May 30, 2013
If you’re like most people, you’re probably receiving too many messages. A great way to keep your Inbox from feeling overloaded is to filter out low-ranking messages while highlighting the important ones.
Here are some of our favorite filters, along with some terrific suggestions from Postbox users, for keeping your Inbox tidy, relevant, and actionable.
Filters to Keep Your Inbox Clean
Shopping or Promotions
Create a new folder called “Shopping.” Create a filter called “Shopping by Subject” that CONTAINS ANY of the following terms within the Subject line, such as “receipt,” “statement,” “bill” “order,” “purchase,” “monthly,” “shipping,” “shipped,” “shipment,” “coupon,” “sale,” “% Off,” “free” or “promotion,” and then create a filter action that moves these messages to the “Shopping” folder.
Next, create a second filter called “Shopping by Sender.” Use the search bar to look for emails related to ecommerce, such as Amazon, Groupon, or Living Social, and then copy the email address from those senders, such as “auto-confirm@amazon.com” or “do_not_reply@itunes.com” and use those as an ANY filter criteria. Create an action that moves these messages to the “Shopping” folder.
Newsletters
Create a new folder called “Newsletters” and a new filter called “Newsletters.” Use the Postbox Search Bar to find messages that contains the following terms within the message body: “unsubscribe,” “opt-out,” “edit your preferences,” “update profile,” “manage your account,” etc.
Next, select a newsletter, click on the sender name in the message envelope, and select “copy email.” Paste the email address into the Message Filters panel, and repeat the process using the ANY criteria. Create an action that moves these messages to the “Newsletters” folder.
A slight variation of this to move messages to a “To Read” folder for newsletters or mailing lists that are more relevant to your business or lifestyle.
Social Updates
Create a filter that is based on the email addresses of messages from social media sites such as from Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+, YouTube, etc.
My Messages and Files
Create a folder called “My Messages,” and then create a filter with the ALL criteria that looks for your email address in both the “From” and “To” fields. This is handy for working on messages and attachments that you send to yourself.
Unknown Senders
This filter keeps messages from senders that are not in your Address Book from entering the Inbox. Create a folder called “Unknown Senders” and then set the ALL criteria to first match “From isn’t in my address book.” To allow emails from work colleagues, add a second criteria to match “From isn’t @yourcompanydomain.com.” Create an action that moves these messages to the “Unknown Senders” folder, and then triage the contents of this folder at the end of the work day.
Block List
If a specific person is sending you inappropriate or unwanted email, add their email address to a “Block List” filter. Postbox will essentially look for emails from people on the block list and you can set the filter to delete these messages if desired.
No Reply
This is a great filter for catching messages that are not filtered by the above. Create a filter that searches for ANY email addresses that CONTAINS “noreply@” or “no-reply” and move them to a “No Reply” folder. Periodically inspect this folder for emails that should be added to an existing filter.
Filters for Managing Inbox Contents
Highlight Messages from my Boss or the Executive Team
This filter will make sure that you never miss an important email from the people who write the checks. First, create a Topic called “Execs,” color the Topic red, and for added emphasis, select “Apply the topic color to the entire row in the message list pane” within the Topic Preferences Panel. Next, create a filter that searches for email addresses from your boss and/or the executive team, and then applies the Topic “Execs” as an action.
Alternatively, you can add these contacts to a dedicated “Execs” address book and filter by that criteria.
Add a Topic to Messages from a Partner Domain
This is great for organizing messages from other companies that you work with. For example, if you’re working with ACME Design on a new website, create a Topic called “ACME” and then create a filter that looks for all email addresses that CONTAINS “@acme.com,” then create an action to assign the “ACME” Topic to each message. From here, you can use the Focus Pane to only view messages from ACME Design.
Auto-Archive Old Messages
Create a filter where the “Age in Days” is greater than “90,” then move these messages to your Archive folder. You can even move messages to an Archive folder on a different account if your work account quota is starting to max out.
Keep Old Messages from Being Forgotten
The message list can get long, and messages that are out of sight tend to be out of mind too. Create a filter where the “Age in Days” is greater than “10,” and then create an action that adds these messages to your To-Do list. Pin To-Dos to the top of your message list to keep them in view. This essentially forces you to deal with messages within a 10 day time period instead of letting messages accumulate within the Inbox.
Copy Messages to a Backup Account
If you’re using a POP account and would like an easy way to backup new messages to an online account, you can create a filter for that! Create a dedicated IMAP account for storage (from Gmail or any other free IMAP provider), then create a “Match All Messages” filter to automatically copy all new messages to the storage account’s Inbox.
You’ll also want sent messages to get copied to this account as well by going into Preferences / Accounts / [your account] / Copies & Folders and under “Sent” select “Bcc these email addresses” and enter your email address for your storage account. This creates an online backup for your POP email that can be searched from anywhere!
