When a response to an email is essential, you can add a reminder to prompt the recipient to reply. You can also flag emails to remind yourself that you have requested a response from someone. You can later view the request as a to-do item under Tasks.

Flagging emails for recipients adds text above the From line in the message and adds the email to the recipient's to-do list.

To flag emails for recipients:

1. Start a new email and click the orange flag icon in the header above, named Follow Up, under Tags.
2. Click Custom
3. Once a small window opens, check Flag for Recipients
4. In the Custom dialog box, change the default Flag text to a description or action. For example, you could type, “Send Bill an answer for the spreadsheet.”
5. You can also check the Reminder option to add a date or time for when you want the recipient to see the reminder.

To flag emails for yourself:

1. Once you have drafted but not sent your message, click Follow Up under Tags.
2. Choose the day/timeframe you want the follow-up to occur: Today, Tomorrow, This Week, Next Week, No Date, or Custom. This will add a flag and create a to-do item in Tasks.
3. Since the message will be out of sight in your Sent Items folder, add a reminder for yourself to follow up. Choose Follow Up, then Add Reminder from the drop-down menu.
4. Set the date and time for when you want the reminder dialog box to appear.
5. Click OK.

Note: The Outlook desktop application is in the process of being updated to a "New" version. Details about this change can be found in the Microsoft announcement. Some users find, after software updates, their Outlook is switched over from Old to New, and certain functions are suddenly unavailable. Until the New Outlook is complete and released to all users, we recommend reverting to the Old Outlook whenever there is a loss in functionality. As of this time, the embedded reminder function is only available in the Old Outlook.