When the new Gmail inbox was introduced a few months ago, we noticed that it seemed to take a lot of the functionality of SmartLabels, a popular Gmail Lab. SmartLabels automatically categorizes your inbox into several predetermined labels, which is very similar to the experience with the new Gmail inbox.

If you’ve enabled the SmartLabels lab, you probably noticed a few notifications from Gmail recently that only reinforce the connection between SmartLabels and the new, tabbed Gmail interface. In fact, if you’re not using the new inbox, the SmartLabels Lab actually serves as a great replacement that won’t dominate the experience. First of all, SmartLabels can now be accessed from the label list on the left-hand side of your inbox.

There is also a few new labels that have been added, including Purchases, Travel and Finance. This makes it really easy to access new labels in a familiar place. Like any other label, you can always disable them in settings so they don’t appear in the label list. Google also gives you some of the power in categorizing your messages by assigning a label within a message.