The short answer: turn on the morning brief and it arrives at 7 AM by text (or email, or both): the emails that need your answer, your meetings and what’s due, across every inbox and calendar you connect. For anything on another rhythm, switch on a ready-made routine (Plan my week every Monday, Prep every meeting, Wrap up my day at 4:30) or describe your own list in a sentence. They all report to you; none of them sends anything to anyone else.
The morning brief
A short read before you open the inbox. It covers every account you connect, up to six Gmail, Outlook and IMAP inboxes plus Google, Outlook and iCloud calendars.
- What needs you: emails waiting on a reply or a decision from you, most important first, with who it’s from and how long they’ve waited. Newsletters, receipts and automated mail stay out.
- Your day: the meetings ahead, with times.
- Tasks due: today’s, and anything overdue.
- Your own sections: anything you add in a sentence, such as “a line on any client I haven’t emailed in two weeks.”
It arrives at 7 AM by text unless you change the hour, the days or where it goes. Reply to the text to act on it: “draft a reply to Dana saying Thursday works.” Any draft is shown to you first. See Morning brief.
Ready-made routines
Each one is switched on from the Routines page, with a default time you can change. See Ready-made routines.
| Routine | When | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| Plan my week | Mondays, 8 AM | Each day’s meetings and tasks, the busiest and most open days, up to five emails that need you this week |
| Prep every meeting | Before meetings with other people | Who they are, what came before, what you owe and are owed, what to ask |
| Wrap up my day | Weekdays, 4:30 PM | Replies people are still waiting on from you, approvals only you can give, today’s open tasks |
| Clean up your calendar | Sundays, 6 PM | Overlaps, long back-to-back runs, declined meetings still on the calendar |
| Sort my tasks | Every day, 7:30 AM | Open tasks grouped into do now, schedule this week, consider dropping |
| Log every invoice | Fridays, 5 PM | The week’s invoices and receipts added to a note called “Invoices” |
| Chase what I’m owed | Mondays, 8 AM | What you asked people for last week that is still outstanding, each with a follow-up ready |
| Proposals waiting on a decision | Mondays, 8 AM | Quotes and proposals from the last 60 days still waiting on a yes or no |
Your own list, in a sentence
If the list you want isn’t there, describe it with when it should run:
- “On the 1st of every month, email me the renewal notices for things that renew this month, grouped by client.”
- “Every Friday at 3, text me what I promised people this week and whether there’s an email showing it done.”
- “Every Monday at 7, email me the change orders I sent in the last 30 days that the client hasn’t signed.”
Open it on the Routines page and run it now to see what it sends before you rely on the schedule. See Make your own.
On demand, without a schedule
Some lists you only need once: before a call, or when a client asks where things stand.
- “I have a call with Harbor Coffee in ten minutes. What have they emailed about this month, and what did I promise them?”
- “Draft a status update for Harbor Logistics from this week’s emails.” The draft is shown to you and goes when you say send.
Guides by trade
- Consultants and agencies: your week across clients on Monday, everything a client emailed before a call
- Owners with two businesses: one morning text for two inboxes
- Engineering firms: a client status update from this week’s email
- IT services: licenses and domains renewing this month
- Field service: a Monday email and a 4:30 text
- Anyone: what you promised this week, which to-dos matter this week, calendar problems before Monday, an end-of-day summary of what’s still open
The honest caveat
Every brief and routine reads only the inboxes and calendars you connect. A client calendar you can only view in their system, or a meeting that lives in someone else’s tool, isn’t in it. They report: none of them moves a meeting, answers anyone or changes a task on its own. The brief leads with what needs you; who you’re waiting on comes from the Chase what I’m owed routine or from asking. alfred_ is a paid product, and routines run on the credits your plan includes; plans are on the pricing page.
