Flag Items

Flag E-mail Messages

Flagging items is Outlook’s way of allowing you to mark items such as e-mails or contacts for future action

 

Flag E-mail Messages for a Default Follow Up

1.   Click on Mail icon on the View Switcher

2.   In the Item Pane, select an e-mail message

3.   From the Ribbon, go to the Home tab > click on the Follow Up button

 

4.   In the Item Pane,  a flag will be added to the right side of the message

 

5.   In the a Reading Pane, you can find:

  • A grey bar will appear across the top of the message letting you know that “This message is flagged for follow up”
  • The default Start and Due dates are both set for that day at midnight.

 

Flag E-mail Messages for Follow Up on Specific Dates

1.   Click on Mail icon on the View Switcher

2.   In the Item Pane, select an e-mail message

3.   From the Ribbon, go to the Home tab > click Follow Up list down arrow > select when you want to Flag the due date, such as Today, This Week, or Custom Date, from the drop down list

 

4.   In the Date and Reminder dialog box, select Reminder check box to set a due date and time to remind you of the task

 

5.   At the time you set for the reminder, Outlook will pop up a reminder for your Flag, which you can either Snooze or Dismiss

 

 

View all Flagged Messages

1.   Scroll down to the bottom of the Navigation Pane

2.   Under Smart Folders section, click on Flagged Mail

3.   All of your Flagged messages will appear in the messages list

 

 

 

 

Mark a Flag as Complete

Do one of the following:

1.   From the Ribbon, go to the Home tab > click the  Follow Up list down arrow button > select Mark as Complete  

 
 

2.   In the Item Pane, click on the flag icon list and it will turn into a green check mark and then disappear off the list

 

 

Remove a Flag

1.   From the Ribbon, go to the Home tab > click the  Follow Up list down arrow button

  • Select Clear Flag

 

Flag Contacts

Flagging contacts can be useful if you want to do something like gathering a group of contacts together, assigning to a category, and inviting them to a meeting all at once

1.   Click on the Contact icon in the View Switcher

  • Select the contact in Outlook Address Book
  • From the Ribbon, go to the Home tab > click on the Follow Up button
  • When the contacts you wish to group are all Flagged, scroll to the bottom of the Navigation Pane > select Flagged Contacts under Smart Folders section
  • This will display only your Flagged contacts in one list

 

2.   To categorize flagged contacts, do the following:

  • Select all of them
  • Drag them into a category in the Navigation Pane

3.   When you are done, from the Ribbon, go to the Home tab > click on the Follow Up button > choose Clear Flag to remove the flags

 

Use Tasks List to View Flagged Items

1.   When you click on the Tasks icon in the View Switcher, all of your Flagged items will appear in your tasks list

  • Flagged e-mails will have an envelope icon next to them
  • Flagged contacts will have a contact card icon next to them

2.   You can reply to flagged e-mails by doing the following:

  • Click on a flagged message
  • From the Ribbon, go to Home tab > click on the Reply button
  • A message will open that will be automatically addressed and the subject line filled in

3.   When you have competed a flagged item in the Task view, check the box next to the item to mark as complete, which will remove the flag as well