1) "todo" label 2) "awaiting reply" label 3) "delegated" label 4) "info" label (regarding meetings, flights, etc)
in your inbox, use special stars to star the emails and then archive all emails with the corresponding label (which reflects the star).
Once a conversation is done, archive the email removing the labels and stars?
It seems confusing to me. What am I missing?
you can use stars OR labels - no point using both
you have extra inboxes for each kind on the side
you read in your inbox you act (potentially reply, potentially mark with star/label, always archive)
if it's a todo you dont get to now you put it in the todo label if you replied and want to make sure you dont lose track -> awaiting reply if you handed it off to someone and want to keep track -> delegated if it's about some future meeting (or flight, hotel, etc) -> purple star (forgot what i called it)
you always archive this way your main inbox is empty and you know what you looked at by adding (or removing) label they end up (or get out) in the little boxes
at some point you might go through your todos - handle them remove the star/label
at some other point you might browse through the awaiting replies and realise they are done or no longer needed -> remove label
(and so on)
works really well for me
hth