Advanced Tips
Display Folders in the Favorites Bar
Once you’ve created dedicated folders for messages such as “Newsletters,” “Shopping” and “Social,” you can arrange them within the Favorites Bar for fast access. Alternatively, you can open each folder within their own tabs.
Mark Messages as Read
A useful add-on action to any filter is to mark the message as “Read.” This helps to keep unread message bubbles or dock badges from distracting your attention.
Mark as To-Do
A great filter action is to mark messages as To-Dos. This causes the message background to change color, and you can even “pin” To-Dos to the top of your message list so they don’t get lost in the shuffle.
Highlight with a Topic
Using Filters to automatically assign Topics is a very powerful organization technique! Once a message is tagged with a Topic, you can use the Focus Pane to only view messages that contains that Topic — great for staying focused on one thing at a time.
Filter by Address Book
In Postbox, you can group contacts by as many Address Books as you like. For example, if you’re coaching kids soccer, you can add the parents’ email addresses to a “Soccer” address book, and then create a filter that applies actions to messages from those senders, such as moving messages to a “Soccer” folder or applying a “Soccer” Topic.
Reply with a Template
A great filter action is the “Reply with Template” action that sends a pre-canned message Template. For example, a reply with template action could state: “Thanks for contacting ACME. Below you will find information on our company and products. If you require additional information, please reply to this message with ‘ACME Inquiry’ in the subject line and we’ll get right back to you.”
You could then create a second filter that finds messages that CONTAINS the subject line “ACME Inquiry” and apply an appropriate filter action.
Hint: Filters execute in the order specified within the Message Filters panel. By arranging the filters in a specific order, you can essentially create a filter-powered workflow.
Filtering Directly on the Email Server
While setting up filters within Postbox is most convenient approach, it is perfectly acceptable to set up filters directly on your email server. This allows messages to be filtered in the background, as “close to the metal” as possible, which will improve the overall performance of Postbox.
Hint: If you use a server-based filter to move messages to “Folder X,” within Postbox right-click Folder X, select “Properties…” and select “Check this folder for new messages.” This will allow this folder to automatically update when your Inbox is checked for new messages.
Have a favorite filter to share? Tell us about it in the comments below!
Posted by Sherman Dickman
April 28, 2013
Postbox 3.0.8 is now available. Here’s what’s new in this release:
Reduce power usage (and increase laptop battery life) by only using the integrated GPU on Mac OS X
Added a “Run Filters on Folder” toolbar button
Notification Center alerts now link directly to messages
Postbox will now display the account name next to folder name in the message pane
Added automatic account configuration support for iCloud email accounts
Fixed a crash on import from Thunderbird
Fixed a crash on indexing
Fixed an issue where attachment thumbnails would not display on Mac OS X (Retina only)
Fixed an issue with Growl integration on Mac OS X
Fixed an issue where searches on non-recognized Topics would return results
Fixed issues with “Topic is” / “Topic isn’t” criteria for smart folders
Fixed an issue with automatic account configuration when you entered an incorrect password
Fixed an issue that would prevent spelling dictionaries from installing
To update, select About Postbox from the Postbox menu on Mac OS X, or select About Postbox from the Help menu on Windows, then click the Apply Update button once the update has finished downloading.
Posted by Sherman Dickman
August 14, 2012
Save a bundle on Postbox when you order multiple licenses for friends, family, or co-workers. Discounts kick in at just 2 or more licenses!
| Licenses |
$ / unit |
1 license | $9.95 |
An additional copy is only $5.95 more! |
| 2 - 9 | $7.95 |
Get friends or family members in on the deal.
Purchase 2 licenses for only $15.90. |
| 10 - 19 | $6.95 |
Great for small teams! Get 10 copies for only $69.90! |
| 20 - 29 | $5.95 |
Now we’re talking! Postbox for a team of 20 is only $119. |
| 30+ | $4.95 |
You are a god, we are not worthy! |
To purchase, simply visit the Volume Discount Store and enter the number of licenses you desire. Your sub-total will display on the order confirmation page.
Please note that due to these incredible price breaks, volume discounts cannot be used in combination with other offers or promotions.
Posted by Sherman Dickman
July 25, 2012
With Sparrow exiting the market, we’ve been receiving lots of questions about Postbox in the Mac App Store. Earlier versions of Postbox 2 were available in the Mac App Store, but we discontinued sales through this channel when Postbox 3 was released.
For new Mac-only developers, the Mac App Store is a terrific way to go. It’s great for product discovery, the purchase flow is trusted and near frictionless, application installation and management is a snap, and updates are convenient for end users. In short, the Mac App Store lets developers spend more time on creating awesome apps, and less time on eCommerce infrastructure.
