The inbox starts reading for you.

Gmail’s AI Inbox began rolling out to paid Google Workspace users in the US from 12 October, pulling out to-dos and summarising threads. Admins cannot switch it off. Apple Mail already replaces preview text with on-device summaries and sorts mail into Primary, Transactions, Updates and Promotions.

For UK readers the effect is slower but coming: Gmail’s smart features are off by default in the UK and EEA. Apple’s summaries reached most regions with iOS 26.1.

The practical shift: your preheader is read by the model but not shown as written, and text inside images is ignored. What the summary says depends on the live text at the top of the email.

What to doPut the point of every email in the first two lines of live text: what changed, the date, the amount, the action. Judge transactional emails on clicks and support calls, not opens.

Source: Google Workspace: AI Inbox rollout

Announced on 20 October, the deal is expected to close in Salesforce’s fiscal 2028, which starts in February 2027. Salesforce says Braze will strengthen Marketing Cloud’s cross-channel personalisation; Braze says it will keep building as Braze.

There is no combined roadmap, no word on pricing and nothing on migration. Many luxury and hospitality groups run one of these two platforms, and some run both.

What to doDon’t re-platform on rumour. Do make your templates portable now: keep brand and layout in a component library, and keep platform-specific merge tags and content blocks in one thin layer you can swap.

Source: Salesforce press release, 20 October 2026

Microsoft has pushed the opt-out phase for moving businesses to the new Outlook from April 2026 to March 2027, promised at least twelve months’ notice before any cutover, and says existing classic installations will be supported until at least 2029.

Classic Outlook renders email with Microsoft Word. That is why buttons lose their padding and two-column layouts collapse for corporate readers: event bookers, meeting planners, B2B buyers.

What to doKeep Word-engine fallbacks (VML buttons, fixed-width tables) in every component through 2029, and test in classic and new Outlook, which behave differently.

Source: The Register, 6 March 2026

The European Accessibility Act has applied since 28 June 2025 to businesses selling to consumers in the EU, wherever they are based; microenterprises are exempt. Email from those services is widely read as falling under it, against WCAG 2.1 AA.

In the UK, the Data (Use and Access) Act 2025 raises the maximum fine for breaking the email marketing rules from £500,000 to the higher of £17.5 million or 4% of global turnover, once the change is brought into force.

What to doCheck contrast, live text, alt text and a plain-text version on your highest-volume emails first: booking confirmations and receipts reach everyone.

Source: Customer.io: the EAA for email marketers