How can 2 people use the same Gmail account and filter incoming e-mails for each user considering Labels are applied per message?

Question

So this one is a serious head-scratcher that is proving much more difficult to resolve than at first glance.

I have a Client that runs a small business. They are a husband and wife team and use Gmail with the Gmelius add-on to run their business. Both the husband and wife use the same e-mail account via Gmail. The husband takes care of sales and the wife organizes the service for the Customer once a sale has been made. They use the same e-mail address for all of this and they answer all e-mails as the wife (even the sales ones written by the husband) in order to keep everything simple.

The husband wants to be able to search Gmail for all e-mails only he needs to reply to (pre-sales) so he can tackle just those without seeing any of the e-mails the wife has to reply to (post-sales). The wife would like to be able to do the same with the e-mails only she has to attend to.

Here is the problem I am having attempting to resolve this for them. Because they use Gmelius which is based on conversations, the conversation in Gmail must remain the same when the husband passes it on to the wife (e.g. after a Customer is closed). So this is an important constraint. The first, most obvious, and "intuitive" solution I attempted for them was to simply use Labels whereby when a new inquiry comes in from their website server, a Gmail filter adds the "Husband" Label which the Husband does not remove from the conversation until the Customer is closed, with the idea being that the Husband can tackle all his e-mails by simply searching for in:inbox label:Husband and the wife can tackle all her e-mails by simply searching for in:inbox -label:Husband.

Simple enough, right? Wrong! That does NOT work because Gmail assigns Labels per message, not per conversation. So when the first inquiry comes in from the server which gets filtered with the "Husband" label automatically added to it, it's only that first message that actually gets the "Husband" label. Every subsequent message between the Husband and the Customer in that same conversation does not actually have the "Husband" label (even though the conversation still misleadingly shows the "Husband label at the top), and therefore when the Husband searches for "in:inbox label:Husband", new e-mail replies from Customers whose original inquiry had the "Husband" label do NOT show up under his search. It took me ages and a lot of of pulled hairs for me to figure this out!

I then thought about changing the subject where by the Husband's e-mails have "[Inquiry]" at the end and when he passes it on to the wife he simply changes that part of the subject to "[Booked]" and they each search for subjects with either "inquiry" (husband) or "booked" (wife), but that doesn't solve their problem because changing the subject creates a new conversation, so the wife loses all the Gmelius Notes the husband had created in the original pre-sales conversation. So changing the subject seems to be out.

Next, I tried using Stars instead of Labels (yellow-starred e-mails for husband, unstarred e-mails for wife), hoping that Stars are applied per conversation (unlike Labels). However, trial and error proved that Stars are also added per message, unfortunately. So stars also seem to be out.

Lastly, this work-around to the per message Label issue is not feasible because it would have to be done constantly every single time a pre-sales Customer replies.

Thus, I am stuck and cannot for the life of me figure out how to setup their Gmail in a way that they can each do a (bookmarked) search for all the e-mails each of them is responsible for (pre-sales for husband, post-sales for wife, no mixing or intersecting) considering:

1. they both use the same e-mail address,
2. both pre-sales and post-sales e-mails must be part of the same conversation so that the wife has all the Gmelius notes and e-mail history of the Customers, and
3. Labels are applied per message and not per conversation.

Surely there has to be a way to resolve this within the constraints above, but I'm running out of hair!

How can I solve this?

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UPDATE TO CLARIFY

If a new email inquiry from the server gets assigned a "Husband" label by a Gmail filter (filter: if new email from server, assign "Husband" label), but subsequent replies from the husband and from Customers in that same conversation started by the server do not get assigned any label because there is no filter for their email address and filters can't be created based on labels, then new replies in that conversation will NOT show up when searching for in:inbox label:Husband because the new replies from the Customers do not have the "Husband" label assigned despite the conversation they're in showing the "Husband" label due to the first message (email inquiry from server) having the "Husband" label. So, considering all of that, how can this problem be resolved automatically so that the husband (and wife) can see all his new emails and only his new emails with one simple search considering labels are applied per message (not per conversation) and there doesn't seem to be a way to differentiate/filter between replies to the husband and replies to the wife since they are using the same e-mail address?

