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How to tag emails in Apple Mail

Learn how to tag emails in Apple Mail using Mailbutler, explore other tagging functionalities, and transform your email management strategy.

First published

18.10.2023

Last edited

27.02.2024

Read time

7 minutes


    By James

    James has seven years' experience as a Content Marketer, bylines on Left Foot Forward, Submittable, and INOMICS, and a Master's in History. In his free time he likes to read, play guitar, and write for his personal blog.

    Apple Mail tags are a great way to better organize your inbox and keep on top of your email communication. You can use them to add labels to emails, contacts, tasks, signatures and more so you always know exactly which item you should use for a particular situation, what an email is about, and who a person is. After initially setting up tags, they can really help to save you time and energy.

    This article will help you learn how to tag emails in Apple Mail using Mailbutler, explore other tagging functionalities, and illustrate how managing and filtering tags can transform your email management strategy.  

    Tagging emails in Apple Mail 

    Using Mailbutler's tagging feature in Apple Mail is easy and really helpful. It makes a big difference, especially when you're managing a lot of emails.

    Here are the steps: 

    • Install Mailbutler for Apple Mail.
    • Open an email you wish to tag. 
    • Click on the 'Add tag' icon within the Mailbutler toolbar. 
    • Enter the desired tag name and choose a color for easy identification. 
    • Hit 'Save.' 

    Create email tag in Apple Mail

    This simple process allows for the easy categorization of emails. Whether it's distinguishing between client inquiries, invoices, or internal communications, tagging aids in a tidy inbox and a smooth workflow, making email management a breeze.

    Other Apple Mail tagging features from Mailbutler

    Mailbutler's tagging feature is not only a blessing for emails; you can also use tags on other items in Mailbutler for Apple Mail:

    • Contacts: Establishing and maintaining professional relationships is simplified by tagging individual contacts. Label contacts based on criteria like industry, company, or communication frequency, giving you a structured overview of your network. 
    • Tasks and Notes: In the hustle of daily operations, keeping track of tasks and important notes is crucial. Tagging tasks and notes with priority levels or project names helps in staying on top of deadlines and ensuring nothing slips through the cracks. 
    • Email Templates and Signatures: In professional communication, having a variety of email templates and signatures is common. Tagging them based on scenarios or departments ensures that you quickly find the right template or signature, maintaining branding consistency and saving you time.

    Each tagging functionality enhances user experience, making navigation and organization in Apple Mail a straightforward process. 

    Managing and filtering Apple Mail tags

    Managing Apple Mail Tags

    The usage of Mailbutler's tagging feature is significantly boosted when coupled with effective management and filtering practices. With these capabilities, users can customize their tags, manage them effortlessly, and filter their inboxes for a refined email experience. 

    Customizing Tags

    Customization is the cornerstone of an efficient tagging system. Mailbutler simplifies this by allowing users to: 

    Create Descriptive Tag Names: Customizing tag names to be descriptive and specific improves the ease of locating and sorting emails later on. For example, instead of a generic tag like 'work', more specific tags like 'project updates' or 'client communication' can be employed. 

    Color-Coding: Assigning colors to tags not only enhances visual recognition but also allows for a quick overview of the inbox at a glance. 

    Managing Apple Mail tags 

    Effective Apple Mail tag management is essential in maintaining an organized inbox and enhancing your workflow: 

    Consistent Application: Applying tags consistently across similar types of emails, tasks, or contacts ensures a well-structured system. For example, using an 'invoices' tag for all email correspondence related to invoices. 

    Centralized Management: Manage all tags in one place under Account & Preferences, which ensures a cohesive tagging strategy across all your digital assets. 

    Filtering and sorting your Apple Mail tags

    Filtering Apple Mail tags

    The true power of tags is unleashed when they're used for filtering and sorting: 

    Item Retrieval: Tags speed up locating specific items. By sorting and filtering items based on tags, users can quickly navigate through emails, contacts, tasks, and more, to find exactly what they need. 

    Project-Based Filtering:  Using project-based tags helps you to manage multiple projects easily. They let you filter messages, tasks, notes, and contacts by project, making communication and project management more focused and effective.

    Priority-Based Filtering: Distinguishing items based on their priority by adding high, medium, or low-priority tags helps in resource allocation and focuses attention on pressing tasks or emails.

    Benefits of Apple Mail tagging 

    • Improved Organization: Apple Mail tagging significantly declutters your inbox by categorizing emails based on projects, priority, or any other custom criterion. This level of organization streamlines the workflow, making it easier to handle correspondence efficiently. With a well-organized inbox, you spend less time sifting through emails and more time addressing the important ones. 
    • Efficient Retrieval: Tagging emails promotes a quicker retrieval process. By clicking on a tag, you can instantly view all emails grouped under that tag. This becomes incredibly handy when dealing with a large volume of emails daily, ensuring that you can easily access the information you need when you need it.
    • Enhanced Focus: When working on multiple projects or handling various topics, tagging helps maintain focus. By filtering emails based on tags, you can tackle one subject or project at a time without getting distracted by unrelated emails.

