Help with Email Workflow (using Postbox)

[lentaro]

Hi all! I'm guessing putting this workflow together is easy for the computer savvy, which I am not! I'd like to have a hotkey that:

 

1) Opens Postbox (my email client)

2) Opens a blank email

3) Puts a specific email address in the to:

4) Puts a specific phrase in the body (the phrase is actually a snippet from Alfred - THAT I was able to figure out!)

 

The subject line will always change so I dont want the email sent automatically.

 

Any help is appreciated in advance, thanks!

Edited August 8, 2016 by Vítor
Tweaked title to be more specific

[Stephen_C]

If you are using the Alfred Powerpack and Postbox is your default email client you should be able simply to type email in Alfred followed by the contact name—which should start a new blank email in Postbox. This Alfred help page has more details: https://www.alfredapp.com/help/features/contacts/#email.

 

Stephen

[dfay]

See this thread -- on searching Postbox but it highlights PB's limits in terms of playing nicely with macOS.

 

http://www.alfredforum.com/topic/9233-search-postbox-4-emails-from-alfred/?hl=postbox

[lentaro]

Thank you both! Certainly gets me closer to what I'm trying to accomplish. Tyty!

[lentaro]

Sorry, followup:  So I understand how to start the "email <contact>" from spotlight, but can I add arguments like subject line to the command?

[dfay]

Assuming Postbox is handling mailto: links , you could create a workflow that would compose a URL like 

 

mailto:emailname@yourdomain.com?subject=Subject

 

and then send it to an open URL action.

 

This means you'd need to pass both the email address and the subject line from Alfred - there are ways to do this, but they all require a bit of work.  See http://www.alfredforum.com/topic/3890-help-with-multiple-queries-for-a-gmail-compose-script/?hl=%2Bmultiple+%2Bqueriesfor a discussion.

[deanishe]

In my experience, if you don't specify a subject in the mailto: URI, most email programs focus the Subject line in the compose window.

 

 

It may not be worth the bother build a workflow to also request the subject line.

[Stephen_C]

 

In my experience, if you don't specify a subject in the mailto: URI, most email programs focus the Subject line in the compose window.

 

I confirm that's how Postbox works if you use the inbuilt Alfred email [contact] command. The email is opened with the cursor in the subject line...so it's probably easier to type it there rather than at an Alfred workflow prompt.

 

(I'm confirming simply because I use Postbox and so was able to test it.)

 

Stephen

[deanishe]

Alfred uses the same mechanism to call your email program (mailto:) if you're not sending an attachment, so it will work the same.

[lentaro]

I really appreciate everyone's responses. Great community, thank you!