Flagging Messages in Outlook- Tutorial

Flagging Messages in Outlook: Overview

            Flagging messages in Outlook for yourself will create a “To-Do” item that reminds you to follow up the message. After the “To Do” item is completed, you can mark it as completed to clear the flag. When flagging messages in Outlook, Outlook will place a little flag next to messages that require some type of follow-up and will specify any action required to complete the follow-up. These are handy to indicate messages that need to be “followed up” with a task. When flagging messages in Outlook, you can flag both messages you send to others and messages that you receive.

            To flag a message you have received for follow-up, open the Inbox folder and select the message to flag for follow-up. If using Outlook 2013:2010, click the “Follow Up” button in the “Tags” group on the “Home” tab in the Ribbon. If using Outlook 2007, select “Actions| Follow Up” from the Menu Bar. In the menu that appears, you can select the type of flag to apply to the message.

            You can also use the new quick-clicks within the Inbox when flagging messages in Outlook 2013. To do this, hold your mouse pointer over a message within the Inbox. You will see a small icon of a flag appear in the upper-right corner of the message window. Click the flag icon to flag the message. For more advanced flagging options, right-click the icon of the flag to choose when to set the flag to follow up from a drop-down list of choices.

            To flag a message you are sending to someone, create the mail message and then click the “Follow Up” button in the “Tags” group (“Options” group in 2007) of the “Message” tab in the Ribbon. Select the “Custom…” command (“Flag for Recipients…” command in 2007) from the drop-down menu. That will open the “Custom” dialog box. Here you can flag the message for yourself by checking the “Flag for Me” checkbox. If you do that, click the drop-down arrow next to the “Flag to:” text box and select a type of follow-up to occur for this message. You can also set a start date and a due date for the flag by clicking the drop-down arrow to the right of the “Start date:” and “Due date:” text boxes and then selecting the desired dates from the calendar displays. You can also create a reminder for yourself by checking the “Reminder:” checkbox and then selecting the desired time at which you want the reminder to appear in Outlook.

            To flag this message for the recipient, check the “Flag for Recipients” checkbox. Then use the “Flag to:” drop-down and “Reminder” checkbox to flag and set a reminder for the recipients of the message. Click “OK” when you are finished to set the flag for the message and to return to the Inbox.

            Later, to indicate that you did follow up with the message as requested, you can mark the flag as cleared in Outlook by clicking the icon of the flag at the right end of the flagged message in your Inbox to set it to a checkmark. That will also remove it from your “To-Do” list.

Flagging Messages in Outlook: Instructions

1. To flag a message you have received for follow-up, open the Inbox folder and select the message to flag for follow-up.
2. If using Outlook 2013:2010, click the “Follow Up” button in the “Tags” group on the “Home” tab in the Ribbon.
3. If using Outlook 2007, select “Actions| Follow Up” from the Menu Bar.
4. In the menu that appears, select the type of flag to apply to the message.
5. To use the new quick-clicks within the Inbox when flagging messages in Outlook 2013, hold your mouse pointer over the message within the Inbox. You will see a small icon of a flag appear in the upper-right corner of the message window.
6. Click the flag icon to flag the message.
7. For more advanced flagging options, right-click the icon of the flag to choose when to set the flag to follow up from a drop-down list of choices.
8. To flag a message you are sending to someone, create the mail message and click the “Follow Up” button in the “Tags” group (“Options” group in 2007) of the “Message” tab in the Ribbon.
9. Select the “Custom…” command (“Flag for Recipients…” command in 2007) from the drop-down menu to open the “Custom” dialog box.
10. To flag the message for yourself, check the “Flag for Me” checkbox and then click the drop-down arrow next to the “Flag to:” text box to select a type of follow-up to occur for this message.
11. To set a start date and a due date for the flag, click the drop-down arrow to the right of the “Start date:” and “Due date:” text boxes and then select the desired dates from the calendar displays.
12. To create a reminder for yourself, check the “Reminder:” checkbox and then select the desired time at which you want the reminder to appear in Outlook.
13. To flag this message for the recipient, check the “Flag for Recipients” checkbox.
14. Use the “Flag to:” drop-down and “Reminder” checkbox to flag and set a reminder for the recipients of the message.
15. Click “OK” when you are finished to set the flag for the message and to return to the Inbox.
16. To mark a flag as cleared in Outlook, click the icon of the flag at the right end of the flagged message in your Inbox to set it to a checkmark and remove it from your “To-Do” list.

Flagging Messages in Outlook: Video Lesson

            The following video lesson, titled “3.3- Message Flags,” shows the many ways of flagging messages in Outlook. This video is from our complete Outlook training, titled “Mastering Outlook Made Easy v.2013-2007,” which you can purchase from TeachUcomp, Inc. A picture of the training interface appears below the video lesson.