However, we eventually determined that the Mac App Store wasn’t the best fit for Postbox. We had already established our own online store and purchase policies prior to the Mac App Store release. Additionally, the Mac App Store was not evolving quickly enough, and in the direction we needed it to go, to support the Postbox 3 release in a manner consistent with Postbox Store policies.
The Postbox Store is powered by Fastspring, Campaign Monitor, Google Analytics, Wufoo, Zendesk, and our own in-house apps. While it took more time and effort to develop, this custom store enables us to offer:
- A free 30-day trial
- Discounted upgrades from previous versions
- Free upgrades if the prior version was purchased after a specific date
- A license that lets you run Postbox on every Mac or PC you personally own and use
- Volume discounts starting at just 2 or more copies, plus site licenses for larger organizations
- A 60-day, money back guarantee, no questions asked
- A fully functional version of Postbox, with integrations with iCal, iPhoto, Dropbox, Evernote, and more
In contrast, here were some of the limitations we encountered with the Mac App Store:
- No free trials
- No discounted upgrades
- No free upgrades if the prior version was purchased after a specific date
- No way to provide license keys that could be used on Windows (many of our customers use both platforms)
- No volume discounts or site licensing
- No access to customer information, which prevented us from validating orders, offering discounts, running promotions, newsletter signups, etc.
- Unclear refund policies
- Most importantly, we had to create another version of Postbox for the Mac App Store that removed features such as iCal support, iPhoto integration, and Add-Ons in order to comply with Apple’s Application Guidelines
Will Postbox ever return to the Mac App Store? Our hope is that Apple will continue to evolve the Mac App Store in ways that meet the unique needs of Postbox and our customers. Until then, we’ll keep our fingers crossed and the Postbox Store open for business.
Posted by Sherman Dickman
July 20, 2012
What a month! The Sparrow Team just announced that they are moving to Google:
We’re thanking our lucky stars that we didn’t name Postbox after a bird.
Is Desktop Email Going the Way of the Dodo Bird?
Why are so many desktop email clients calling it quits on the innovation front? Is this due to a massive and sudden migration from desktop email to webmail? We don’t think so.
Sparrow focused on providing a Gmail-like experience for Mac desktops and mobile. Google knows that email is important, and they needed to make Gmail on mobile devices better, so hiring the Sparrow team to work on Gmail or “other projects” seems logical.
Thunderbird was having a difficult time supporting Mozilla’s mission of keeping the Web open and free, or at least in ways that had similar impact to Firefox.
From our perspective, we’re seeing more demand for desktop email than ever before. The desktop enables Postbox to provide a unique and powerful email experience, on both Mac and PC, for serious email users who require a high level of usability, integration, privacy, and control.
In fact, many of our customers are previous users of Gmail and other webmail services.
The World’s Best Desktop Email Client for Mac and PC
If you are currently a user of Sparrow, Thunderbird, Gmail, or any other desktop or webmail solution, we encourage you to give Postbox a try!
For our Gmail* users, here are some of the Gmail-specific features that Postbox supports:
- Gmail Label support makes organizing easy
- Dedicated Important view for high-priority messages
- Send and Archive your messages in just one step
- Add detected dates to your Google Calendar
- Support for Gmail keyboard shortcuts for the power user
* If you don’t have Gmail, no worries… because Postbox works great with any POP or IMAP email account,
including Yahoo!, Hotmail, MobileMe/iCloud, AOL, Comcast, Dreamhost, Rackspace, Zimbra and many more.
New Low Price!
Postbox is now only $9.95. Twice the features of Sparrow, same great price.
And with our Volume Discounts, you can pick up Postbox for as little as $4.95 per user. That means you can outfit a team of 30 for only $148.50!
Visit our website, or our Online Store, to pick up Postbox today!
Posted by Sherman Dickman
July 9, 2012
The Web is buzzing about the recent Thunderbird announcement:
But the news isn’t all bad. Mozilla will still address high-risk/high-impact security vulnerabilities through their Extended Support Releases program for one year.
However, it’s clear that continued innovation in Thunderbird is not a priority for Mozilla’s product efforts.
If you are a Thunderbird user, now is the perfect time to try Postbox! It’s the most intuitive, powerful, easy to use, and drop-dead gorgeous email application available. But don’t take our word for it, hear what our converts have to say about Postbox.
And now, we have some really nice news to share…
NEW! - Our “Almost Free” Price of Only $9.95!
Postbox 3 is now available at an incredible “almost free” price of only $9.95! We can’t think of a less expensive way for you to take control of an overloaded inbox, improve your workflow, and achieve peace of mind.
Seriously, $9.95! That’s less than a movie ticket or a nice glass of wine. We’ve seen small blocks of cheese that go for more!
