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Gmail's nimble compose window pops out for all

After five months of testing, the email provider is making the pop-out composition box the default way to pen new messages.

Jennifer Van Grove Former Senior Writer / News
Jennifer Van Grove covered the social beat for CNET. She loves Boo the dog, CrossFit, and eating vegan. Her jokes are often in poor taste, but her articles are not.
Jennifer Van Grove
Google
Pop-out messages are the new default in Gmail.

Google today announced that its email product has officially embraced a nimbler chat-like compose window, first previewed five months ago, as the default option for penning emails.

The more modern compose window pops out and acts like a chat box, so Gmail users can compose emails while still keeping an eye on other messages in the inbox. The fresh functionality lets people compose multiple messages at the same time, minimize messages like chat threads, and search through the inbox without needing to navigate away from messages.

Gmail users should get the new compose window this week as it rolls out -- or pops out, rather -- to all in the next few days, Google Product Manager Phil Sharp said.