Priority Inbox

What's your email inbox type? Many people are uncomfortable with their inbox. Most use Outlook or Google mail. Both list messages in the order received, but there's a better way! Want to see your important messages first? The same service that powers the world's best spam filter can also help organize you. The first step to organize your inbox is to try a different inbox type. Just beneath Google mail’s compose button, hover over the "Inbox" label and tap on the black triangle to the right. Try selecting Important first, which identifies and separates important incoming messages. After a quick refresh your messages split into two sections: Important and Everything else. You may notice the number of unread messages drops. That's because that number now only reflects messages that are both unread and important.

The result is a more organized inbox with your important messages on top. Google mail ranks messages based on your contacts, who you’ve written to and which keywords appear in messages. You can help train your inbox to classify messages better by clicking importance markers to the right of your star markers. A   gold marker means a message is important. An empty marker means a message is not important. To learn why a message ranks as important, hover over the marker to see the main reason. If Google mail mistakes a message as important or doesn’t mark one that’s important to you, teach it to make better selections. Just mark the message to move it to the correct section. Over time Google mail will use your feedback to learn what’s important to you. The more you use this feature, the more accurate importance ranking will become. For even more control, try Priority Inbox, which is like Important first and also offers two more sections. You may also synchronize your mobile device to your preferred inbox type. This lets you focus on important messages, saves time, keeps you organized, and helps you feel more comfortable with your inbox.