Email works with Gmail. It is in beta, opens by invite, and needs Super: open Inbox and tap Join waitlist, and we will email you and show a card on Home when it is ready on your account.
How to use it
- Work through Inbox. Three tabs sort your mail: Now, Awaiting and Threads.
- Ask in the bar. “Anything from Liz I haven’t answered?” orma answers from the threads and shows which ones it used.
- Ask it to act. “Reply to Liz that 40 seats is right”, or “Archive this week’s newsletters.”
Your inbox
- Now is what needs your move. Open a thread for a summary of what is being asked (on longer threads, with what is Waiting on you), then pick a suggested reply or Compose your own.
- Awaiting is where someone owes you a reply. A thread that has gone quiet is marked nudge? and opens with a suggested follow-up to edit or send.
- Threads is everything else. Conversations carry a one-line summary. Mail from the same sender’s domain is grouped, so you can open it or Archive all at once. Older mail sits under Earlier email.
What orma does, and what it asks
| You ask to | orma |
|---|---|
| Read, search or summarise | Does it |
| Archive, label, mark read or unread | Shows you first, until you choose Always allow |
| Send a reply | Asks every time, then gives you five seconds to Stop sending |
| Unsubscribe from a list | Asks every time |
| Move to the trash | Asks every time. Gmail keeps it for 30 days, and Undo brings it back |
The five seconds are for replies orma sends for you. A reply you write and send yourself in Inbox goes straight away, and so does one you confirm on your phone.
Good to know
- Edit first. A reply waiting for Send has Edit, so you can change it before it goes.
- A newer message asks again. If someone writes on the thread after you saw the reply, orma asks again before sending.
- Never sent twice. If orma can’t tell whether an email went, it doesn’t resend. It tells you to check Sent in Gmail.
- Someone else’s words. Emails are written by other people, so while a request involves reading one, orma asks before changing anything, even what you allowed. See What orma asks before it acts.
- Attachments. orma reads attachment text only if you turn on Read attachments in the account menu in Inbox. It applies to new mail.
Limits
- Gmail only, for now. Beta, by invite, on Super.
- A sent email cannot be recalled.
- From the bar, orma can’t forward an email, write a new one, or change Gmail settings or filters.
- Summaries and suggested replies are written by AI models in the cloud. Your mail is kept on your Mac. What leaves your Mac has the detail.
Docs last updated for release 0.5.1, an alpha.