So What Makes Postbox So Awesome?
If you are new to Postbox, here are some of the features that make it great:
Innovative Gmail Support
- Gmail Label support, including a dedicated view for “Important” labels
- Send and Archive functions
- Support for Gmail keyboard shortcuts
- Send detected dates to Google Calendar
Integration with Apps and Services
- Send Dropbox links instead of the files
- Use Date Detection to quickly create events in iCal, Google Calendar, or Lightning
- On the Mac, send message content to Evernote, OmniFocus, or Things, and Postbox works with Alfred and Growl 1.3 too
Social Connections that Add a Personal Touch
- Import profile photos from Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Gravatar, and the Address Book
- Message Inspector displays job titles and company names from LinkedIn and the Address Book
- Quick and easy access to social profile pages
- Post status updates to Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn
Unified Folders and Account Groups
Postbox lets you combine messages from multiple accounts into one Inbox. Accounts can also be organized into Account Groups, so you can keep your work and personal messages separate.
Conversation View
Postbox Conversation Views are more powerful, actionable, and easy to read. Postbox gathers conversation fragments from multiple folders and presents them within a unified view. Quickly bring yourself up to speed and jump into discussions with more information, context, and insight.
Double-Row Vertical Thread Pane View
Postbox supports a double-row Vertical Thread Pane View, which makes more efficient use of widescreen displays. To see it in action, select “Layout” then “Vertical View” from the View menu.
Favorites Bar
- The Favorites Bar provides fast and easy access to your favorite accounts and folders
- Useful when hiding the Accounts and Folders pane
- To add a folder to the Favorites Bar, simply drag and drop the folder into the bar
Focus Pane
The Focus Pane lets you break your Inbox (and workload) into smaller, more manageable chunks. Easily organize the Focus Pane by your highest work priorities — such as projects, clients or events — then focus on these messages without losing track of what’s happening elsewhere.
Better Compose Experience
The Postbox Compose Window has been completely redesigned. It features a new addressing widget, a simplified formatting toolbar, drop-zone for attachments, and new styling. You’ve got to try it for yourself!
Quick Move
With Quick Move, you can file messages without using your mouse. Just type the letter “v”, enter the first few letters from the target folder, and the message will file to your auto-completed selection. The Quick Move panel defaults to the last used folder for even faster filing.
Quick Reply
Quick Reply lets you reply to a message without the need to open a separate compose window, which is perfect for short, snappy responses such as “I’ll see you at eight,” or simply “thanks!” And it all happens inline within a message or conversation, so that you can get right back to what you were doing.
Summarized Replies
Postbox’s Conversation View simplifies message viewing, and now, “Summarize Mode” extends these benefits to message Replies and Forwards. Summarize provides a clean and beautifully formatted who-said-what-when email that lets message recipients jump into discussions with more clarity, context and insight.
Canned Responses
Create a set of pre-built templates specifically tailored for message replies. These are super useful for replying to common inquiries, for example, if you’re selling something online and wish to provide the same information to all buyers.
OS Integration Features
- Support for Mac OS X Full Screen Mode, Trackpad / Mighty Mouse Gestures, write access to the Mac Address Book, iPhoto and iCal support, Drag-to-Dock message creation, and more!
- Windows 7 Jump Lists and improved interoperability with the popular Minimize to Tray Add-on.
The Postbox 100% Satisfaction Guarantee
We know that Postbox will provide a terrific email experience for you, so in addition to our free 30-day trial, we also offer a 60-day money-back guarantee.
If for any reason you would like a refund, simply submit a refund request within 60 days of purchase and we’ll promptly refund your order—no questions asked!
So what are you waiting for? Download Postbox 3 for Mac or Windows and give it a try today!
FAQ
How does the Mozilla announcement impact Postbox development?
Postbox was founded by the original Thunderbird team close to five years ago. At that time, a version of the source code was forked and the team has been innovating in its own direction ever since.
As such, we expect that the Mozilla announcement will not materially impact Postbox development, and we welcome all Thunderbird users to give Postbox a try!
Is Postbox Open Source?
Not entirely, however, a source code version of certain portions of Postbox that may constitute “Covered Code” (as defined in the Mozilla Public License) is available for anyone to use, modify, and distribute free-of-charge at: www.postbox-inc.com/coveredcode under the Mozilla Public License and other open source software licenses.
Is there a Linux Version of Postbox?
We do not have plans for a Linux version at this time, however, we will continue to monitor customer demand.
What languages are available for Postbox?
Today we support English, but community-translated Language Packs are available in German, French, Spanish (Spain), English (British), Italian, Dutch, Portuguese (Brazilian), Russian, and Swedish. We will evaluate demand for additional languages over time. If you would like to help us localize Postbox, please visit our translations page.
