To alleviate the discomfort users feel when inundated with unopened emails, Microsoft’s research experts have released a program capable of intelligently sorting emails. 
The American software company announced that the SNARF application (Social Network And Relationship Finder) will organize messages in two ways: not only by the newest to oldest but also by how much the recipient values the sender. “If you open your email every day and receive up to 150 messages, you’ll go crazy. At that point, it feels great when 7 emails from colleagues are sorted into a separate folder,” said Marc Smith, one of the developers of SNARF.
SNARF operates on the principle that people tend to respond more to emails from individuals who hold significance for them. However, Smith admits that not everyone important to him replies to his emails: “Unfortunately, I have to say that my mother never writes to me.”
The program will analyze which types of messages users typically respond to, or who they reply to… The tool can also determine whether the recipient is part of an excessively long list of outgoing addresses.
Smith noted that his inbox is “a chaotic mess” filled with friends’ messages and spam. “If my pet dog could distinguish between strangers and my friends to avoid barking, then an email reader should be able to do the same,” Smith compared.
This tool is highly beneficial for those who always feel burdened by an overloaded inbox. While the new mail alert feature proves useful, it operates “too diligently” and frequently appears in the corner of the screen, making it nearly impossible for employees to foster creativity due to constant interruptions.
The Microsoft research team is currently releasing the software in trial form. SNARF will run on Windows XP Service Pack 2 and Outlook 2003, though Smith mentioned it may still be compatible with other programs.
