GMail Tips: Manage Replied-to and Forwarded Message Workflow

Problem

Frequently, people want there to be some mechanism to know whether they have replied to messages in a conversation thread. Unfortunately, GMail does not have any mechanism for this by default.

Solution

However, using Labels and Filters a little creatively solves the issue mostly. Here are the filters I use for myself.

Replied
Matches: from:me subject:(Re:)
Do this: Apply label "↵", Never send it to Spam

Forwarded
Matches: from:me subject:(Fwd:)
Do this: Apply label "→", Never send it to Spam

Simple Steps to add filters to your GMail account:

1. You can download my XML file with the filters here:
1. Click here to get to it.
2. Click on the "Download" button.
2. Go to GMail "Settings" (accessible via the "Gear icon"on the right).
3. Click on the "Filters" tab.
4. Scroll to the bottom and click "Import Filters".
5. Click on "Choose File" and select the file you downloaded.
6. Then click on "Open File".
7. Then check the "Apply new filters to existing mail" box.
8. Click "Create filters" and wait; it will take a bit depending how many messages you have.

Once it is done you should see the two small arrows in the left as labels. Color them as you like. I chose to have the colors be a white background with the GMail red as the arrow color.

Note: These filters work best in conversation view as they rely on seeing whether your message is in the conversation or not to determine the correct tag. It is not 100% accurate but gets you there most of the way.

Additional Solutions

Another thing you can do is go to the "Gear icon"and "Settings" and then to "Labs".
Here you can enable the lab called "Send & Archive".

Your workflow would change such that whenever you reply to a message or forward it you click the "Send & Archive" button instead of "Send". This allows you to assume that if you see a message in your inbox you have not replied to it or forwarded it yet and as such it needs an action. Use this in conjunction with the filters above for best results.