Are there add-ons available for Postbox?
Yes. Please see our Add-ons Center for a list of third party add-ons developed for Postbox.
Do you provide support for add-ons?
Postbox cannot guarantee the functionality of third party add-ons, as these are not developed by the Postbox team. If an add-on isn’t working as you expect, or if an add-on is causing problems within Postbox, we recommend disabling the add-on or contacting the add-on developer directly for assistance.
Do Mozilla add-ons work in Postbox?
Unmodified Mozilla add-ons do not work within Postbox at this time, sorry!
How do I get help with Postbox?
Self-help support is provided through our User Guides, Knowledge Base Articles, and FAQ. Additionally, Postbox is currently evaluating forum solutions that will allow the Postbox community to interact and support one another.
(We’re sorry, but one-on-one support offerings are not currently available for new customers at this time.)
Posted by Sherman Dickman
June 25, 2012
Postbox 3.0.4 is now available for Mac and Windows users. This is a free update for all Postbox 3 customers. Here’s what’s new in this release:
Enhancements
- Updated versions of the Lightning Add-on for Mac and Windows
- Added a keyboard shortcut for marking a message as Pending (Shift + M)
- Added ability to drag and drop an .eml file into the message list pane to copy a message into a folder
- Added ability to redirect and resend .eml files opened in Postbox
Bug Fixes
- Fixed an issue where IMAP attachments could get corrupted on download for Gmail and Exchange servers
- Fixed an issue with the new account setup wizard when trying to create a POP3 account
- Fixed an issue where filters on subject would fail to fire correctly
- Fixed an issue with Creating a Filter by right clicking on a Favorite contact in the focus pane
- Fixed an issue that prevented several Mozilla dictionaries from being installed into Postbox on Windows
- Fixed an issue to correct new LinkedIn and Dropbox authorization window sizes
- Fixed an issue that caused Address Book notes to overflow
- Fixed an issue that prevented the header area from updating when Topics were applied via filters
- Fixed an issue within the Account Wizard that prevented the account type from being modified
- Fixed an issue that allow the Archive command to appear in contextual menus within Gmail accounts
- Stability improvements
How to Update
- On Mac OS X, select “About Postbox” from the Postbox menu, click the “Apply Update” button once the download is complete.
- On Windows, select “About Postbox” from the Help menu, click the “Apply Update” button once the download is complete.
- Alternatively, you can visit our website and download Postbox 3.0.4 by clicking the red TRY or DOWNLOAD buttons, then install Postbox over your existing version (don’t worry, your mail data is stored in a different location).
Posted by Sherman Dickman
March 23, 2012
By using Evernote and Postbox together on Mac OS X, you’ll create a productivity powerhouse that lets you manage projects and message content with ease — a huge win for getting things done!
To convert a message to an Evernote note, select the message and click the Evernote toolbar button, or right-click the message and select Add to Evernote from the contextual menu.
Postbox will include the following attributes:
- Subject — Since Postbox’s conversation view strips out Re: Fwd: RE:‘s etc., your note title will accurately reflect its content. You can also create a new title for your note.
- Topics — Postbox Topics are automatically translated to Evernote Tags. If the tag does not yet exist in Evernote, it will be created for you.
- Body — Postbox will include the full body text of the message, or just the important text that you select.
- Attachments — Files attached to the message will be added to Evernote. Please make sure that Display Attachments Inline is not selected within the View menu.
- Message Link — A custom link gets you back to the original message in a flash.
Here’s what the translated elements look like in Evernote:
It’s really that simple! Postbox is the perfect companion to Evernote to help you stay organized and on top of things.
Posted by Sherman Dickman
March 7, 2012
Here are some advanced HTML formatting tips to create beautifully styled signatures in Postbox! To get started, go to Options or Preferences / Composition / Signatures and click the Plus (+) button. Next, click on the code button, which looks like this: </>
Now we’re ready to enter our HTML, so let’s first create a simple signature, wrapped within the DIV tag:
<div>
Sto Akron: Button Pusher at Postbox, Inc.<br>
phone: 415-526-2339<br>
web: www.postbox-inc.com<br>
twitter: @postbox
</div>
Sto Akron: Button Pusher at Postbox, Inc.
