I would like to know exactly how GMail decides which e-mail conversation to show 1st, 2nd, 3rd, etc. in a list of conversations. (I am talking about the inbox, but I expect it would use the same rules for other views.)
Ideally the answer to my question would be here: https://support.google.com/mail/answer/5900?hl=en …but that page is light on details.
(Please note that I am not talking about the ordering of e-mails within a conversation. That issue is everywhere on the intertubes (mostly people complaining about having to scroll to the bottom, when viewing a conversation, to see the most recent e-mail), which is part of the reason it has been so hard to find an answer to my question.)
I have read that GMail orders conversations "chronologically", but it is nowhere near that simple, as it depends on who sends the e-mail, who receives the e-mail, and whether To, CC, or BCC is used! It might even depend on whether Reply or Forward are used. …confusing!!
I am asking because sometimes a conversation in which there is new e-mail activity fails to bubble to the top of my inbox.
Before posting this question, I did some testing, but I still can't make sense of it. Here is what I know so far…
This will send a conversation to the top of the list:
- e-mail from someone else "To" you
- e-mail from you "To" you
- e-mail from someone else "CC" you
- e-mail from you "BCC" you
This will not send a conversation to the top of the list:
- e-mail from you "To" someone else (and not "To" or "CC" you)
- e-mail from you "CC" you
What is going on? (and why is it so inconsistent, anyway??)
Best Answer
If you receive an email then gmail tries to apply a filter to the incoming message. It will also attach it to a conversation if it can. Unless your filter "archives" the message (which is just the removal of the inbox label) the message/conversation will be shown in the inbox in descending order by time.
An email you send will not generally automatically show up in your inbox so as not to pollute your inbox view. The sent messages can be fund under the sent label and with the "All Mail". It will appear as part of the conversation if somebody responses to your email.
The sort order for messages/conversations is always descending by date. If you have archived a message, then it will popup again in your inbox when a new message is attached to the conversation.