Email overload is a daily challenge for many Mac users, and email flags in apple mail help you organize your inbox, prioritize messages, and keep track of emails that need attention, making inbox management faster and more reliable.
Apple Mail offers built-in flagging tools that let you mark emails by importance, urgency, or status using color-coded flags. While this manual system improves organization, it still requires consistency and effort-especially for users managing multiple accounts or security-sensitive messages.
This guide explains how to use email flags in Apple Mail, including flag types, customization options, and best practices for staying organized. It also touches on how AI email clients can complement basic flagging with smarter inbox management and improved email security for Mac users.
What Are Message Flags in Apple Mail?
Message flags in Apple Mail are the closest thing to pinning emails - a feature that isn’t available on Mac Mail. Flags are visual markers you can apply to emails to help organize and prioritize them. These flags serve as reminders or indicators of the status, importance, or urgency of an email. Apple Mail has flags in different colors that you can assign meaning to:
- Red
- Orange
- Yellow
- Blue
- Green
- Purple
- Grey
For instance, you can use the red flag to mark urgent emails, the orange flag to mark emails that contain important information, and the blue flag to mark emails that require follow-up.
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Why Use Flags in Apple Mail?
Using email flags to organize and prioritize messages helps you manage your inbox more effectively and avoid email overload. For users handling multiple email accounts, unified inbox management can further support better organization. Here’s why flagging emails in Apple Mail is helpful:
- They offer visual cues: Email flags make it easy to identify the importance or category of a message at a glance, helping you prioritize your inbox and focus on what matters most. For example, a red flag helps urgent client emails stand out immediately.
- They’re quick to access: Flagged messages are easier to find and can be grouped into folders based on flag color. This helps streamline your email management process and organize your inbox so you don’t need to browse through thousands of emails to find what you’re looking for. For example, all follow-up emails marked with a blue flag can be viewed in one place.
- It’s a reminder system: Email flags act as simple reminders for emails that require action or follow-up, helping prevent important tasks or deadlines from being missed. For example, flagging an email reminds you to reply before an upcoming deadline.
How to Use Flags in Mac Mail
Flagging emails in Apple Mail is very straightforward and can be done in just a few clicks, making it easier to organize your inbox and manage important messages.
- To flag an email: To use email flags in Mac Mail, right-click the email you want to flag. From the drop-down menu, go to Flags and select one of the seven available flag colors-red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, or gray. The chosen email flag will be applied immediately. You can also open the email, click the flag icon in the menu, and select a flag color.
- To unflag an email: When a message no longer needs attention, you can remove the flag easily. Right-click the email, scroll to Flags, and click the X symbol. Alternatively, open the email, click the flag icon, and select Clear Flag to keep your Apple Mail inbox tidy.
- To change the flag of an email: At times, you may need to update an email’s status, which can be done by changing its flag color. For example, if you’ve already followed up on an email marked with a blue flag, you might switch it to a green flag to indicate that the task is completed. To do this, right-click the email, go to the Flag option, and select the new flag color that reflects its current status.
Beyond email flags, Apple Mail offers several Mac Mail customization options that can further enhance your email workflow.
How to Customize Flags in Mac Mail
Naturally, your next question may be: can I customize flags in Mac Mail? Unfortunately, you cannot fully customize message flags in Apple Mail. However, while you can’t change the flag colors, you can rename them to better match your email workflow.
When you start flagging emails in Apple Mail, a folder for each flag color is automatically created and appears in the sidebar. For example, if you flag an email with a red flag, a folder named “Red” will be created. It appears under the Flagged mailbox in the toolbar. If the mailbox is hidden, click the arrow next to its name to reveal it. You can rename this folder to reflect your preferences and give each flag a clear meaning, such as using “Urgent” for emails that require immediate attention.
Here are the step-by-step instructions to rename flag folders in Mac Mail:
- Go to the Flagged mailbox in the Mail sidebar
- Click the triangle next to the Flagged mailbox to reveal sub-mailboxes labeled by flag color
- Double-click the flag name and type the new name
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How to Use Apple Mail Flags Efficiently
Although flagging emails in Apple Mail is as simple as choosing a flag color, you may want to learn a few tips and tricks to get the most out of this feature. These practices can help you organize your inbox and streamline your email management in Mac Mail.
Establish a Flagging System
Create a consistent flagging system in Apple Mail to categorize emails based on priority, importance, status, or action required. For example, you could use the red flag for emails that require an immediate response, the blue flag for emails that need approval from your manager, and the green flag for emails that confirm the completion of a task or project. Once you establish a system that works for you, make sure to stick with it.
Leverage Smart Mailboxes
Take advantage of Apple Mail’s smart mailboxes to create custom views based on flagged emails. When you start flagging emails, Apple Mail automatically creates folders based on flag color. For example, all emails marked with the orange flag are sorted into a folder named “Orange.” As mentioned earlier, you can rename these folders to assign a specific meaning to each flag color.
Use Keyboard Shortcuts
Apple Mail’s default keyboard shortcuts make it easy to flag and unflag emails without navigating menus or right-clicking messages. For power users, customizing keyboard shortcuts in Mac Mail can further improve workflow efficiency. You can use Shift–Command–L to flag an email, and press the same shortcut again to remove the flag.
Automate Flagging with Rules
Combine email rules and flags for automated inbox organization. For example, you can create a rule that automatically flags emails from a specific sender or those containing certain keywords. This reduces the time spent manually sorting and flagging emails.
Use Flags Only When Necessary
Reserve email flags for messages that truly require attention, action, or organization. Flagging every email can create more clutter instead of improving inbox clarity.
Mac Mail Email Flags, the Bottom Line
If you rely on Apple Mail to manage your emails on a Mac, using email flags and basic sidebar options can help improve email organization and productivity. While the default Mac Mail sidebar is functional, tailoring it to your workflow can make managing messages more efficient.
Although Apple Mail doesn’t allow extensive sidebar customization, you can still organize folder order, add or remove folders from favorites, hide or resize the sidebar, and adjust its appearance. Mac users managing important or sensitive emails may also want to explore the best email clients for Mac available today. Canary Mail offers advanced email management features and built-in security beyond Mac Mail’s limitations.
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Email Flags in Apple Mail – frequently asked questions
How do I use flags in Mac Mail?
To use flags in Mac Mail, right-click an email, select Flag, and choose a color. You can also open the email and apply a flag using the flag icon in Apple Mail.
Can you name flags in Mac Mail?
No, you can’t rename the flag colors themselves. Yes, you can rename flag folders in the Flagged mailbox. You can rename these folders to add meaning to each flag color.
What does a red flag mean in Mac Mail?
In Apple Mail, you can assign your own meaning to each email flag color. Most users use the red flag to mark urgent or important emails, but you’re free to customize flag meanings based on your inbox workflow.
Is Canary Mail secure for handling important or flagged emails?
Yes, Canary Mail is built with a privacy-first approach and supports end-to-end encryption, making it suitable for handling sensitive or high-priority emails marked with flags.
Can Canary Mail help manage flagged emails automatically?
Yes. Canary Mail uses smart inbox management to surface important messages automatically, reducing the need to manually flag every email. This is especially helpful for users managing multiple email accounts.