Fed up with sorting your mail? Google adds new priority feature

Fed up with sorting the wheat from the chaff in your inbox? Well, if you're a Gmail user you need worry no more - just switch on 'priority inbox', and Google will sort it for you.

Using one of its famous algorithms, Google has added a sorting function to its web-based email service Gmail.  Of course, Gmail already employs filters to siphon off spam, but the new 'priority inbox' function goes one step further, sorting your incoming mail in order of importance fo you. The algorithm looks at what's in the email, and who it's from, and matches that against what it knows about emails you've read and replied to in the past to make a decision as to how important the message will be to you.

In its own beta testing Google reckoned it saved the average user 6 per cent of the time they normally spend sifting through emails in their inboxes  - adding up to a whole week saved in a year, according to the search giant (although it doesn't specify how many emails its average user typically received per day). The algorithm can also be trained, gleaning more information about your preferences by how you re-sort your mail after it's finished making its assessments.

“Priority inbox is like your personal assistant, helping you focus on the messages that matter without requiring you to set up complex rules,” wrote senior software engineer Doug Aberdeen, on Google's blog.

The feature will be rolling out over the next couple of weeks, and Google apps users with beta programs enabled can expect to see it first.