The short answer: connect your Gmail or Outlook to alfred_, add your phone number, and tell alfred_ in a sentence which emails are worth a text: “Text me when a client emails that something is down.” alfred_ reads each new email and texts you only when one matches, with what it says. Reply to the text and alfred_ writes the answer in the thread; nothing goes until you say send.
Why the phone’s own alerts don’t solve it
Turn on notifications for your work email and the phone buzzes for everything: receipts, newsletters, the software vendor, the one client who matters. Turn them off and the client who matters waits until you’re back at a desk.
The built-in middle ground matches the sender:
- Gmail on Android can notify you per label, so you build a filter that labels a sender and turn on notifications for that label.
- The Outlook app can notify you only for Favorite People.
- iPhone Mail can notify you only for VIPs.
All three work when one sender is always important. They don’t work when what matters is what the email says: a client asking to cancel, a payment notice that says deposit, an outage report from any of forty clients, a load request from a shipper you’ve never heard from.
How an alfred_ rule decides
A rule is a standing instruction in a sentence. alfred_ reads each new email that reaches the inboxes you connect and decides whether it matches what you described. You can name a sender (“anyone from @morrowarchitects.com”), a subject (“about an RFI”), a meaning (“a client asking to cancel, pause or cut back service”), or a mix.
When an email matches, you get a text with who wrote and what they want. The rest of the inbox stays quiet.
Set one up
- Connect the inbox (Gmail, Google Workspace, Outlook or Microsoft 365). Sign in with Google or Microsoft; your password stays with them.
- Save your phone number in Settings and send alfred_ one text from that phone. That first text turns texting on. See Text messages.
- Say the rule, by text or in the app: “Text me when a payment notice says a client paid a deposit.”
- alfred_ repeats it back. Check it, and it’s saved under Settings, Rules. See Email rules.
- Check the first few texts against your inbox. If it fires on things you don’t care about, narrow it: “only deposits, not monthly invoices.”
If you don’t want texts at night, turn on quiet hours. Alerts that arrive during them wait and come together as one text when they end.
Answer from the text
alfred_: Kim Alvarez at Northside Dental: “Our front desk computers can’t reach the server. Can someone look this morning?”
You: tell her I’m on it, there by 10
alfred_: Here’s the reply to Kim: “Hi Kim, on it. I’ll be there by 10.” Send it?
You: send
Illustrative exchange. The client and details are invented.
The reply goes in Kim’s thread, from your own address. “Send” or “yes” sends it; anything else changes it first. See Reply by text.
Rules people set, by trade
Each of these guides walks through one rule, the text it sends and where it stops.
- Contractors: the architect answers an RFI, a property manager asks for a certificate of insurance, a client pays the deposit
- Service businesses: a client emails to cancel or pause service, a new inquiry comes in from your website
- IT services: a client emails that something is down
- Agencies and print shops: a client approves a proof
- Mortgage: the underwriter sends conditions
- Real estate: an offer arrives by email, the lender or title company writes
- Freight brokers: a shipper emails a load request
- Franchise owners: corporate forwards a customer complaint
- Anyone with evening clients: a 9 PM client email, answered first thing
A rule can also file mail instead of texting you, such as moving client receipts into one folder.
The honest caveat
A rule sees only the email that reaches the inboxes you connect, up to six Gmail, Outlook and IMAP accounts. Something that happens only inside other software, with no email to you, isn’t seen. A rule is judged on meaning, so a vague one (“text me about anything important”) texts you more than a specific one; check the first few and tighten it. And a rule never answers anyone: the reply goes when you say send. alfred_ is a paid product; plans are on the pricing page.
