Gmail filter revamp targets 'bacn'

Cutting email overload.

Google has revamped its Gmail filter to enable users to prioritise some emails over others as they hit the inbox.

The new feature would be rolled out to users of the web-based email service "over the next week or so", the company said.

It would allow users to filter not just spam but also "bacn" - emails that users had subscribed to but weren't as important as other emails - for example, mailing list messages.

"Our inboxes are slammed with hundreds, sometimes thousands of messages a day - mail from colleagues, from lists, about appointments and automated mail that's often not important," Google said.

"It's time-consuming to figure out what needs to be read and what needs a reply. Today, we're happy to introduce Priority Inbox (in beta) - an experimental new way of taking on information overload in Gmail."

Google said the priority inbox didn't require users to set up "complex rules" to sort incoming mail.