phone: 415-526-2339
web: www.postbox-inc.com
twitter: @postbox
Next, let’s add some links:
<div>
Sto Akron: Button Pusher at <a href="http://www.postbox-inc.com">Postbox, Inc.</a><br>
phone: <a href="callto:415-526-2339">415-526-2339</a><br>
web: <a href="http://www.postbox-inc.com">www.postbox-inc.com</a><br>
twitter: <a href="http://twitter.com/postbox">@postbox</a>
</div>
Not terribly interesting, and kind of bobo isn’t it? So let’s add an image. As you’ll see below, we’ve added margin, padding and line-height properties to the DIV style, and also some padding around the image itself. In this example we’ve used a remote image, but you can also use a local file as well:
<div style="line-height:16px; margin:6px 0; padding:8px 8px 8px 8px;">
<img src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5247/5343867277_d35595a2c6_z.jpg" style="float:left; padding:0px 12px 15px 0;">
Sto Akron: Button Pusher at <a href="http://www.postbox-inc.com">Postbox, Inc.</a><br>
phone: <a href="callto:415-526-2339">415-526-2339</a><br>
web: <a href="http://www.postbox-inc.com">www.postbox-inc.com</a><br>
twitter: <a href="http://twitter.com/postbox">@postbox</a>
</div>
Next we’ll add some font styling to the DIV tag, and let’s jazz up the name a bit by transforming the text to uppercase and making it bold:
<div style="line-height:16px; margin:6px 0; padding:8px 8px 8px 8px; font-family: 'Lucida Sans', Lucida Grande, Verdana, Arial, Sans-Serif; font-size:11px; color:#555555;">
<img src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5247/5343867277_d35595a2c6_z.jpg" style="float:left; padding:0px 12px 15px 0;">
<strong style="color:#333333; text-transform:uppercase; font-size:10px;">Sto Akron</strong>: Button Pusher at <a href="http://www.postbox-inc.com">Postbox, Inc.</a><br>
phone: <a href="callto:415-526-2339">415-526-2339</a><br>
web: <a href="http://www.postbox-inc.com">www.postbox-inc.com</a><br>
twitter: <a href="http://twitter.com/postbox">@postbox</a>
</div>
To make the signature feel more modern, let’s color the links with a softer blue. If you use a HEX color value in Postbox, it will automatically convert to RGB. Also, the !important tag is really… umm… important, so be sure to include that:
phone: <a href="callto:415-526-2339" style="color:rgb(0, 136, 204) !important;">415-526-2339</a>
Next, let’s soften the underline on the links a bit by adding the following styles to each link:
phone: <a href="callto:415-526-2339" style="text-decoration:none !important; border-bottom:1px dotted #AAA;">415-526-2339</a>
Finally, we’ll add some borders to the top and bottom of our signature within the DIV tag:
<div style="border-top:1px #aeb1a6 dotted; border-bottom:1px #aeb1a6 dotted;">
Here’s the final code and finished product:
<div style="line-height:16px; margin:6px 0; padding:8px 8px 8px 8px; border-top:1px #aeb1a6 dotted; border-bottom:1px #aeb1a6 dotted; font-family: 'Lucida Sans', Lucida Grande, Verdana, Arial, Sans-Serif; font-size:11px; color:#555555;">
<img src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5247/5343867277_d35595a2c6_z.jpg" style="float:left; padding:0px 12px 15px 0;">
<strong style="color:#333333; text-transform:uppercase; font-size:10px;">Sto Akron</strong>: Button Pusher at <a href="http://www.postbox-inc.com" style="color:rgb(0, 136, 204) !important; text-decoration:none !important; border-bottom:1px dotted #AAA;">Postbox, Inc.</a><br>
phone: <a href="callto:415-526-2339" style="color:rgb(0, 136, 204) !important; text-decoration:none !important; border-bottom:1px dotted #AAA;">415-526-2339</a><br>
web: <a href="http://www.postbox-inc.com" style="color:rgb(0, 136, 204) !important; text-decoration:none !important; border-bottom:1px dotted #AAA;">www.postbox-inc.com</a><br>
twitter: <a href="http://twitter.com/postbox" style="color:rgb(0, 136, 204) !important; text-decoration:none !important; border-bottom:1px dotted #AAA;">@postbox</a>
</div>
Do you have tips or code samples to share? Let us know in the comments!
Posted by Sherman Dickman
March 5, 2012
Summarize is one of the coolest features in Postbox! It enables you to send simple, clean, and beautifully formatted who-said-what-when digests to message recipients, which is much nicer than quoted replies that get messy over time.
This post will touch on what’s going on under the covers with Summarize, discuss some of the changes in Postbox 3.0.3, and some tips that will help you get the most out of this feature.
To start, it’s important to note that Conversation View is different from Summarize, even though they appear to work similarly. Conversation View will display every message within a particular discussion, for example:
- John emails Sam and Karen with information about focal reviews
- Sam replies to John, and :CCs Karen, with questions about raises
- Karen replies to John, but not to Sam, with questions about promotions
- John forwards these emails to his boss Barbara, but removes Sam and Karen from the discussion
As you can see, a lot can happen during the course of a conversation! While this discussion would display in its entirety in Conversation View, Summarize will only include messages that respect the appropriate reply references, and this is one reason why some messages are not included in Summarized Replies.