Devitt

I am stuck and cannot for the life of me figure out how to setup their Gmail This isn't really a programming problem is it ? If you were trying to write some code to implement a solution to the problem then the question might be on-topic but as it stands, not really. – Weintraub

@HighPerformanceMark: Well, I don't actually know if a script is a potential solution. Where do you suggest I post my question? – Devitt

I would have thought some sort of Gmail support forum, but I don't really have a clue. – Weintraub

@HighPerformanceMark: I checked the Gmail support forum and there are very similar questions to mine about labels for example that have not been answered in months. It looks like the Gmail support forum is quite unhelpful for anything other than basic Gmail questions. – Devitt

@ProgrammerGirl, did you check my answer, suggesting the use of 2 separate accounts? In this case, they don't even need to be Gmail. – Trochaic

@FabioManzano as per my OP, the conversation must remain the same due to the Gmelius add-on they require which stores important information per conversation. – Devitt

Does it really have to be automatically ? Cause a simple solution I see is : you add the Husband label. Husband see his conversations through this label (just clicking on the label in Gmail). When husband is done, he add a Wife label and remove the Husband one. The conversation should transfer to wife and everybody's happy, no ? – Semiporcelain

Answer 1

I do not think there is a straight solution to your issue.

There is a simple workaround though, since:

Both the husband and wife use the same e-mail account via Gmail.

You also mention that:

The husband wants to be able to search Gmail for all e-mails only he needs to reply to (pre-sales) so he can tackle just those without seeing any of the e-mails the wife has to reply to (post-sales). The wife would like to be able to do the same with the e-mails only she has to attend.

Further down:

Because they use Gmelius which is based on conversations, the conversation in Gmail must remain the same when the husband passes it on to the wife.

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Workaround

We use different users for the same account.

To do that we take advantage of the fact that Gmail ignores any character (letters and/or numbers) you add after a + sign (and before the @ sign) and sends all e-mails to the same e-mail account.

Example:

User 1 (wife): [email protected]

User 2 (husband): [email protected]

Or maybe:

User 1 (wife): [email protected]

User 2 (husband): [email protected]

So, any email sent to any address following the form of [email protected] will end up in the account [email protected].

A step further with aliases

Following our example, go to Settings and under Accounts and Import in the Send mail as section, click Add another email address and create the 2 new addresses keeping Treat as an alias checked.

They can now not only receive -which they can by default- but also send e-mails from their new addresses that will even appear in the From drop down list when they compose a new e-mail. You can find more information about aliases here.

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Using the above method, you gain an extra, higher (than the ones used by labels, stars or conversation) level, a "user level" for your filters. You can then set up easily filters to automatically star, archive or label e-mails addressed to each one of them.

This way they have their e-mails separated and know right from the start who the e-mail is for. It is like having two distinct departments for their business.

Extra Bonus: They can even e-mail each other or send reminders to themselves.

All of your above mentioned issues are resolved because although they both actually use the same e-mail account, each one has their own personalized e-mail address.

I do understand there will be a small curve there until their old customers send e-mails to their "new" addresses but it is totally worth it. After all it doesn't make much difference since even e-mails sent to [email protected] will end up in the same account.

There is also a similar approach to a possible solution for your issue described here.

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EDIT

Following the clarification in the comments:
"They use the same non-gmail email address that they access through the same Gmail address. They always answer their customer emails using their non-gmail email via Gmail".

This makes things easier because there will not even be a "small curve there until their old customers send e-mails to their "new addresses". Also, since they "always answer their customer emails using their non-gmail email via Gmail", they are comfortable using aliases.

If you haven't already, you should mark as Default their non-Gmail e-mail by going to Settings and under Accounts and Import in the Send mail as section, keeping Treat as an alias UN-checked. Following that, you create their two new aliases as explained above.

As soon as a customer e-mail arrives, who ever sees it first, forwards it to the related "user/department" (husband to himself or the wife, or vice-versa). That's all.
They just continue using their new inner-communication system.

Lick

Thank you for your thorough answer. . When I wrote the husband and wife team use the same e-mail account, I should have clarified to say they use the same non-gmail email address that they access through the same Gmail address. They always answer their customer emails using their non-gmail email via Gmail. How does that affect your answer? – Devitt

"As soon as a customer e-mail arrives, who ever sees it first, forwards it to the related "user/department" (husband to himself or the wife, or vice-versa)." Unfortunately, it needs to be an automated solution as per my OP: "how can this problem be resolved automatically". How can your solution be made to fit that criteria? – Devitt

@ProgrammerGir. Unfortunately, it needs to be an automated solution as per my OP: "how can this problem be resolved automatically". I am afraid you are looking for a non-solution. Automation only goes that far. All it is asked from your customers is to "Press the BIG RED button that reads LAUNCH". That, canNOT be automated. Sorry. I would imagine someone who is able and wants to serve customers through e-mail can do that much. – Lick