A method of adaptive email in-basket ordering which applies weightings to various e-mail attributes in order to sort the in-box. A plurality of unopened emails is presented. An order in which at least one email is opened is determined. At least one attribute is determined for the at least one email. A weight is generated by comparing the value of the at least one attribute with a value of at least one corresponding attribute of at least one unopened email. The weight is applied to the value of the at least one attribute. A pair-wise ordering is determined according to weighted attribute values of a first unopened email and a second unopened email. Unopened emails are sorted according to the pair-wise ordering.