Triage and priority
Triage sets threads.priority on the canonical thread, and the engine reads that column when it picks what to work on. Correcting a priority therefore changes behaviour rather than re-sorting a list. Starring and deleting are yours alone — they organise your view and the engine does not act on them.
Two kinds of mark, and the difference matters#
| Mark | Column | Who reads it |
|---|---|---|
| Priority | threads.priority | You, the Conversations list, and the engine when it picks work |
| Starred | threads.starred | You. It is your flag on your view |
| Deleted | threads.deleted_at | You. The thread leaves your list; the record is not destroyed |
Every one of these lives on the canonical threads row rather than on the provider's copy, which is why they behave the same whether the mailbox is Gmail, Microsoft Graph or an IMAP server, and why they survive a mailbox being reconnected. The provider's own stars and labels are a separate world; moving state between the two is the write-back described on Writing back to Gmail.
The same three marks exist on calls, so a person's triage habits carry across channels without learning a second vocabulary.
Why correcting a priority is not cosmetic#
In most inboxes, priority is a sorting preference. Here it is an input. The engine reads threads.priority when it chooses what to think about, so raising a thread moves it up the queue of work that will actually get a draft written, and lowering one moves it down. A correction is a control action with a visible consequence, not a tidy-up.
That is also the honest reason to make the correction rather than complaining about the order. If a supplier's dispatch confirmations keep landing above a customer's complaint, the fix is at the thread, and it takes effect on the next pass.
What triage does not decide#
- Whether a reply may be sent. That is autonomy, resolved per channel and per scope, and a high priority does not raise permission.
- Whether there is allowance left. A high-priority thread refused by the daily allowance is still refused, and the refusal is visible in Needs You.
- Whether the recipient may be contacted at all. Suppression, unsubscribe and do-not-contact are checked before any outreach and outrank everything on this page.
- What the reply says. Priority orders the queue; grounding and memory decide the content.
Keeping those separate is deliberate. A single "importance" number that quietly also granted permission would be the kind of control nobody can reason about afterwards.
Working the list#
Open Conversations and read the top of the list rather than the whole of it.
Result The ranking already reflects priority; the disagreements are what you are looking for.
Correct anything ranked wrongly, in either direction.
Result The engine's next pass uses the new value.
Check Needs You separately.
Result Held drafts, refusals and operational problems queue there, not in the conversation list. A quiet Conversations screen with a full Needs You is a normal, and busy, morning.
Questions#
Does deleting a thread delete the customer's messages?
No. threads.deleted_at removes it from your working list; the canonical record and its history remain, which is what keeps a relationship timeline honest. It also does not delete anything at the provider — your Gmail or IMAP mailbox is untouched by that mark.
Can Connect set a priority itself?
The column is read by the engine when it picks work, and a person's correction is the authoritative input this page documents. Treat the priority you set as the one that counts, and correct it whenever the ranking disagrees with you.
Why is a thread I starred still low in the queue?
Because starring is your own flag and the engine does not read it. If you want the queue to move, change the priority — that is the column with consequences.