Follow-ups

Turn emails that ask to book a time into follow-up tasks, each with when it's due and the email it came from.

Use it when

Use it with an Inbox folder for booking requests, so every email that asks for a time becomes a task you can call back on.

Use something else when

For tasks you write yourself, with an owner and a done box, use Checklist.

How to add it

The usual way is from an Inbox folder:

1. Open Inbox, show Folders if you need to, and choose the folder under Smart folders.
2. Press the ⋯ menu, then Edit folder.
3. Set Scheduling to Asks to book a time.
4. Under Add a follow-up task to, choose New follow-ups table. You see Making the follow-ups table….
5. Press Save folder.

From now on, each email in that folder that asks to book a time adds a task to Follow-ups. It lists them soonest first, with a Calendar tab.

How to add a follow-up yourself

1. Open the Follow-ups table from your sidebar, or open My Business, then Advanced, then Data, and pick it.
2. Press New follow-up. If you renamed the table, the button may say something else.
3. Under Title, type what to follow up, such as "Call Sam about Tuesday".
4. Pick the Due time.
5. Press Create follow-up.

You see Follow up created, and the follow-up is in your list.

How to work through your follow-ups

1. Open the Follow-ups table, and press Calendar above it to see them by day.
2. Click a task to see when it's due. Open Where it came from to see the email it came from.
3. Call or email the person back. A follow-up is a reminder for you: it doesn't book anything or reply to them.

What it adds or changes

• Opens as: Table by due time · Calendar tab
• Columns: Title · Due · Time zone · Source message · Source entry · Status

Creates an empty table · no rows or automations

It adds a table with these columns:

Example

Harbour Physio, a fictional clinic, has an Inbox folder for booking requests. A patient emails asking for "a session next Tuesday afternoon". A task appears in Follow-ups with a due time and that email, and it shows on the calendar. The receptionist calls back and books the session.

If something isn't working

• Your table isn't offered under Add a follow-up task to. Only tables with a title, due time, time zone, source message and entry, and status are listed. Choose New follow-ups table instead.
• "Turn on automatic sorting in Settings → Inbox to file by what messages are about." Turn it on there, then edit the folder again.
• "Sorting is paused." Inbox isn't sorting new mail at the moment, so no new follow-ups are added. Check Settings → Inbox.
• "Someone else changed this folder. Close and open it again to see their change." Close the folder, open it again and make your change.
• There's no Edit folder option. Your role can't change folders. Ask an admin of your business.