Flagging with Apple Mail

[Allana]

I hope I’m in the right forum , but for years I let my email get out of hand , I’m now using the Mac mail spp and trying to figure out flagging. If I flag an email , it still seems there’s an extra step of moving it to a folder . So if I flag my work emails with a red flag and my hobby emails with a blue flag , it seems now I’m flagging them and moving them, not to mention when the email has been read and complete, now you have another step of unflagging it.. am I correct with all this or am I doing this all wrong , do I maybe need to do something with filter along with flagging ? It’s so confusing . Thank you

 

[ferrarr]

I think you are confusing flagging vs rules? Yes, flagging only flags an email, just like how "Tags" work in Finder. To move emails into certain folders, you can create rules, Use rules to manage emails you receive in Mail on Mac - Apple Support.

 

[dufchick]

Hi Allana-

I am no expert but I think using flags frees you from having to use folders, its just not necessary anymore. You click on the corresponding flag on the sidebar to see your flag 'folder'. All a folder really does is sort your mail into one place, the flag really does the same thing. I do not like the mail app for gmail but I really like it for my other mail accounts. I have several flags and I also have a 'waiting for something' flag, 'to-do' and 'money' (bills needing to be paid). Those are temp flags because once I have the something I was waiting for, or did the to-do or paid the bill, the flag gets changed to its next flag, usually a more permanent flag. I do miss the ability to use multiple flags like in Outlook because occasionally that would help but it's not a deal breaker.

I do use a separate folder called 'receipts' and I have a rule to copy receipts over to this folder so I do not have to think about it. I copy them over instead of move because I have autopay set to some bills and I like to see the receipt in the main folder but then I do not really have to do anything to it since I have a rule set for it already.

Allison

 

[dufchick]

Also I just want to add that I have a couple of smart folders set up. These are set for certain time periods and one from a company I deal with very often, different people but all have the same @company.com name so the smart folder collects all their mail in one place. You can set smart folders up for specific people, words...all sorts of things, you should look into this because a combination of flags and smart folders may give you less clutter and the ability to find emails easier. I used to use multiple folders many years ago but gave that up since it was more work than it was worth, in my opinion.