6/16/2016

TrackemailmessagesthatrequirefollowupOutlook

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Track e-mail messages that

require follow up
Applies To: Outlook 2007
By flagging email messages, you can track responses to messages that you send. You can
also make sure that you follow up on messages that you receive. In either case, you can
include a reminder alert.

In this article
About tracking e-mail messages for follow-up
Flag a message you send to remind recipients to follow-up
Flag a message you send to remind you to later check for replies
Flag a message you send to remind recipients to follow-up and you to later check for replies
Find the responses to flagged messages you sent
Stop tracking an e-mail conversation
Flag a message that you receive

About tracking e-mail messages for follow-up

Flagged email messages help you better manage your mail. Flagged messages create todo
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items either for you alone or for you and the recipients of the email message. For example,
you can flag an email message that requests information that you need by a certain date.
When the recipient receives the message, a flag appears with it and a special message
appears on the InfoBar in the Reading Pane and at the top of the message when opened in
Outlook.
A message flagged for yourself can help you track who has replied to the message. In the
previous scenario, you sent a flagged email message requesting information by a certain
date. By also flagging the message for yourself, you are reminded to check for replies.
Outlook can even help you automatically find replies to the original flagged message.
Flagged messages are shown in the ToDo Bar, in Tasks, and in the Daily Task List in Calendar.
Top of Page

Flag a message you send to remind recipients to followup

You need responses to an email message that you are about to send. To remind your
recipients to respond, you can use a flag to send a reminder with your message.
TIP:Use this feature with discretion. Some recipients might not appreciate having reminders

added to their Microsoft Outlook.

1. In a new email message, on the Message tab, in the Options group, click Follow Up

2. Click Flag for Recipients.

3. Under Flag for Recipients, click the type of flag in the Flag to list.
4. By default, a reminder will accompany the task. If you want only the flag without the

reminder alert, clear the Reminder check box.

After you click OK, the InfoBar displays the option that you choose.

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NOTE:Received flagged email messages are not automatically added to Tasks, the ToDo Bar,

or the Daily Task List. If a reminder is included, the reminder alert activates at the specified
time unless the item is opened and the reminder is turned off.
Top of Page

Flag a message you send to remind you to later check

for replies
Sometimes you know that you need a response to an email message that you are about to
send. To make sure that you remember to check for the recipient's response, do the following:
1. In a new email message, on the Message tab, in the Options group, click Follow Up

2. Indicate when you want to be reminded about this message.

By default, the following flag Start dates, Due dates, and reminders are avilable.
Flag

Start Date

Due Date

Reminder

Today

Current date

Current date

One hour before the

end time of today's
work day

Tomorrow Current date plus one day

Current date

Start time of current day

plus one day plus one work day

This Week

Next

Current date plus two days, but no

later than the last work day of this

Last work
day of this

week

week

First work day of next week

Last work

Start time of the first

day of next

work day of next week

Week

Start time of current day

plus two work days

week

No Date

No date

No date

Current date

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Custom

Current date

Current date

Current date

Alternately, click Custom to create a Start date and Due date that does not appear on the list.
Click OK to close the dialog box.
The InfoBar displays the option that you choose.
NOTE:If you want to further customize your flag by specifying Start and Due dates or

changing when a reminder alert will appear, follow the steps in the Flag messages for both
yourself and others section. You can always clear the Flag for Recipients check box to
customize flags just for you.
Top of Page

Flag a message you send to remind recipients to followup and you to later check for replies
To simultaneously flag a message both for yourself and the recipients, do the following:
1. In a new email message, on the Message tab, in the Options group, click Follow Up

2. Click Flag for Recipients.

The Flag for Recipients and Reminder for recipients check boxes are selected. If you
want the recipient to receive a flag, but no reminder alert, clear the Reminder check box.
3. Select the Flag for Me check box, and if you want, the Reminder check box.
4. You can specify a Start date and a Due date for the Flag for Me.
5. Either for yourself or for the recipients, you can enter the flag text that you want to

display. If the Flag to list doesn't contain the text that you want, type a new entry in the
text box, and then press ENTER.
6. If either the Reminder check box for Flag for Me or the Flag for Recipients is selected,

you can specify a time for a reminder to be activated.

