mail flag colors inconsistent

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Level 1

15 points

mail flag colors inconsistent

I use color coded flags in the macOS Mail app on my iMac for different things to follow up on. In the iOS Mail app all the flags show up as red. I have just learned to "deal with it." I recently added a MacBook Air to my collection of devices. Sadly, NEARLY all the flagged messages in that version of Mail are also red. I don't see a pattern regarding why a few aren't red, but more importantly, I don't understand why Apple can't make this function work correctly. Any suggestions?

MacBook Air 15″, macOS 14.5

Posted on Jul 30, 2024 1:02 PM

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Answer 1

H_J_M Author

Level 1

15 points

Aug 1, 2024 1:06 PM in response to Owl-53

Doing a bit more systematic analysis I see that the flag color tracking problem only occurs on my Yahoo! account. Unfortunately, that's the primary account that I use. Color does track correctly on iCloud and Gmail. Thanks for redirecting me back to understand the source of the problem. Too bad it doesn't work across all email hosts.

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Answer 2

H_J_M Author

Level 1

15 points

Jul 31, 2024 2:10 PM in response to Owl-53

When this was written up I was using 2 M-class Macs running Sonoma 14.5 and an iPhone running iOS 17.5.1. All my devices are linked through iCloud with the same Apple ID. Each had access to and were completely able to send/receive messages on three email accounts. Flagging on one device would NOT reflect that color on any of the other devices. Nearly always a flag color other than red would reflect as red on the devices that I didn't set the flag for.

I am in the process of updating everything to the just released versions of Sonoma and iOS. I'll try again in this new version and see what happens.

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Answer 3

Owl-53

Level 10

102,985 points

Jul 30, 2024 2:25 PM in response to H_J_M

User wrote " In the iOS Mail app all the flags show up as red. I have just learned to "deal with it." "

One can choose different coloured Flags in iOS Mail

Swipe to the Right >> More and choose the colours that are available

Similar goes for 2nd image from mcOS 14.6 >> Mail

macOS Mail

Flag emails in Mail on Mac

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Answer 4

H_J_M Author

Level 1

15 points

Jul 30, 2024 2:42 PM in response to Owl-53

I guess you're not following my point. I know you can pick different colors in iOS. My complaint is that colors I pick on one device do not stay that way when I look at them on another device. At one point I tried to select colors on my iPhone and when I went to the iMac they were all hosed up too, so I got into the practice of never color coding a flag on my iPhone -- only on my iMac. Now that I have a MacBook, I had hoped that at least I could have commonality between the Mail apps running on macOS; however, that's not the case. Other suggestions?

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