Proton Mail Adds Categories to Automatically Sort Your Inbox
The new Categories view separates incoming messages into six groups while keeping Proton's privacy protections in place.
Proton Mail Categories are now available as a new way to automatically organize incoming email. Proton says the feature sorts messages into six groups - Primary, Social, Promotions, Newsletters, Transactions, and Updates - so users can separate important mail from subscriptions, shopping messages, and automated alerts. Proton's official announcement confirms the feature is now available.
Categories are designed as an additional inbox view rather than a replacement for folders and labels. Proton says users can still create folders and labels, unsubscribe from newsletters with one click, and use automated filters. The new system adds automatic sorting before messages build up in the main inbox.
How Proton Mail Categories Work
Every incoming message is assigned to a category based on its type. Primary covers personal and work messages along with important updates and notifications. Social is for activity from social platforms, while Promotions covers deals and discounts. Newsletters is for non-promotional newsletters and news subscriptions. Transactions covers bookings, billing, and orders, while Updates handles automated confirmations and alerts.
- Primary: personal, work, and important messages
- Social: social media activity
- Promotions: deals and sales
- Newsletters: subscribed newsletters and news
- Transactions: bookings, billing, and orders
- Updates: automated confirmations and alerts
If a message lands in the wrong category, users can move it to another one. Proton says that action automatically updates the filter for future messages, giving the system a way to adapt to corrections.
For new users, Categories are enabled by default. Existing Proton Mail users are asked whether they want to turn the feature on, and everyone can choose which categories to display.
Categories Add Another Layer to Inbox Organization
Proton's update comes as email services increasingly use automation to reduce inbox clutter. Saganote recently covered Claude sending emails in Gmail, showing how AI assistants are moving from reading messages toward taking actions inside inboxes.
Inbox automation is also becoming a broader workflow tool. Saganote covered Grok automations triggered from your inbox, while Substack's Pangram AI detection shows how newsletters are becoming more structured and transparent for readers.
Proton Keeps Its Privacy Position
Proton says Categories do not change its privacy protections. The company says inbox contents remain protected by zero-access encryption, and emails between Proton users - or messages using password protection - remain end-to-end encrypted.
The feature also follows Proton's earlier roadmap for a category view. In its 2026 spring and summer roadmap, Proton said it was working on automatic categories for Primary, Social, Promotions, Newsletters, Transactions, and Updates. The feature has now moved from that roadmap into the live Proton Mail product.
Categories Can Be Turned Off
Users who prefer Proton Mail's previous inbox layout can disable Categories in Settings. Proton also lets users choose which categories appear, control notifications, and show unread counts for the categories they keep enabled.
Proton Mail Categories are therefore less about replacing existing inbox tools and more about adding an automatic first layer of organization. Users who receive a mix of personal mail, newsletters, purchases, and automated notifications can now separate those messages without building every filter manually.
