Customizing GMail: Personal Level Indicators

Sometimes you get an email that’s directly to you and to nobody else. That kind of message tends to require a different level of attention than one that comes to you as part of a wider distribution list, like a newsletter or an email support group. And somewhere in-between are those messages where you’re directly addressed, but so are others, either in the TO: or the CC: fields.

Sure would be great if you could distinguish these types of messages at a glance…

This is a one-click setting that’s been available since, well, long ago:

Once you’ve got this setting enabled, each conversation will indicate whether any messages are directly to your email address, or to you alone:

Here the first conversation includes a message that was directly to me and me alone; the second includes me (and others) in all the messages, and the third is a support-list, broadcast-style message.

»	Mine! All mine! There’s a message here that was to me and only to me.
>	Messages here were directly to me, but also included others in the distribution list.
[no indicator]	Broadcast emails, newsletters, distribution lists, etc.

Note the orange tag that appears behind the first two indicators, above? (It’s also shown for the bottom conversation as well.) Well, that’s GMail’s importance indicator. If you’re wondering about the odd icon for the “Mint” message, that’s one of the Stars from the extended set.