The short answer: connect your Gmail or Outlook to alfred_, add your phone number, and tell it once: “Text me when a client emails to approve a proof.” From then on, each matching email sends you a text with what the client said. Reply by text if you need to, and the reply goes in the thread when you say send.
The approval that waits in the inbox
You run production at a twelve-person design and print agency. Northside Brewing’s seasonal can labels are on the press schedule for Monday, but only if the client signs off on the final proof by Friday. You emailed it at 2 PM Thursday.
At 4:52 PM Friday, Jenna writes back: “Looks great, go ahead. Just make sure the ABV is on the front.” You’re on the floor with the printer, not at your desk. You see it Monday at 9:15. The press slot went to another job at 9.
The native ways, and where they stop
Proofing software. If clients approve inside a proofing tool, it can notify you. Many clients still reply to the email instead, and that approval sits in the inbox.
Mail app notifications. You can get a buzz for every email, or VIP alerts for certain senders. A VIP client sends twenty emails a week; only one of them is the approval.
Asking the client to call. Works when they remember.
Set up the rule
- 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.
- Say the rule, by text or in the app: “Text me when a client emails to approve a proof.”
- alfred_ repeats the rule back. Check it, and it’s saved.
Rules are listed in Settings, Rules, and the details are in Email rules.
What the text looks like
alfred_: Jenna Park (Northside Brewing) approved the seasonal can label proof: “Looks great, go ahead. Just make sure the ABV is on the front.”
You: tell her thanks, we’ll confirm the ABV on the front and it goes to press monday
alfred_: Here’s the reply to Jenna: “Thanks, Jenna. We’ll make sure the ABV is on the front, and it goes to press Monday.” Send it?
You: send
Illustrative exchange. The client and names are invented.
Where each step happens
- On the floor: the text arrives in iMessage on iPhone, or RCS or SMS on Android. No app to install.
- Answering: text back what to say. “send” or “yes” sends it; anything else changes it first.
- Desktop: your rules are in Settings, Rules. Change one there or by text: “only text me about Northside and Harbor Coffee.”
The honest caveat
A rule reads each new email and decides whether it matches what you described, so check the first few texts against your inbox and tighten the rule if it’s too broad. It reads only the inboxes you connect, so an approval given inside a proofing tool with no email to you isn’t seen. And it doesn’t reply to clients on its own. alfred_ is a paid product; plans are on the pricing page.
