Some people employ super-selective complex ways of organizing their mails: folders upon folders, with hierarchies and contexts, and all sorts of crazy hot keys and filing procedures. Me, I’m at the other end of the scale: if I need to reply to a message, I use Mail.app’s flag command (command-shift-L). And I’ve got a smart mailbox that shows me all my flagged messages. When I’m done with it, I unflag it. Finito.
And so, while I was initially tempted by the concept behind Flagit!, an $8 input manager that allows you to define all sorts of different colored and labeled flags, I ultimately decided that it wasn’t for me. But it may be for you.
As I said, Flagit! lets you set up as many different flags as you want, with custom-defined colors and purposes, as well as a pair of flags with an exclamation point and a question mark. So you can set up flags for messages that need reply, or urgently need reply, or could be replied to sometime in the next millennium or so.
Personally, I enjoy not having to think beyond a single keystroke when I’m marking a message later. That’s the whole point of my system—I don’t have to make anything beyond a simple boolean decision: do I need to come back to this or not? But if you’re a fan of taxonomies and hierarchies and action lists, by all means, check this sucker out.
[via HawkWings]
Dan: You should use DockStar! It can give you a badge on your dock showing how many messages are in that smart folder.