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What Are Email Message Priorities?

Some email programs automatically mark messages as 'Important'

By Heinz Tschabitscher Heinz Tschabitscher Writer University of Vienna A former freelance contributor who has reviewed hundreds of email programs and services since 1997. lifewire's editorial guidelines Updated on June 1, 2021 Tweet Share Email Tweet Share Email

In This Article

Expand Jump to a Section How Email Priority Marking Works Why It Matters How to Set Email Priorities Most email services and programs use message priorities to designate what's important and what's not. Message priorities can be applied manually or automatically, and you can also mark a message as low priority, or unimportant. Message priority features and the way they're applied vary among email clients, including Outlook, Gmail, Yahoo, Thunderbird, and macOS Mail.

How Email Priority Marking Works

Some email services and programs allow you to manually mark an outgoing message as important or unimportant. When you're ready to send the email, you can flag it as such for the recipient. Emails carrying the highest importance might be bolded, highlighted, starred, or otherwise flagged in the Inbox. Less important messages might be grayed out or moved down the list. Again, the specifics depend on the receiver's email program. Some email providers, such as Gmail, set an email's priority automatically even if the importance level isn't specified by the sender. It assumes a priority and filters the message into an "Important" section of your Inbox. This feature is based on predicted behavior, and it changes based on whom you email and whether a message is auto-generated or from a real person. Other email clients let you change the importance of emails manually. This is useful, for example, when a sender frequently uses a high priority/important flag when they shouldn't, or if you like to have all emails from a particular sender marked as important.

Why It Matters

Keeping important emails at the forefront helps you focus on them, rather than spending time looking through unimportant emails. It's one of the best ways to communicate efficiently and effectively, and interacting with emails on your terms according to your priorities makes for a better experience. Depending on the app you use, the email client might deliver notification of a new email only if it deems the message important. Removing non-critical emails from your notifications without deleting them cuts down on distractions.

How to Set Email Priorities

Many email clients let you set the message priority when composing the email. It's normally located in the compose box. In some email clients, such as Gmail, marking an outgoing email as important is a matter of adding a descriptor, such as [URGENT], to the subject line. Was this page helpful? Thanks for letting us know! Get the Latest Tech News Delivered Every Day Subscribe Tell us why! Other Not enough details Hard to understand Submit More from Lifewire How to Use AOL Mail Through an Email Client How to Send a New Email With iPhone Mail App How to Select All Messages in Gmail How to Move Hotmail Messages in Outlook.com 10 Best Free Email Accounts for 2022 What Is Email aka Electronic Mail? How to View Full Message Headers in Mozilla Thunderbird How to Open, Edit, and Convert EMAIL Files What Is an Email Client? How to Send Spam to the Spam Folder in Yahoo Mail How to Send iPhone Mail From a Different Account How to View the Source of a Message in Apple Mail How to Forward Outlook Mail to Another Email Address How to Find the IP Address of an Email Sender How to Import Windows Mail or Outlook Emails Into Gmail How to Quote Original Email Messages in Replies and Forwards Newsletter Sign Up Newsletter Sign Up Newsletter Sign Up Newsletter Sign Up Newsletter Sign Up By clicking “Accept All Cookies”, you agree to the storing of cookies on your device to enhance site navigation, analyze site usage, and assist in our marketing efforts. Cookies Settings Accept All Cookies