The short answer: an email you ask alfred_ to write is shown to you first, recipients and all, and goes only when you approve it, with Send in the app or “send” by text. The exception is automation you set up yourself: a rule that forwards email, or a routine you told to send without asking, runs on its own once it’s on. Both are listed in Settings, Rules and on the Routines page, and you don’t have to set up either.
Why this is the first question
For a lawyer, an advisor, an agency with a demanding client or anyone whose name is on the email, one wrong send costs more than a hundred saved minutes. “It drafts, you send” is the deal that makes an assistant usable on client email at all. The useful question isn’t whether a tool can send; it’s exactly what it can send without you.
What waits for you
| Action | Asks first? |
|---|---|
| Sending an email or a reply | Yes |
| Forwarding an email you ask about | Yes |
| A meeting that invites other people | Yes |
| Archiving or moving mail you ask about | Yes |
| Changing a repeating task | Yes |
| Looking things up, adding a task, saving a note | No, these only affect you |
| A meeting on your own calendar with no guests | No |
In the app and on iPhone, a card shows the email with a button to confirm. By text, alfred_ asks “Send it?” and waits: “yes”, “send” or “do it” sends it, “no” or “cancel” stops it, and anything else (“make it shorter”, “add that we’re closed Friday”) changes the draft and it asks again. You can also save a draft to Gmail or Outlook Drafts to send later. See Drafts and approvals.
The exception: automation you set up
Two kinds of automation run without asking each time, and both start only when you create them:
- An email rule that forwards mail. “Forward invoices from @supplier.com to billing@ourfirm.com” runs on each matching email. Rules can text you, file, label, archive, star or forward; they can’t reply. See Email rules.
- A routine you’ve told to send without asking. Routines report to you by default, and a routine that drafts replies leaves them for you to review. One sends on its own only if you tell it to. See Make your own.
Rules that only text you or file mail, such as moving client receipts into one folder, never send anything to anyone.
From your own address, on the record
Approved email goes from your own Gmail or Outlook account, in the thread it belongs to, and lands in your Sent folder like anything you type yourself. alfred_ doesn’t use your data to train AI models. On a team, each person’s alfred_ works on their own inboxes; a coordinator helps with a teammate’s email only when that teammate shares, and every read and send is logged where the teammate can see it.
Guides by situation
- Law firms: drafts you approve, never sent on their own
- Financial advisors: AI on client email under firm compliance rules
- Teams: each account manager their own assistant
- From your phone, with a preview: forward a signed contract to accounting, resend a client’s gallery link, tell a customer when the tech is coming
- Many emails, each checked: rain moves tomorrow’s jobs, email each client
- Drafted from the week’s mail: a client status update
The honest caveat
Approval is only as good as the reading behind it. alfred_ shows you the whole email, recipients included, every time; check the To line, especially when two clients share a name. An automation you turn on does what you told it to on every matching email, so check the first few results before you rely on it. Whether an AI assistant on client email meets your firm’s or regulator’s rules is your call; the facts for it are in the privacy policy and on the security page. alfred_ is a paid product; plans are on the pricing page.
