How to Use and Rename Flags in Apple Mail (2026)

Short answer: To flag an email in Mail on a Mac, select it, click the Flag button in the toolbar and pick one of seven colors. Shift-Command-L toggles a flag on or off. You can't add colors or change them, but you can rename them: click the arrow next to the Flagged mailbox in the sidebar, click a flag's name, click it again and type a new one, such as Urgent instead of Red.

The steps are for Mail in macOS 27 and are the same in macOS Tahoe 26, Sequoia 15 and Sonoma 14. iPhone steps are further down.

What flags do in Apple Mail

A flag is a colored marker on a message. It doesn't move the email anywhere: a flagged message stays in your inbox and also appears in the Flagged mailbox, so you can find everything you've marked in one place. Mail has seven flag colors: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple and gray.

The colors mean nothing on their own. Red isn't more urgent than gray unless you decide it is. Flags you add on one Apple device show up on the same message on your others when they're signed in to the same Apple Account, so a system you set up on your Mac carries over to your iPhone.

How to flag an email on Mac

Select one or more messages in the message list.
Click the Flag button in the Mail toolbar, then choose a color.

The flag appears in the message header and next to the message in the list. Other ways to do the same thing:

Choose Message > Flag, then a color.
Control-click the message and pick a color next to Flag in the menu.
Press Shift-Command-L (Message > Flag > Toggle Flag).

What does Toggle Flag mean?

Toggle Flag is a switch. If the selected message has no flag, it adds one; if it already has a flag, it removes it. Its shortcut, Shift-Command-L, is the fastest way to flag and unflag while you work through your inbox. To pick a specific color, use the Flag button or the Message > Flag menu, or make your own color shortcuts (see the keyboard section below).

Change or remove a flag

Change the color: select the message and choose a different color from the Flag button or Message > Flag.
Remove the flag: click the Flag button and choose Clear Flag, choose Message > Flag > Clear Flag, or press Shift-Command-L.

How to rename flags in Apple Mail

Renaming is the only real customization Mail allows, and it's worth doing, because a name like Waiting on reply is easier to remember than Blue.

In the Mail sidebar, find the Flagged mailbox.
Click the arrow next to Flagged to show one entry per flag color. Mail shows these once you've used more than one flag color.
Click the flag's name, click it again, then type the new name and press Return.

If the color you want to rename isn't listed, flag any message with it first, rename it, then remove that flag. The color itself stays the same; only the label changes.

Here's one setup that works for a lot of people:

Flag color	Rename to	Use it for
Red	Today	Must answer or act on today
Orange	This week	Needs action, but not urgently
Yellow	Waiting	You've replied and are waiting for someone else
Green	Read later	Newsletters and long reads
Blue	Reference	Receipts, confirmations and details you'll need again

Five is plenty. If you find yourself needing all seven colors, a few mailboxes or Smart Mailboxes will probably serve you better.

Find and sort flagged emails

Click Flagged in the sidebar to see every flagged message from all accounts, or click one color under it.
In any mailbox, choose View > Sort By > Flags to group flagged messages together.
Make a Smart Mailbox (Mailbox > New Smart Mailbox) with the condition Message is flagged, or pick a specific flag, and combine it with others, such as a sender or a date range.

Flagged isn't in your sidebar? Click the + at the top of Favorites and add it back. Our guide to customizing the Mac Mail sidebar covers Favorites in more detail.

Flag emails automatically with rules

Mail can flag messages for you as they arrive. Choose Mail > Settings, click Rules, then click Add Rule. Set the conditions (for example, From contains your manager's address), then under the actions choose Mark as Flagged and pick a color. Click OK, and decide whether to apply the rule to messages already in your mailboxes.

Rules run on your Mac while Mail is open. If you also want a rule on the server, set it up in your provider's webmail.

Keyboard shortcuts for flag colors

Mail gives you one flag shortcut, Shift-Command-L. You can add a shortcut for each color in System Settings > Keyboard > Keyboard Shortcuts > App Shortcuts: choose Mail as the app and type the menu path as the menu title, for example Message->Flag->Red. If you've renamed your flags, use the name as it appears in the menu. Our Mac Mail keyboard shortcuts guide walks through it step by step.

Flags in Mail on iPhone and iPad

Flag a message: swipe left on it in the message list and tap Flag.
Change or remove a flag: open the message, tap the action button, tap Flag, then choose another color or tap Unflag.
Show the Flagged mailbox: go back to Mailboxes, tap Edit, then select Flagged.

To change what your swipes do, see how to change swipe actions in Apple Mail.

Flags, pins and color coding

Mail has no pin feature, so flags are the usual way to keep a message in view. If you want to pin, see our guide on how to pin an email in Apple Mail. Flags are also different from colored message text, which you can set with rules (the Set Color action); that's covered in our guide to color coding in Mac Mail.

If flags aren't enough

Disclosure: we make Canary Mail. Flags work, but they depend on you marking every message by hand. Canary Mail is an email app for Mac, iPhone, iPad, Windows and Android that works with Gmail, Outlook, iCloud, Yahoo, Exchange and other IMAP accounts. It sorts incoming mail with AI on your device, and its free plan includes snooze and pinned emails, according to our pricing page. The free plan covers unlimited accounts on 2 devices with AI inbox sorting; the Growth plan ($36 a year) adds AI writing and summaries, read receipts and send later. There's a 7-day trial, and paid plans are yearly or lifetime. More than 2 million people use it, and Apple has featured it on the App Store and the Mac App Store.

Frequently asked questions

How do I rename flags in Apple Mail?

Click the arrow next to the Flagged mailbox in the sidebar, click the flag's name, click it again, and type a new name. If a color isn't listed, flag a message with it first.

What does Toggle Flag mean in Apple Mail?

It flags the selected message if it isn't flagged, and removes the flag if it is. The shortcut is Shift-Command-L.

Can I add more flag colors in Apple Mail?

No. Mail has seven fixed colors: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple and gray. You can rename them, but you can't add new ones or change the colors.

What does a red flag mean in Mac Mail?

Nothing in particular. Red is just the default flag color. It means whatever you decide, which is why renaming flags helps.

Do Mail flags sync between my Mac and iPhone?

Yes. Apple says flags you add appear on that message on all your Apple devices signed in to the same Apple Account.

Can I change the order of flags in Apple Mail?

Mail doesn't let you reorder the colors, but you can sort any mailbox by flag with View > Sort By > Flags.

How to Use and Rename Flags in Apple Mail on Mac (2026)