Gmail Priority Inbox focus on important messages first

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August 31, 2010

Gmail Priority Inbox focus on important messages first

Google today announced Priority Inbox in beta test. Priority Inbox automatically sorts your Inbox by “Important and Unread”, “Starred” and “Everything Else” so you can focus on the most important messages first. Gmail is great at filtering out Spam. Now that filtering technology has been expanded to detect the most important messages and bring them to the top of your inbox.

 Gmail uses a variety of signals to predict which messages are most important to you. For example, people you email most are likely to be most important to you. Gmail also tracks which messages you open, save, delete, and star, to build a profile of what is important. You can also help the algorithm by clicking a “plus” or “minus” button at the top of each message to indicate its importance to you. In addition you can set up your own filters and categories to better organize your inbox to fit your specific needs.

The Priority Inbox feature will be rolled out to all Gmail users, including those who use Google Apps, over the next week or so. You will know you have it when you see the “New! Priority Inbox” message link in the top right corner of your Gmail account, or when you see the new Priority Inbox tab on the left navigation bar. See the screen shot at left.

I have been using Priority Inbox internally at Google for months. It is very helpful when you are in a hurry and only have time to glance at the most important messages. The “Starred” feature is also great for important messages that you need to go back to later, or keep in a special priority category. 

This might be a good time to check out all the cool features available in Google Labs. These are features that are being tested, but not yet fully released into the Gmail product. Look in the upper right corner of your Gmail account and click on “Settings”. Choose “Labs” over on the right. Then scroll down the list and choose the features that you would like to try. Simply click “Enable” and you can start enjoying some of the advanced feature tests from Google Labs. I particularly like Picasa, Maps, and Flickr previews, Language translation, and “Canned Responses”. There are lots more that may help you better manage your email experience. Check them out, and give us feedback.

UDATE: Om Malik of GigaOm is an expert on email systems. This quote from Om about Gmail Priority Inbox is particularly impressive given that he is often skeptical of Gmail. 

“The feature is impressive and fantastic, and works as effectively as Google’s spam filters. In fact, it works so well that you almost forget it’s still in beta and hasn’t been a standard feature. Google’s been testing it internally with 10,000 Googlers and few non-Googlers. The feature has impressed me enough that I’m considering abandoning my own methodology in favor of this web-based marvel.”