Soon, Gmail may let you preview photos, attachments from notifications

Gmail for Android may soon offer notification previews of photos by showing thumbnails directly in the notification shade

Google is reportedly rolling out a change to Gmail for Android, updating how email notifications look when an attachment is included. Until now, Gmail alerts on Android only displayed the sender’s name, the subject and a short preview of the message. According to a report by 9to5Google, with the latest update, Google is adding visual cues that make attached files — especially photos — much easier to spot from the notification shade.

 

According to the report, in the new notification layout, Gmail shows a paperclip symbol at the beginning of the subject line to indicate that the email contains an attachment. The profile image that previously appeared on the right side has been replaced with a small thumbnail preview when the attachment is a photo. This allows users to recognise images at a glance without opening the app.

Expanding the notification reveals a larger, rectangular preview similar to what many messaging apps already offer. However, this expanded view now prioritises the attachment preview over the body text of the email.

 

If an email contains several images, Gmail shows this by displaying additional thumbnails in a row beneath the main preview. For non-image attachments, such as PDFs or documents, Gmail highlights them with a labelled pill that includes part of the file name. The standard paperclip indicator also appears in the collapsed version of the notification.

Google rolls out Gemini 3-powered 'Nano Banana Pro'

In related news, Google has upgraded its Nano Banana image generator to “Nano Banana Pro”, now powered by the Gemini 3 Pro Image model. The new version delivers clearer visuals, sharper multilingual text and richer graphics, including diagrams and infographics. It also improves consistency across images, allowing up to 14 blended inputs while preserving multiple subject identities. New creative controls include precise region edits, advanced lighting options and high-resolution output.

 

Nano Banana Pro is rolling out globally across Google AI, with limited access for free users and higher generation limits for Plus, Pro and Ultra subscribers. It will also appear in Workspace apps, Search’s AI Mode (US) and NotebookLM.