Inbox digest — mockup

Four states of one screen. Everything is fictional: the business, the people, every email.

state 1 · connecting a mailbox, read-only, with the habits it found

Inbox digest Atelier Marchand
Read-onlyRuns on your server
  1. 1Mailbox
  2. 2Rules
  3. 3Digest

Hook up your email

It reads, sorts and summarises. It never sends, replies, moves or deletes anything, and your mail never leaves your own server. Disconnect in one click and it forgets everything it read.

GGoogle WorkspaceWe ask Google for one permission: read mail. Nothing else.Connected as sophie@
MMicrosoft 365Read-only, through your own tenant.
@Any mailboxIMAP, read-only. Zoho, OVH, your hosting.info@ connected

What it found in 90 days of sophie@ read once, kept nowhere

1,284emails
61people you reply to
4you answer within the hour

Suggested rules from your habits. Keep the ones that are true; the rest are a tap away in step 2.

  • Mail from Desjardins Entreprises, Lévesque CPA and Revenu Québec reaches you right awayyou answered 11 of their 12 emails within the hour
    Keep
  • Clients with an open job reach you the same day23 clients, matched to your quotes and invoices
    Keep
  • Richelieu and Bois Expo confirmations go to the Friday roll-upyou opened 2 of 40
    Keep
  • Newsletters you never opened are not shown14 senders, 212 emails, 0 opened
    Decide later
Nothing is summarised until you say so in step 2.
Design notes. The permission is the product. The sidebar states what it can and cannot do before anything is connected, and the three providers each say exactly what they ask for. The "habits" panel is the hook: the system proposes rules from how the owner already behaves, so step 2 starts three quarters done.

state 2 · rules as sentences, four lanes, the timing and the escalation ladder

Inbox digest Atelier Marchand
Read-onlyNext digest 13:00
  1. ✓Mailbox
  2. 2Rules
  3. 3Digest

What reaches you, and when

Rules are sentences, not filters. Every email in a digest says which sentence put it there, and when you move one, that becomes a sentence too.

Right away interrupts you

Push, then SMS, then a call. The only lane that crosses quiet hours.

  • Mail from the bank, the accountant or Revenu Québec×
  • A client with an open job mentions a date within two days×
  • A quote is accepted, or a payment fails or is held×
  • Anyone writes "urgent", "injury", "cancel" or "lawyer"×

Today's digest 07:30 · 13:00

Summarised, with the ask and the deadline pulled out.

  • New enquiries and quote requests×
  • Suppliers: delays, confirmations, invoices×
  • Staff: schedules, time off, questions×
  • Replies to threads I started×

Friday roll-up Friday 16:00

Counted and totalled, one line each.

  • Receipts, payouts and order notices (Square, Shopify, the bank)×
  • Newsletters I actually open×
  • Richelieu and Bois Expo delivery confirmationslearned

Not shown still searchable

Nothing is deleted. A count appears in each digest.

  • Cold sales, recruiters, "quick question" pitches×
  • Marketing I never opened×
  • LinkedIn and social notificationslearned

Timing

Digest
07:30 and 13:00, weekdays
Roll-up
Friday 16:00
Quiet hours
19:00 to 07:00 and weekends. Only Right away gets through.
Delivered as
EmailPageSMS

When something is Right away

  1. 1
    Push to Sophie's phonewith the summary, the ask and two buttons
  2. 2
    Not opened in 20 min: SMS to Sophieplain text, the ask only
  3. 3
    Not opened in 45 min: call Nathalie at the officea read-out of the summary, press 1 to take it

"Not urgent" on any step teaches the lane. Three in a row from one sender and the rule is offered for removal.

Also gets a digest

  • Nathalie: suppliers and staff, 08:00×
Draft a reply for each item that needs you. You send it from your own mail.
Read attachments (PDF invoices and quotes) for the summary
The first digest covers the last 24 hours, so you can judge the rules on real mail.
Design notes. Four lanes, not a filter language: the question is only "how soon should this reach me". Dashed rules are the ones the system learned from a correction, so the owner can see what it has taught itself and delete it. The escalation ladder is the part most tools lack: a notification nobody opened is not a notification, so each step has a timeout and the last one is a person.

state 3 · the morning digest

Inbox digest Atelier Marchand
Wednesday 07:301 escalation this morning
  1. ✓Mailbox
  2. ✓Rules
  3. 3Digest

Wednesday, 07:30

Since yesterday 13:00. Three things need you, one of them already reached your phone at 06:52.