    Flag emails in Apple Mail on Mac

    Flagging emails in Apple Mail on a Mac is a simple yet effective way to highlight important messages for easy spotting and retrieval. With the flagging feature, you can sort emails by priority or project, bringing order to your inbox.

    Once an email is flagged, a 'Flagged' mailbox pops up in the Mail sidebar and the Favorites bar, gathering all flagged messages in one spot for quick access. Plus, you can rename flags to something like 'Urgent,' making email management more personalized. This renaming acts like labeling, helping especially when dealing with a lot of emails. Through flagging and renaming, you can keep your inbox tidy, ensuring important emails are always within reach and not buried under the pile.

    How flagging emails is different than Mailbutler's Tags

    Flagging emails in Apple Mail and tagging emails with Mailbutler's Tags serve the primary purpose of organizing your inbox, but they function in slightly different ways:

    Functionality:

    • Flagging (Apple Mail): Flagging in Apple Mail is a straightforward feature that allows you to mark important emails for easy identification and retrieval. When you flag an email, a Flagged mailbox appears, displaying all flagged messages. Additionally, flags can be renamed to something more descriptive, like 'Urgent,' which can help in categorizing emails based on priority or projects.
    • Tagging (Mailbutler): On the other hand, Mailbutler's tagging feature is more versatile. It not only allows you to tag emails, but also contacts, templates, signatures, notes, and tasks. You can create multiple tags with different colors and names, making it a powerful tool for organizing your inbox and other aspects of your email. These tags can be managed and filtered to quickly find the items you're looking for.

    Ease of access and visibility:

    • Flagging (Apple Mail): Flags in Apple Mail are easily accessible with a simple click, and they appear in the header of each message. They provide a visual cue, making flagged emails easy to spot.
    • Tagging (Mailbutler): Tags in Mailbutler are also visually identifiable but with the added advantage of color coding and the ability to customize tag names. The color-coded tags provide a quick overview of your inbox at a glance and make it easier to organize and find items.

    Management and customization:

    • Flagging (Apple Mail): While flags can be renamed, the customization options are relatively limited compared to Mailbutler's Tags. The management is also straightforward with a dedicated Flagged mailbox for flagged emails.
    • Tagging (Mailbutler): Mailbutler offers more robust management and customization options for tags. You can manage all your tags in one place under Account & Preferences, customize tags with names and colors, and quickly sort and filter items by your tags, providing a more refined organizational experience.

    Integration and cross-platform availability:

    • Flagging (Apple Mail): The flagging feature is native to Apple Mail and is not available cross-platform or in other email clients without some form of synchronization.
    • Tagging (Mailbutler): Mailbutler's tagging feature is available not only for Apple Mail but also for Outlook and Gmail, making it a versatile option for users who work across different email clients.

    In summary, while both flagging and tagging aim at improving email organization, Mailbutler's Tags offer a more versatile and customizable solution, extending beyond emails to other elements like contacts and tasks, and across different email apps.

    Apple Mail tagging FAQs

    How to tag emails on Mac Mail?

    Apple Mail does not support tagging emails natively like other email clients. However, there is a workaround using an extension called Mailbutler. This extension facilitates organizing and searching messages by various tags.

    What does flagging an email in Apple Mail do?

    Flagging emails in Apple Mail helps in marking important messages for easy identification and retrieval. When you flag an email, a Flagged mailbox appears in the Mail sidebar and the Favorites bar displays all flagged messages.

    Flagging essentially helps in categorizing emails based on priority or projects, for instance. The flags can be renamed to something more descriptive like 'Urgent', providing a level of customization to help manage emails better. For example, renaming a red flag to "Urgent" helps you to quickly identify critical emails.

    Summary

    Embracing the tagging feature in Apple Mail by using Mailbutler fundamentally transforms email management, making it a structured and stress-free task. The ease and efficiency of tagging, along with the various functionalities it offers, markedly improves organization and productivity.

    By adopting this simple yet powerful tool, navigating your inbox becomes a breeze, ultimately freeing up time for other crucial tasks. It's time to enhance your Apple Mail experience by starting to tag your emails with Mailbutler today.

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    Comments (2)

    1. I use MailButler but cannot find the “tag” button to tag mail, contacts, etc. I have the professional plan

      27 Oct 2023
      • Hi Lynda, you should see the tags button in the Mailbutler Sidebar. If you don’t, you might have to update your Mailbutler version. If that doesn’t work, please send an email to support@mailbutler.io and we’ll be happy to help you further.

        31 Oct 2023

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