That's one of the best tips I've seen in a while.
I've already set it up on my machine.

Works like a charm.

Thanks.

JC

Wow! What a great tip! This helps ease my thinking when shooting off 20 emails!

Thanks!

Kelli, Kelly, Kelle (Woody, Cheers, circa 1980s): hey used this rule im my coaching with a technology account exec who needed to track 'waiting fors' from emails sent. I remembered this from your Target delivery last week (wow I guess I did listen and learn). Thanks, you clearly are queen of the tactical realm and we love you for it...

Does anyone know how to do this in Mozilla Thunderbird?

Thanks a lot for this tip! Here's how I use it: I added two new signatures to my Outlook, so I don't have to type and hide the keyword:
One signature just consist of the keyword -wf- in 1 pt size (makes it look like two dots)
and the second one is the copy our company's corporate design signature which includes a long line of underscore (____). I made the line one stroke longer and let Outlook look for that.

Love this one! I've used this rule for some time now and it's key to my keeping an empty inbox. Like Claire, I've created two signatures one with and one without the code. I simply the select the applicable signature and viola the email goes into the follow up file. Another little trick, is to make the *wf white so that it blends into the background of the page. In effect, it disappears. Although I've also found that letting it appear can provide a little GTD teaching moment.

One question for you, Kelly. I also like to keep my sent folder empty and have looked for a rule that not only moves a copy to my @Waiting For folder but deletes the copy in the Sent folder. Anyone know how to do that on Outlook?

In Outlook 2003, I added the rule, used it once and the task didn't show up, but I searched for it and found the task. Since then, the tasks are working properly and showing in my @waitingfor Category in Tasks. The only other thing that I did was add the Category @waitingfor to the Category Master List.

Deborah--I'm curious, do you have the Completed Tasks filter setup? As described on page 10 of our GTD& Outlook document? This is the filter you add to have items marked completed go to the Completed Tasks view, otherwise, by Outlook default they stay on your list. That seems to be the cause or block for me of why emails I'm using to test my *WF rule are not showing up in Tasks (except on search). That filter (which is essential in my opinion to clear out the clutter of completed tasks) seems to change the view so only items with the Task form shows up. As soon as I take that filter off, my *WF tests from email to Tasks show up. That's why they would show up on Search as well since search includes all forms. Until I can figure this out, or one of you smart techie types out there can, I edited my instructions above to only suggest sending emails to a Waiting For email folder, not Tasks. I do think that completed tasks filter is essential, so a solution I can recommend would have to ensure that still works.
-Kelly

HI !!

On this machine I did not have the filter set, and got the same thing you did because the item in the Task list is a mail item and not a task item and so doesn't have the Complete field....BUT I figured out a way to do it.

Set the "Flag message for review" for the message in your rule.
Edit your filter on your Task List to check for this in addition to your Complete status.
Office 2003 assumes an AND between the 2 criteria, BUT it lets you go to the SQL tab and change the AND to an OR, and it seems to work. I will admit that I haven't tested it much AND it took more than 2 minutes!!

Good luck!

Deb

Deb--You are amazing! That works perfectly. I'll update my instructions for how to setup this rule to have things go to Waiting For in Tasks, for those who want to do that. Thanks so much. Kelly

I use this trick too and point people to http://waiting-for.com to see for themselves what the [w] is all about.

What's wrong with just cc-ing yourself? The entire problem for me is REMEMBERING to cc myself or REMEMBERING to type in 'wf'.

You asked: What's wrong with just cc-ing yourself?
My reply: Nothing. CC: just means you need to process it again as a new email in your inbox. With the Waiting For rule, you don't need to handle it twice. You're not getting it back as an email to process because it's going right to the Waiting For folder.

There's a huge efficiency factor here.

Do you have any suggestions for the implementation of this trick on Lotus Notes....?
Thanks,
Cristian

Hi Cristian,

As a Notes user, you don't even need to setup a rule. Create a folder called "-Waiting For" (on Notes, a dash sorts to the top instead of @). Then use the Send and File button when sending mail to move a copy of the email into the -Waiting For folder.

Kelly