Reacting to a message inside Saved Messages does not send a reaction anywhere. It files it. The emoji becomes a tag, appears in a bar at the top, and tapping it shows everything carrying the same one.
Each tag can also be given a name, which is what turns a row of symbols into a set of categories you will still understand next year.
What you will be able to do
- check_circle Tag a saved message with an emoji.
- check_circle Name the tag so it means something.
- check_circle Filter your archive down to one category.
- check_circle Build a set of tags that survives contact with reality.
Applied tags collect in a bar across the top, each one a filter.
sell Naming is the whole feature
An emoji on its own is a guess. Six months later a symbol you chose for "things to read" and a symbol you chose for "sent to the accountant" look equally plausible for either, and the filing stops working exactly when you need it.
Giving a tag a name fixes that permanently. The name appears next to the symbol in the filter bar, so the bar becomes a list of categories rather than a row of pictures, and the emoji is just what makes them quick to tell apart.
Grouping by source answers "where did this come from"; tags answer "what kind of thing is this". They work on the same archive and the second is the one you have to maintain, because nothing applies a tag for you.
Four decisions about a tag set
The second is where most personal filing systems fail.
category By what you will do with it
rule The number that works
edit Words, not pictures
event_repeat A system needs maintenance
Tag by what you will do with it, name every tag, and keep the bar short enough to read.
settings Setting up tags
- Open Saved Messages Tags exist only here.
- React to a message with an emoji That applies a tag.
- Hold the tag and name it Straight away, not later.
- Start with three Based on what you will do with things.
- Tap a tag to filter The bar sits at the top.
- Delete a tag when its purpose ends Filter by it first and clear the lot.
This page files things as you save them. The curriculum step is finding things you never filed: searching by sender, narrowing to a date, and the media tabs that reach an old file without any tagging at all.
At a glance
- 1Tag with emoji
Premium users can tag saved messages.
- 2Name your tags
A named tag still makes sense months later.
- 3Tag by action
Use tags like to-read or to-do, not topics.
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