DDaniel Kimdaniel@pinegrove.example17:40
Hi team,
We'd like to start a trial next month. What do we need to set up first?
Waiting for replies
Track customer replies you’re waiting for
Let an unanswered question bring the email back. In Inbox Works, if your reply asks a question and no real answer comes, the email returns to the Inbox in three days, or on the day you asked about.
How it works
When your reply asks a real question, Send sets a follow-up for three days later, or for the day you asked about.
An automatic reply doesn’t end the follow-up. A real reply from the customer does.
If no real answer comes, the email comes back to the Inbox with the question you asked.
Why it happens
- Waiting looks like done.1
Once you’ve replied, the email leaves your view, whether the next move is yours or the customer’s.
- Nobody watches the quiet ones.2
Teams sort emails into new, needs reply, waiting and done. The hard part, they say, is remembering what is still open.
- The person who asked is away.3
The teammate who sent the question may not be around to check whether an answer came.
What you can do with your current tools
| What happens | |
|---|---|
| Leave it in the inbox until they reply | It stays in view, but it mixes with the emails you still have to answer. |
| A label or folder for waiting | It works if someone checks it. Gmail’s ways to be reminded |
| A personal calendar reminder | It sits apart from the email and may be hard for the rest of the team to see. |
| Inbox Works | Your question sets the follow-up, and the email comes back by itself if no real answer comes. |
Limits and sources
Limits
- Follow up looks for real questions. It won’t catch every one.
- It brings the email back. It never writes to the customer.
- Set one by hand on any email that’s waiting on someone else: Follow up in the header, or F.
- Google Workspace, in early access by approval: forward your shared address to Inbox Works, and replies go out from your own Google account. Microsoft 365, in early access by approval: sign in once to connect your shared address, and replies go out from it.
Sources
- Waiting looks like done. r/smallbusiness · Hacker News
- Nobody watches the quiet ones. r/smallbusiness
- The person who asked is away. r/productivity
Summaries of the linked threads, read 12 October 2026.
Related Add-on
-
Snooze
Put an email away until later
Put an email you haven’t answered yet away until the time you choose. It comes back to the Inbox then.
Questions
Does an out-of-office reply count as an answer?
No. Only a real reply ends the follow-up.
Can we use it with our own email now?
On Google Workspace and Microsoft 365, yes, by approval: early access is open, so ask for it and we write when your team can start. The demo, with sample email, is open now.
Waiting for replies.
The demo opens this scenario with a sample team and points to each step.