Now, in order for a message to be included in Summarize, the Postbox indexer has to know about them, and this can sometimes be tricky from a technical perspective. For example, if you filed a message using your iPhone, the Postbox indexer will need to look within that folder in order to include that message in the Summarized Reply. But we don’t want Postbox to be continually checking each and every folder for new messages as this could impact performance.
In Postbox 3.0.3, Summarize is more proactive about gathering the messages it needs from the Sent folder. Additionally, if you would like the Postbox indexer to look for new messages within a storage folder (so that they can appear in Summarize), then simply right-click the folder, select Properties… from the contextual menu, and select Check this folder for new messages. This has the side benefit of improving Conversation View, particularly if you do a lot of server-side filtering.
Here are a few more tips for using Summarize:
- You can more narrowly focus a Summarized Reply by first selecting an individual message in Conversation View (a blue outline will glow around the selected message) before clicking the Reply button.
- You can set the default summarize behavior (Quote, Summarize or last used) on a per identity basis under Preferences or Options / Accounts / [your desired account] / Composition and setting the preference for Automatically quote the original message when replying… By.
- You can control whether profile pictures are included in Summarized Replies on a per identity basis by going to Preferences or Options / Accounts / [your desired account] / Composition and setting the preference for Include contact pictures for each participant when summarizing.
- You can control the number of messages to be included in Summarized Replies by going to Preferences or Options / Composition / Advanced and setting the preference to Include at most # messages when summarizing. On this panel, you can also set a preference to display either the oldest or newest messages first.
- Finally, if you wish to not use Summarize, simply toggle the Quote button in the toolbar. Postbox will default to the last preference selected for all future emails. Click the Summarize button in the toolbar to revert back.
Posted by Sherman Dickman
March 4, 2012
Postbox 3.0.3 is now available for Mac and Windows users. Here’s what’s new in this release:
Enhancements
- Added a preference for changing the selection order after deleting, moving, or archiving a message from the message list.
- Support for CC and BCC addresses and multiple attachments in AppleScript.
- Improved the mechanism for logging into your Dropbox account within Postbox.
- Added support for archiving messages across multiple servers.
- Improved inline date detection on Mac OS X for non-US regions.
- For new installations, Evernote should appear in the default toolbar set when Evernote is installed on Mac OS X.
- For Gmail accounts, the Archive function is now disabled when viewing mail within a Label.
- Changed the default search criteria in Advanced Search from “Any” to “All.”
Bug Fixes
- Fixed an issue with “Check this folder for new Mail” not working for IMAP folders.
- Fixed an issue that could cause messages to be re-downloaded on each restart for Gmail accounts.
- Fixed an issue with the text cursor disappearing in the compose window when adding an attachment.
- Fixed an issue on Windows that could cause only the first 150 characters to be copied into the clipboard.
- Fixed an issue on Max OS X where inline date events were not being added to the default calendar in iCal.
- Fixed an issue where selecting an Account Group was loading a blank message list pane.
- Fixed an issue on Windows where sending a message would fail if background send is turned off, or a message is sent without a 3-pane widow open in the background.
- Fixed an issue where “Run Junk Mail Controls on Folder” was not working.
- Fixed an issue where attachments sent from Microsoft Exchange IMAP servers could not be opened.
- Fixed an issue where Summarize would not always include sent messages.
- Fixed an issue where certain special characters (UTF-8) were not displayed correctly.
- Fixed an issue where LDAP search was not working when using Kerberos authentication.
- Fixed an issue where Growl alerts would display for the wrong messages.
- Fixed an issue where the Quick Reply placeholder text was being spell-checked in non-English languages.
Posted by Sherman Dickman
January 24, 2012
We’re excited to announce a new Add-On for Postbox: WiseStamp.
WiseStamp transforms email signatures into powerful self-expression and promotional tools. You can choose from a variety of productive and social Email Apps that adds dynamic content to each outgoing email, such as your latest eBay item, Twitter and Facebook status, recent blog post, or important cause to promote.
WiseStamp was declared best Social Media Gadget 2009 in Mashable’s Open Web Awards. Since its launch, over a quarter of a billion emails have been sent using WiseStamp.
Download WiseStamp today, and be sure to check out the other great Add-Ons available for Postbox!
Posted by Sherman Dickman
November 1, 2011
We’re very excited to announce the immediate availability of Postbox 3!
This release is even more intuitive, useful, and integrated with the apps and workflows you rely on most, including Gmail, Dropbox, Evernote, LinkedIn and more.
Download Postbox 3 for Mac or Windows and give it a try today!
