• eWeek, Thursday, March 10, 2011 12:11 PM

Unfortunately for email-based publishers and services, Google just made it easier for Gmail users to de-prioritize such incoming mail. Its new Smart Labels feature augments a user's inbox by automatically sorting messages into three categories: Bulk, Notification and Forum labels.

"Google classifies Bulk mail as any mass mailing, such as newsletters and promotions," reports eWeek. "Daily Deals from Groupon is a good example of a Bulk mail message. Gmail automatically filters these out of users' in-boxes and into the Bulk label." Meanwhile, Google considers Notification messages sent to users directly, such as billing statements from banks and purchase receipts from Amazon.com and other retailers.

Finally, email from group mailing lists will be labeled as Forum. According to Google software engineer Stanley Chen, these new filters can be edited under the Filters tab in Gmail settings, where existing filters may also be altered to avoid having them "Smart Labeled."

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