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How to remove follow up flags for email messages in Outlook?

Author Kelly Last modified

Sometimes, email messages with flags, for example the follow up flags, arrive into your Microsoft Outlook. And you need to remove the follow up flags for these email messages in some cases. Here we will provide three methods to remove the follow up flags from email messages in Microsoft Outlook.

Remove the follow up flag for a received email

Mass remove the follow up flags for all received emails in a certain folder

Automatically remove the follow up flags for all incoming emails

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Remove the follow up flag for a received email

This method will guide you to remove the follow up flag for a received email message easily in Microsoft Outlook.

Step 1: Open a mail folder, and click to select the email whose follow up flag you will remove.

Step 2: Right click the flag icon the flag icon behind the email in the mail list, and select the Clear Flag in the right-clicking menu.

the Clear Flag option

Then the follow up flag is removed from the selected email message immediately.


Mass remove the follow up flags for all received emails in a certain folder

This method is about mass removing all follow up flags for all received email messages in a certain folder in Microsoft Outlook.

Step 1: Click to open a folder that you will mass remove all follow up flags from.

Step 2: Place the cursor into the Search box to activate the Search Tools, and then click the Flagged buttonthe red flag. See screen shot:

the Flagged button

Step 3: select all email messages in the searching results.

Note: You can select all email messages with clicking one and then pressing the Ctrl + A keys.

Step 4: Right click any one flag iconthe flag icon in the mail list, and select the Clear Flag in the right-clicking menu.

the Clear Flag option

Then all follow up flags are removed in this selected folder at once.


Automatically remove the follow up flags for all incoming emails

This method will guide you step by step to remove the follow up flags for all incoming emails in Microsoft Outlook automatically.

Step 1: Shift to the Mail view, and get into the Rules and Alerts dialog box:

  1. In Outlook 2007, click the Tools > Rules and Alerts.
  2. In Outlook 2010 and 2013, click the Rules > Manager Rules & Alerts on the Home tab.

the Manager Rules & Alerts  option

Step 2: In the Rules and Alerts dialog box, please click the New Rule button.

the Rules and Alerts dialog box

Step 3: In the Rules Wizard dialog box, click to highlight the Apply rule on messages I receive (or Check messages when they arrive in Outlook 2007), and click the Next button. See screen shot:

the Rules Wizard dialog box

Step 4: In the new Rules Wizard dialog box,

  1. Check the flagged for action;
  2. Click the text of action.
  3. In the popping up Flagged Message dialog box, click the Flag box and select the Follow up from the drop down list, and then click the OK button.
  4. Click the Next button.

the new Rules Wizard dialog box

Step 5: In the third Rules Wizard dialog box, check the clear the Message Flag, and click the Next button.

the third Rules Wizard dialog box

Step 6: Click the Next buttons in the following dialog box, and then in the last Rules Wizard dialog box,

  1. Enter a name for this new rule in the Step1: specify a name for this rule box;
  2. It’s optional to check the option of Run this rule now on messages already in "folder name";
  3. Click the Finish button.

the last Rules Wizard dialog box

Note: If you check the option of Run this rule now on messages already in "kelly", it will remove all existing follow up flags from the folder of "kelly". And the "kelly" will change and display as your folder name automatically.

Step 7: Click the OK button to close the Rules and Alerts dialog box.

This rule will automatically remove the follow up flags for new incoming email messages.


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