Stars and “Important” markers are a quick and effective way to visually organize your Gmail inbox. They help you highlight messages that require follow-up, contain key information, or need to be referenced later.
You can go beyond the default yellow star by using different colors and symbols to categorize emails at a glance.
💬 Pro Tip: Keep your star colors simple—too many can become confusing. Choose 3–4 key colors or icons and use them consistently.
💬 Pro Tip: Combine stars with labels or filters to automatically highlight emails that meet certain criteria, like messages from your principal or district announcements.
To customize your stars and markers:
Click the ⚙️ Gear icon and select “See all settings.”
Navigate to the General tab.
Scroll to the Stars section.
Drag and drop the colored stars and symbols you’d like to activate from the “Not in use” area to “In use.”
Once enabled, you can click the star icon next to an email multiple times to cycle through your chosen symbols.
📘 Example:
⭐ Yellow Star – Follow-up needed
💚 Green Star – Completed tasks
🔵 Blue Star – Reference information
🔴 Red Exclamation – Urgent items