7. Click OK.

The InfoBar displays the options that you choose.

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NOTE:You cannot change the flag text or set start dates and due dates if you are using an

IMAP email account.

Top of Page

Find the responses to flagged messages you sent

This feature requires that you save your sent email messages. By default, sent messages are
saved in the Sent Items folder. If your default delivery location the place where incoming
mail is saved is server running Microsoft Exchange, make sure you do not move, either
manually or through Auto Archive, your sent items to a Personal Folders file .pst file on your
computer. Doing so will cause the feature not to work.
1. Do one of the following:

Open the original message in the Sent Items folder.

Open the flagged sent message in the To-Do Bar.
Open any email message that is a response to the original message, click the
InfoBar, and then click Open original flagged message.
2. Click the InfoBar, and then click Find related messages.

The Advanced Find dialog box will open and begin searching for related email
messages.
Top of Page

Stop tracking an e-mail conversation

You can choose to turn off a tracking flag on a message at any time.
Do one the following:

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You have composed an e-mail message and selected a flag, but now want to remove
the flag
a. In the message draft, on the Message tab, in the Options group, click Follow Up

b. Click Clear Flag.

You have sent an e-mail message that you flagged for yourself or others, but now
want to remove the flag
Do one of the following:
a. Delete the original flagged email message from the ToDo Bar.

This deletes the email message from your Mail folders as well.
b. Rightclick on the message anywhere it appears and then click Mark Complete or Clear

Flag.
NOTE:Recipients of your email message will still see the flag. Removing the flag only

affects what you see.

A flag reminder appears, and you want to remove the flag

a. When the reminder alert appears, rightclick it, and then click Mark Complete or Clear

Flag.
Click here to learn how Mark Complete and Clear Flag differ
Mark Complete The item remains marked with a followup flag, however, it is now
displayed with a strikethrough. If the ToDo Bar or Tasks is configured to show all tasks
and todo items regardless of whether they are complete or not, you will still see the
message until you delete it from your Mail folders.
Clear Flag The flag is removed from the email message and there is no record of
the message ever appearing in views such as the ToDo Bar and Tasks.
If you want to keep a record of completed items, use Flag Complete. However, once
you delete the email message the item will completely disappear from all Outlook
views.

An e-mail response to a flagged message arrives, and you want to remove the flag
a. In the Reading Pane or in the open message, click the InfoBar, and then click Open

Original Flagged Message.

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b. On the Message tab, in the Tracking group, click Follow Up

c. Click Clear Flag.

Top of Page

Flag a message that you receive

You can flag an email message you receive to remind yourself to followup or take action at a
later time. To flag a received message, do one of the following:
1. In the message list, click in the flag column next to the message to flag the message

with the default flag.

Unless you have changed the default flag, it has both a start date and due date of today.
2. In the message list, rightclick the flag column next to the message.
3. Select the due date for the task. For example, selecting Next Week specifies a start date

of next Monday and a Due date of the following Friday. Click Custom to create a start
date and a due date that do not appear in the list.
After you click OK, the InfoBar displays the option that you choose.
Your flagged message will appear in the ToDo Bar, in Tasks, and in the Daily Task List in
Calendar.
By default, the following flag start dates, due dates, and reminders are available.
Flag

Start Date

Due Date

Reminder

Today

Current date

Current date

One hour before the

end time of today's
work day

Tomorrow Current date plus one day

Current date Start time of current day

plus one day plus one work day

This Week

Current date plus two days, but no

later than the last work day of this

Last work
day of this

week

week

Start time of current day

plus two work days

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week

Next

week

First work day of next week

Week

Last work

Start time of the first

day of next
week

work day of next week

No Date

No date

No date

Current date

Custom

Current date

Current date

Current date

Top of Page

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