How to customize the Gmail Stars feature for greater flexibility

2 years ago 349

Google powerfulness users, instrumentality heed: There's a mode to marque combing done that multitude of starred emails a spot much efficient. Jack Wallen shows you how.

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Image: Ascannio/Shutterstock

If you're a Gmail powerfulness user, you astir apt cognize astir the Star feature. It's precise basal and communal among email clients. You prima an email that's of peculiar importance, truthful the email successful question is easier to find astatine a aboriginal date. You tin adjacent presumption lone those emails you've starred by typing is:starred successful the Gmail hunt box. 

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But Gmail offers a spot much flexibility here. Instead of lone having stars, you tin adhd different peculiar attributes to your emails (such arsenic antithetic colored stars, red/yellow/blue exclamation points, treble arrows, greenish checks oregon purple question marks), truthful you tin amended statement them according to your needs. 

Although it's not a terribly wide variety, by adding this diverseness it's adjacent easier to find what you're looking for. Think astir it this way: You mightiness person starred hundreds of emails successful your inbox and request to find 1 retired of that collection. When you benignant is:starred you'll not lone spot each of those golden stars but possibly a fewer greenish checks oregon purple question marks. Maybe a greenish cheque represents emails that person been responded to and purple question marks are those that person yet to person attention.

 This small diagnostic tin beryllium precise useful. How bash you alteration it? Simple. 

  1. Open Gmail successful a web browser and click the cog icon successful the apical right. 
  2. From the popup, click See All Settings. 
  3. In the resulting window, scroll down until you spot the Stars section. You should spot some In Use and Not successful Use sections. 
  4. To adhd caller stars to the In usage section, simply click and resistance the prima you privation from the Not successful Use to the In Use row. 
  5. Keep adding them until you're satisfied. 
  6. When you're done, scroll down and click Save Changes. 

To usage the caller feature, click the Star fastener associated with an email and support clicking it until it lands connected the representation you privation for the email. Now, whenever you either benignant is:starred oregon click the Starred tab (under Inbox successful the near sidebar), you'll spot the antithetic stars you've added. This is simply a precise subtle mode to assistance marque Gmail a spot much efficient, particularly if you thin to prima a batch of missives.

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