---
title: "Use message priority"
description: "Set message priority levels so users can identify important messages and optionally request acknowledgments or persistent notifications."
sidebar_label: "Message priority"
sidebar_position: 50
---

Messages can be sent with a priority level to help users identify the importance of the message. For more information about message priority, see [formatting text](https://docs.mattermost.com/collaborate/message-priority.html).

## Priority options

When sending a message, you can use any of the following to format how you want the posted message to look.

`priority`: A required plain-text summary of the message. This is used in notifications, and in clients that don’t support formatted text (e.g. IRC).

`requested_ack`: If set to `true`, the message will be marked as requiring an acknowledgment from the users by displaying a checkmark icon next to the message. Keep in mind that this requires the message priority to be set to _Important_ or _Urgent_.

`persistent_notifications`: Only for _Urgent_ messages. If set to `true` recipients will receive a persistent notification every five minutes until they acknowledge the message. Mutually exclusive with the [`silent`](/developers/integrate/webhooks/incoming#parameters) field on incoming webhooks — a post cannot be both persistent and silent.

## Example of post priority

```json
{
    "priority": {
        "priority": "urgent",
    }
}
```

And this is how it renders on Mattermost:

![Urgent message priority](./message-priority-urgent.jpg)

## Example of post priority with requested acknowledgment

```json
{
    "priority": {
        "priority": "important",
        "requested_ack": true
    }
}
```

And this is how it renders on Mattermost:

![Important message priority](./message-priority-requested-ack.jpg)

## Related documentation

- [Message priority](https://docs.mattermost.com/collaborate/message-priority.html)
- [CreatePost API](https://api.mattermost.com/#operation/CreatePost)