Mastering Googles Gmail Priority Inbox: Nine Tips to Get Up to Speed

by Clint Boulton

Gmail Priority Inbox uses an algorithm to flag messages as important. The tool analyzes whom a person e-mails and chats with most, how often they e-mail people, and which keywords appear frequently in the e-mails they read. See a demo here.

Priority Inbox includes sections for “Important and Unread,” “Starred” and “Everything Else.” But did you know they don’t have to be ordered thus? Google said users can create a section that shows messages from an “Action” or a “To-do” label, add their own fourth section, or change the maximum size of any section.

To change section orders, or otherwise customize the tool, visit the Priority Inbox tab under Gmail Settings. Users can also customize it from the inline menus.

Change the Priority Inbox settings to “Override filters” to let Gmail surface any important messages that would otherwise skip the inbox. With this option turned on, users can use filters to archive more e-mail without worrying about missing key messages.

The onus is on the user to train their inbox on how to treat incoming messages. The plus/minus icons pointed out here show you how. The feature “gets smarter” the more a user uses Gmail with Priority Inbox because it “learns” what users deem important.

Priority Inbox allows further customization by letting users create filters. Here’s how it works.

Archive all of the visible messages in the “Everything Else” section at once by clicking on the down arrow next to “Everything Else” and selecting the “Archive all visible items” option.

Google provides the following tips to help users get better acclimated to Priority Inbox, including how to check messages when users return from vacation.

Google provides general advice on how users can rapidly get comfortable with the new tool.