Most of us receive a lot of email and important messages may get overlooked in our long list of messages. If you’re sending a message that requires attention in a timely manner, you can set the priority for the message, allowing the recipient to find it quickly.

To send a high priority email message, make sure the ā€œHomeā€ tab is active and click ā€œNew Emailā€.

Enter the recipient’s email address, subject line, and body of the message. Make sure the ā€œMessageā€ tab is active.

In the ā€œTagsā€ section of the ā€œMessageā€ tab, click ā€œHigh Importanceā€, if the message has high priority. You can also assign a ā€œLow Importanceā€ to a message. This is handy if the message is not as important, but you still want the recipient to be able to find it quickly in their list of email messages.

To assign a priority to an email message, you can also click the ā€œMessage Optionsā€ dialog box button in the ā€œTagsā€ section.

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The ā€œPropertiesā€ dialog box displays. In the ā€œSettingsā€ section, select an option from the ā€œImportanceā€ drop-down list to set the priority.

You can also select the ā€œSensitivityā€ of the message in the ā€œSettingsā€ section. Click ā€œCloseā€ once you’ve made your selections.

High priority messages received in Outlook are marked with a red exclamation point in the first (ā€œImportanceā€) column and low priority messages are marked with a blue down arrow.

These marks make it easier to find messages based on priority or importance. You can also click on the column header (ā€œ!ā€) to sort your messages by importance.

Profile Photo for Lori Kaufman Lori Kaufman
Lori Kaufman is a technology expert with 25 years of experience. She's been a senior technical writer, worked as a programmer, and has even run her own multi-location business.
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