3 Reasons Google Gmail Priority Inbox Is An E-Mail Game-Changer

Gmail Priority Inbox puts messages into three groups: important, starred and regular, with the important appearing at the top and the regular at the bottom of the stack. The new feature essentially unlevels the e-mail playing field.

Here are three reasons Google's Gmail Priority Inbox will change the way we look at e-mail.

1. It sorts your Gmail for you. Through a series of filters and algorithms, Google's Priority Inbox in Gmail will push the most important messages to the top of the inbox. The filters predict which messages are the most important based on how often the sender sends e-mail messages and whose e-mails a user opens first and replies to, Google said. And the more users dive in, the better the filters will get, ultimately pushing the most important messages to the top.

2. Users can also set filters. While Google has set up its filters in Gmail Priority Inbox, Google knows it's not perfect. Users can also classify certain messages as important or not important and the system can learn from it. Users can click a plus or a minus button at the top of the inbox to mark a conversation or e-mail string as important or less important and Google will learn from that.

3. Users will have to wade through less junk. Junk e-mail stinks, plain and simple. Google's Gmail Priority Inbox will reduce the amount of junk mail Gmail users have to plow through by putting it way at the bottom. While an occasional junk e-mail purge may be necessary, unwanted or unneeded messages won't clutter up the space that could be better used for something more important.