Using Gmail's Starred items to track expected replies - Emailers Anonymous

One of the hardest aspects of managing email is keeping track of sent messages where a reply is expected. Do you have this problem? I know I do. Some of the people I correspond with are completely reliable, and I know that if I send them something, I will get a reply within 24 hours and often sooner. But some of my other regular correspondents are not so reliable.

At all.

It's really frustrating.

Luckily, if you're a Gmail user, there is a very simply method for keeping track of messages where you are expecting a reply. You see it every day, and you might even be using it for something else.

What am I talking about?

The Starred attribute. With a single key or button press, Gmail allows you to add a star to a message which prominently appears whenever that message or thread is in view.

This process is incredibly simple, but effective. Now, I should first point out that starring an email is for all intents and purposes the same as labeling a message with any arbitrary label. But I think stars work better as an expected response reminder than a label would. So follow along with me and see if you don't come to the same conclusion.

Setting Up

The set-up for this method is simple: just make sure you do not currently have any Starred messages. Click on your Starred folder to see what has collected there. Since the meaning of stars is not defined, I found that I had all sorts of random stuff in there that was probably at some point important to me, but that I no longer cared to flag. A few more recent important items were also in there, and for those I created a new "High Priority" label (which I colored red so it would stand out), and once the important messages were appropriately labeled I removed them from my Starred folder.

Okay, that's it. You're set.

The Method

From now on, all you have to do is make sure to star any message you send when you need to track the reply. If you have a look in your Sent Mail folder, you might even find a few items in there that still have outstanding replies that you are waiting for. Go ahead and star them.

This accomplishes two things.

Firstly, you can click in to your Starred folder at any time to see what you are still waiting on. You then have the opportunity to gently remind your recipient that you are still waiting on an answer.

Secondly, when you do get a reply to one of these messages, they show up in your Inbox with a star already on them. If the message was important enough that you wanted to track the reply, you probably want to make sure that you notice once you do get a reply, and this method will accomplish that goal.

Don't forget to remove the star once you've received a reply so that you keep your Starred folder tightly focused on threads that are expecting responses.