Auto-prioritize your inbox by role-specific rules

Step 1: Tell Copilot what matters to your roleOutlook

Set up the priority rules in Outlook's Copilot settings, naming the senders, projects or keywords that should always rank as high priority for your specific role.

Step 2: Run the grading passCopilot

Run this against your actual unread backlog rather than a hypothetical "going forward" setting — seeing the grades applied to real messages right away is what lets you catch a bad rule in step 3 immediately instead of after a week of silent misgrading.

Prompt idea:

Grade my last 50 unread emails as high, normal or low priority based on sender importance, deadlines mentioned, and whether it's addressed directly to me. Give a one-line reason for each.

Step 3: Spot-check the high-priority picksOutlook

Skim the emails graded high priority and confirm they're actually urgent — an email from a VIP sender that's just an FYI shouldn't outrank a real deadline from a peer.

Step 4: Adjust the rules based on what you seeOutlook

If something important got graded low, add that sender or keyword to your priority rules so future emails from them grade correctly without manual review.

Check the work

• Verify a handful of "high" and "low" grades manually to confirm the reasoning holds up.
• Check that nothing with an explicit deadline landed in the low-priority group.
• Confirm the rules you set actually match what you tune out versus what you can't miss.

Source: Gethyn Ellis, "Copilot in Outlook: Inbox Management and Email Triage" (September 2026)