Overwhelmed by hundreds of unread emails? You’re not alone. For years, professionals manually created folders and rules to keep their inboxes manageable. Now, with Microsoft 365 Copilot Outlook, the Prioritize My Inbox feature uses AI to automatically sort your emails into High, Normal, and Low priority, so you can focus on what really matters.
What Is Prioritize My Inbox?
Prioritize My Inbox is a feature within Microsoft 365 Copilot Outlook that classifies emails based on:
- Who the sender is (manager, project lead, or frequent contact)
- Whether the email relates to a project or key task
- The content within the message body
Instead of treating all unread emails equally, it organizes them so you can see what deserves immediate attention and what can wait.
Microsoft 365 Copilot Prioritize My Inbox Availability Across Outlook Versions
Prioritize My Inbox requires a Microsoft 365 Copilot paid license and is available in:
- New Outlook
- Outlook on the Web
- Classic Outlook (filtering options vary slightly)
Prioritize My Inbox vs. Focused Inbox and Important Tags
It’s easy to confuse this feature with other Outlook tools, but they work differently:
- Focused Inbox: Separates messages into Focused and Other but does not rank importance.
- Important Flag: Set by the sender, not always relevant to you.
- Prioritize My Inbox: Uses AI to evaluate relationships, content, and context to decide if an email is High, Normal, or Low priority.
Emails That Are Not Classified by Microsoft 365 Copilot
Some types of messages will not be evaluated, including:
- Out of Office replies
- Meeting invites, declines, or updates
- Quarantine or encrypted emails
- Messages automatically moved to folders by Outlook rules
- Emails you send to yourself
This ensures only actionable messages are included.
How to Enable Prioritize My Inbox in Outlook
Follow these steps to enable the feature:
- Go to Settings: In Outlook, click View > View Settings.
- Select Copilot: Choose Copilot > Prioritize.
- Enable Prioritization: Check Let Copilot prioritize my emails.
- Choose Summaries: Select whether you want AI-generated summaries or the first two lines of the email body.
- Optional – Low Priority: Decide if you want Copilot to apply summaries to low priority emails.
- Customize Instructions: In the Customize section, provide instructions like “Emails from [manager’s name] are High Priority.”
Note: You can add up to 15 total instructions shared between High and Low priority. Instructions take up to 15 minutes to apply, and disabling them can take up to 24 hours.
Sorting and Filtering Options
Once enabled, you can:
- Sort by priority instead of date.
- Filter only High Priority emails.
- Combine with categories for more refined email organization.
- New Outlook & Outlook on the Web: You can sort by priority, filter by priority, and combine with categories. This makes it easy to quickly see High Priority messages first.
-
Classic Outlook: You still see prioritized emails, but filtering is more limited. You cannot sort strictly by High Priority alone; instead, you’ll need to use secondary filters like From or Categories.
This means New Outlook gives you more flexibility and direct control, while Classic Outlook provides a simpler but less customizable view of prioritized emails.
Conclusion
Microsoft 365 Copilot’s Prioritize My Inbox turns Outlook into a smarter, stress-free assistant. By automatically classifying emails and providing AI-generated summaries, you save time, stay focused, and manage your inbox with confidence.
Want to see it in action? Check out my video tutorial: https://youtu.be/E34X8w3gAqA