Here’s what’s new in Postbox 3
Awesome Gmail Integration
- Native Gmail Label support
- Dedicated view for “Important” labels
- Send and Archive functions
- Support for Gmail keyboard shortcuts
- Convert detected dates to Google Calendar events
More Socially Connected
- Profile photos from Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Gravatar and the Address Book
- Automatically displays job titles and company names from LinkedIn
- Quick and easy access to LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter profile pages
- Update status directly to Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn
New Favorites Bar
- Provides fast and easy access to your favorite accounts and folders
- Useful when hiding the Accounts and Folders pane
- To add a folder to the Favorites Bar, simply drag and drop the folder into the bar
Works with Dropbox, Evernote, and more!
- Send Dropbox links instead of the files
- Send message content to Evernote on the Mac
- Use Date Detection to quickly create events in iCal, Google Calendar, or the Lightning Calendar Add-on
- Support for the newest version of Growl (1.3)
Canned Responses
- Create a set of pre-built templates specifically tailored for message replies
- Super useful for replying to common inquiries
New OS Integration Features
- Support for Mac OS X Full Screen Mode and Trackpad / Mighty Mouse Gestures
- Windows 7 Jump Lists and improved interoperability with the popular Minimize to Tray Add-on.
How to Upgrade
If you have a Postbox Lifetime Upgrades License, then simply enter your license key into Postbox 3 and you’re all set! There’s nothing you need to purchase.
If you purchased from the Postbox Store on or after August 15th, 2011, then you already have a Postbox 3 license key! Simply download the new version from our website (the trial) and Postbox 3 will use your existing license key, mail settings, etc. There’s nothing more to set up!
If you purchased from the Postbox Store before August 15th, 2011, then you are eligible to upgrade to Postbox 3 for only $9.95. Visit the Postbox Store and enter your Postbox 1.x or Postbox 2.x license key during checkout. Next, download the trial version of Postbox from our website and enter your new license key. That’s it, enjoy!
If you purchased from the Mac App Store, instructions on how to upgrade can be found in the Postbox Start Page. Select “Home” from the “Go” menu for details (note: Start Page must be set to the default in Preferences / General).
For more information on upgrades and licensing, please see our FAQ.
Thanks for your support!
A huge “thank you” to our awesome users and beta testers for helping us define and test this release, we couldn’t have done it without you!
Posted by Sherman Dickman
July 20, 2011
We’ve been busy preparing Postbox for the OS X Lion release, and today, we’re pleased to announce the immediate availability of Postbox 2.5.1 for both Mac and Windows.
Improved Conversation View
In Postbox 2.5 we redesigned the message view, and 2.5.1 builds upon these enhancements with greater visual separation between messages, larger profile pictures, and improved keyboard control.
To navigate through the Postbox interface, simply use the Tab key and then Option-Arrow on the Mac, or Alt-Arrow on Windows, to page through messages. Powering through your email has never been easier!
OS X Lion Styling
Postbox ships with a beautiful icon set with vibrant colors, and now, Postbox on the Mac also sports a monochrome set with Lion-style sidebar icons. Interestingly, Lion’s style requires two sets to be created for default and selected states. We’re thrilled with the quality and elegance of these new icons, as Postbox now fits perfectly with Lion’s new interface.
More…
Of course, it wouldn’t be a Postbox release without a bunch of usability and reliability enhancements. For the full set of changes, please see the Postbox 2.5.1 Release Notes.
Postbox 2.5.1 is a free update for all Postbox 2 customers on Mac and Windows, and can be downloaded today from the Postbox website. For our Mac users, Postbox 2.5.1 will be available in the Mac App Store very soon!
Posted by Sherman Dickman
June 29, 2011
We’re very excited to announce the immediate availability of Postbox 2.5! This new release brings significant performance and usability enhancements, terrific styling, and a new low price.
Here’s what’s new in Postbox 2.5:
- Fast 64-bit Support for Mac OS X - On the Mac, Postbox 2.5 is now running in 64-bit mode, which translates to faster startup, snappier interface elements, and quicker message loading.
- Vertical Thread Pane View - Postbox now supports a double-row Vertical Thread Pane View, which makes more efficient use of widescreen displays.
- Streamlined Message View - We’ve re-designed the Message View to make message and conversation loading quick and seamless. The result is a silky-smooth reading experience that’s easy on the eyes.
- Improved Interface + New Mac Theme - We’ve made the Postbox interface simpler and more intuitive, plus we have a fresh new theme for the Mac by Benjamin De Cock, and a new icon set by Kenichi Yoshida.
For the full set of changes, please see the Postbox 2.5 Release Notes.
Postbox 2.5 is a free update for all Postbox 2 customers, and for new customers, Postbox is now priced at just $19.95. Postbox is available today at the Postbox Online Store, and will be available in the Mac App Store soon.
If you spend a lot of time in email, you owe it to yourself to download Postbox 2.5 today!
Posted by Sherman Dickman
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