Google Launches Priority Gmail Inbox Tool

Google joined the raft of startups offering tools to better organise and prioritise email messages on 30 August with Gmail Priority Inbox.

Priority Inbox, a new beta Gmail feature users must opt in to use, lets users designate some messages as more important than others at a time when users are buckling under the weight of email overload. “The idea behind this is that when you walk into your office and have those 150 messages, could we highlight to you the 10 or 20 that are the most important to you” Google Enterprise Senior Product Manager Rajen Sheth told eWEEK.

Gmail Priority Inbox uses an algorithm that automatically flags messages as important, using social cues, messaging frequency and others signals to predict which messages are important.

The algorithm’s attributes look at who a person emails and chats with most, how often they email people, and which keywords appear frequently in the emails they read.

Once the customisation tool categorises messages it stacks them in Gmail in sections marked important, important and unread, starred items, and everything else.

Priority Inbox

The tool shows 25 items by default, though users may change this to show 5, 10 or 50 items. Users can also set up filters to make sure certain messages are always designated as important.

The feature ostensibly “gets smarter” the more a user uses Gmail with Priority Inbox because it “learns” what users deem important.

While Priority Inbox is set to work automatically with little work from the user beyond managing their settings, users may also “train” the tool by clicking the plus or minus sign to boost or reduce a message’s priority. Priority Inbox will learn from these actions as time goes on.

Priority Inbox will be rolling out to all 180 million or so Gmail users over the next few days. Users will see a “New! Priority Inbox” link in the top right corner of their Gmail account next to the Gmail Labs icon.

This will also work automatically for Google Apps users so long as their IT administrators have checked the “Enable pre-release features” box in the control panel of Google Apps. Users who decide they don’t like Priority Inbox can easily switch back to their original inbox by clicking “Inbox” on the left or hide Priority Inbox from Gmail’s settings.

Google Apps

EWEEK believes Priority Inbox is likely to appeal most to Google Apps users, particularly the class of knowledge worker who receives hundreds if not thousands of email messages per day in the course of communicating with colleagues, clients and partners for business. This isn’t the first time Google has tried to smarten Google Apps.

The company already has added smart links to let users add links to Google Calendar, Got the Wrong Bob to differentiate among users, the ability to drag and drop attachments and Gmail contextual gadgets

Priority Inbox follows in the footsteps of several other companies that are trying to cut through the clutter associated with e-mail overload. Xobni, Gist and Liaise are all tacking this issue.