This doesn’t stop Promotions/Social by itself, but it makes sure you don’t miss key emails.

Desktop

1. Settings → See all settings
2. Go to Inbox
3. Change Inbox type to Priority Inbox
4. Click Customize
5. Use sections like:
   • Important and unread
   • Starred
   • Everything else
6. Save Changes

Now even if something lands weird, your starred/important emails stay at the top.

---

7) Fix newsletters that look like Promotions (common reason)

Some important emails are formatted like marketing (buttons, images, tracking links), so Gmail tags them Promotions.

You can still force them into Primary:

• Use filter by From domain
• Or filter by Subject keywords like:
  • “invoice”
  • “payment”
  • “receipt”
  • “verification”
  • “security alert”

Filter example (desktop)

Search options:

• From: @company.com
• Subject includes: invoice OR receipt OR payment
  Create filter:
• Never send to spam
• Categorize as Primary (if available)
• Star it
• Label it “Billing”

---

8) Check if Gmail is being auto-forwarded or changed (rare but important)

Sometimes rules or forwarding mess up inbox behavior.

1. Settings → See all settings
2. Forwarding and POP/IMAP
   • Make sure forwarding isn’t sending mail elsewhere
3. Filters and Blocked Addresses
   • Look for filters that:
     • skip inbox
     • apply labels you didn’t set
     • archive automatically
   • Delete or edit anything suspicious

---

Quick “Best Setup” (most people)

If you want fewer misses:

• Turn off Social
• Turn off Promotions
• Keep Primary + Updates
• Add filters for:
  • clients
  • billing/payments
  • tools you rely on
• Use Priority Inbox with “Important and unread”

---