The short answer: yes. Text alfred_ “Forward Dana’s signed contract email to billing@ourfirm.com and say: new client, please set up invoicing.” It finds the email, forwards it with its attachments, puts your note above it, and shows you the recipient and the note first. Text “send” and it goes from your own address.
The PDF in the parking lot
You’re an account manager at a marketing agency. You’ve been chasing a new client’s signature for a week. At 5:40 PM, walking to your car, Dana from Brightwater Dental emails it back: “Signed! Attached.” Accounting needs it to set up the retainer invoice before the month closes tomorrow.
Forwarding from your phone means opening the mail app, finding the email, tapping forward, typing the billing address, checking the PDF actually came along, and writing a line for accounting. Doable, and exactly the kind of thing that waits until morning when you’re carrying a laptop bag and your keys.
The native ways, and where they stop
Forwarding in the mail app. It works, with your thumbs, on a small screen. On some phones and some accounts it isn’t obvious whether the attachment is included until you check.
A rule in Outlook or Gmail. Auto-forwarding every email with “signed” in the subject to billing works for the emails that say “signed” in the subject. Dana’s said “Re: Brightwater Dental proposal.”
Waiting until morning. The month closes tomorrow.
Forward it by text
- Connect your Gmail or Outlook to alfred_. Sign in with Google or Microsoft; your password stays with them.
- Add your phone number and text alfred_ once from that phone. That turns texting on.
- Text the forward in plain words: who it’s from, what it is, where it goes, and the note.
You: forward dana’s email with the signed contract to billing@ourfirm.com, say: new client brightwater dental, please set up the monthly retainer invoice
alfred_: I’ll forward “Re: Brightwater Dental proposal” from Dana Price (with Brightwater-Agreement-Signed.pdf) to billing@ourfirm.com, with: “New client, Brightwater Dental. Please set up the monthly retainer invoice.” Send it?
You: send
Illustrative exchange. The client, names and file are invented.
Or forward them automatically
If every signed contract should go to accounting, make it a rule: “Forward signed contracts from clients to billing@ourfirm.com.” alfred_ repeats the rule back before saving it. A rule acts on each matching email without asking each time, so use one only for mail you’re comfortable forwarding automatically. Rules are listed in Settings, Rules. See Email rules.
Where each step happens
- Phone: text the forward and answer “send”. iMessage on iPhone, RCS or SMS on Android.
- iPhone app or web: ask the same thing in alfred_; the preview and approval are the same.
- Desktop: the forwarded email is in your Sent folder as usual.
The honest caveat
alfred_ forwards from the inboxes you connect, and it picks the email from what you describe, so be specific when there are several from the same person. It shows you the email it picked and the recipient before sending; read them. If it can’t retrieve the attachments at that moment, it sends nothing and tells you. alfred_ is a paid product; plans are on the pricing page.
