Gmail has always been pretty good at filtering junk mail into the spam folder, says Google software engineer Doug Aberdeen.

But today, in addition to spam, people get a lot of mail that isnt outright junk but isnt very importantbologna, or bacn. So weve evolved Gmails filter to address this problem and extended it to not only classify outright spam, but also to help users separate this bologna from the important stuff. In a way, Priority Inbox is like your personal assistant, helping you focus on the messages that matter without requiring you to set up complex rules. With Priority Inbox, the inbox is split into three sections Important and unread, Starred and Everything.