23emails
3need you
6worth knowing
9to Friday
5not shown

Needs you the ask and the deadline, pulled from the email

DEDesjardins EntreprisesEscalated 06:52 · opened 07:0506:41
A payment of $4,850 to Bois Expo was held for review. They need you to confirm the payee before noon or it is returned.
Ask: confirm the payee by noon today
why From the bank. A payment held, with a deadline today.
MTMarie-Ève Tremblayclient · kitchen installyesterday 18:20
Asks to move the install from Thursday to Friday morning because the floor installers are a day late. She can be there from 8:00.
Ask: confirm Friday 8:00, or say what moves answer today
why A client with an open job, a date within two days. Held for the digest because it arrived in quiet hours.
BEBois Exposupplieryesterday 16:05
The white oak for the Lemieux job is delayed to the 21st. They offer rift-sawn from stock at the same price if you answer by Friday.
Ask: accept the delay or take the substitute by Friday
why A supplier delay on an open order.

Worth knowing no action

  • Quote Q-118 accepted by the Lemieux family, $12,300yesterday 15:40
  • Richelieu confirms the hardware for Thursdayyesterday 14:12
  • Nathalie approved Carl's day off on the 24thyesterday 13:30
  • Dubois: the floor plan comes Monday, not this weekyesterday 17:02
  • Electrician Roy will be on site Friday after 13:0006:10
  • City: the Rue Saint-Paul parking closure is pushed a week06:30

Money

Invoices received2 · $1,860
Payments in1 · $6,150
Square payout, Friday$2,214
Held by the bank$4,850

Waiting on others your mail, no reply

Your quote to J. Roy, 6 days. Your question to the electrician, 3 days. The permit office, 9 days.

Not shown 5 · 3 cold sales, 2 newsletters

Searchable, never deleted. Show them

Every summary is written from the email itself. Where the email gave no date, none is shown. 1 email could not be placed and is listed in full at the end.
Design notes. The digest is a page, not a list of emails: counts first, then the three cards that need a decision, each with the ask and the deadline pulled out, the sentence that put it there, and the actions a person actually takes (open, call, draft, hand over, snooze, teach). "Waiting on others" is the reversal most inboxes never show: your own unanswered mail. The last line is the honesty line: what it could not place is shown in full, never dropped.

state 4 · an escalation on the phone and its ladder

Inbox digest Atelier Marchand
Right away · 06:52Opened 07:05

Desjardins Entreprises · payment held

What reached your phone, and what happened to it.

Wednesday6:52
Inbox digest · Right awaynow
Desjardins: a $4,850 payment to Bois Expo is held

They need you to confirm the payee before noon or it is returned. From the bank, deadline today.

OpenCall themNot urgent
Inbox digestyesterday
Your 13:00 digest: 11 emails, 1 needs you

Lemieux accepted Q-118. Nothing else to do.

The ladder

  1. 1
    06:52 push to Sophiesummary, ask, two buttons
  2. ✓
    07:05 opened by Sophiethe ladder stops here

Why it reached you rule: mail from the bank

From the bank, a payment held, a deadline today. Two of the four Right-away sentences matched; one would have been enough.

What the email says 06:41 · 3 lines of 14

"A payment of $4,850.00 to BOIS EXPO INC. initiated on Tuesday was held for verification."

"Please confirm the payee by calling the number below before 12:00 on Wednesday."

"If we do not hear from you, the payment will be returned to your account."

Phone number read from the signature: 1 844 555 0148. The email is not quoted beyond what you see; open it to read the rest.

What you can do

"Not urgent" moves this sender down a lane after you confirm. Nothing here sends, replies or moves mail.

Design notes. An escalation is a notification with a receipt. The phone shows the summary, the ask and two buttons; the ladder shows that it was opened, so the SMS and the call never fired. The right side explains itself: which sentence matched, three quoted lines rather than a paraphrase of a bank email, the phone number pulled from the signature so the next step is a call, not a search. The near misses in the sidebar are the quiet half of trust: what it chose not to interrupt you with, and why.