What are high priority emails in Gmail?

Last reviewed: October 5, 2026 · Markdown version

In Gmail, "high priority" is a label Gmail applies, not one a sender sets, and Gmail Help documents no way to stamp your own outgoing mail with it. The phrase appears in one setting, the Gmail app's "High priority only" notification option, which the iPhone version of Google's page files under the heading "Get notified for important emails" (Change Gmail notifications (Android), read 5 October 2026). On the inbox side, the same idea shows up as the yellow importance marker. Why Gmail marks a particular message is covered on why Gmail marks mail Important; this page is about where priority appears and what you can set yourself.

Alerts for high priority mail only

On Android: open the Gmail app, tap Menu, then Settings, tap your account, then tap Email notifications and select High priority only. Google adds: "High priority emails will override any other notifications settings for certain labels." (the Android notifications page above). On iPhone and iPad the option sits under "Notifications": Email notifications, then High priority only (Change Gmail notifications (iPhone & iPad), read 5 October 2026).

What neither page does is define a high priority email. Both name the setting and give the steps, and neither says which messages qualify or whether that is the same judgement as the importance marker (the two notifications pages above). If an important message ever arrives silently with this setting on, that gap is the reason to check it before relying on it for anything urgent.

Seeing priority mail in the inbox

Two inbox types put Gmail's prediction at the top. "Important first" splits the inbox into "Important" at the top and "Everything else" below. "Priority Inbox" lets you choose sections, "including "Important and unread," "Starred," "Everything else," or a label that you have made." (Change your Gmail inbox layout, read 5 October 2026). The steps for each device are on changing the inbox type. Without changing anything, the search is:important lists every message carrying the marker (Importance markers in Gmail, read 5 October 2026).

Setting priority yourself

Gmail's marker is a guess, but two tools are entirely yours.

Stars. Google puts it plainly: "When you star emails in Gmail, you mark them as important." In Settings, under "Stars", you can switch on extra icons, and each gets its own search, such as has:yellow-star or has:red-bang (Star emails in Gmail, read 5 October 2026). One icon for "urgent" and one for "waiting on someone" covers most needs.
A filter for a sender. Google's categories page lists a filter that "Marks their emails as important" (Organize your emails into categories, read 5 October 2026). Setting filters up is on how to set up Gmail filters.

Sending an email as "high importance" from Gmail

This is the Outlook habit people look for in Gmail. In Outlook it is a documented button: "When you want people to know your message needs urgent attention, set the message as high importance", using High Importance in the Tags group while composing. Microsoft adds that "In most email programs, the recipients see a special indicator in the message list or headers for your message." (Mark a message as high or low importance in Outlook, read 5 October 2026).

Gmail Help has no equivalent. Its page on sending covers the To, Cc and Bcc fields, a subject, the message and the Send button, plus the Undo Send setting, and mentions no importance or priority option (Send or unsend Gmail messages, read 5 October 2026). Google's importance-marker page does not say whether Gmail shows the indicator when an Outlook user sends you a high-importance message either (the Importance markers in Gmail page above). Our suggestion, given that silence: put the urgency in the subject line, where every mail program shows it, with a date if there is one.