Another +1 for Spark. The email templates, team collaboration, scheduled send and linking to Reminders are huge benefits and it’s very reliable. I just use Apple’s native Calendar app as I have a load of calendars on different platforms, so ignore Spark’s calendar.
I use Fantastial for calendars and it’s wonderful. Good news is, when I accept a meeting invite through it, it sticks and also removes the email from my inbox.
One of the best features of Spark is the “Send + Archive”!! So much better to cleaning up the inbox as I deal with email. You can still just send, but love archive as the default.
I suppose the only thing I haven’t figured out with Spark is how to get emails into DEVONthink that I want to archive within DT.
Does anyone have any ideas or workflow around that when using Spark?
Wondering if I could use IFTTT or the like (Zapier?) to watch for emails to hit a “folder” in my accounts and then somehow get them into DT.
If you are a Gmail user there is an app that will automatically save your mail as a PDF and download any attachments to Google Drive, and log everything to a Google spreadsheet.
It is subscription but it appears it will run indefinitely in trial mode, at a much slower speed. When I tested it I think it was processing about 12 messages an hour. I don’t recall the exact number.
I’m mainly iOS on spark and I pull the PDF button to the main tab so it’s a click away. I’m much more selective about email saving so I may only save a few a week. It’s better than the print then pinch and then open in from mail.app on iOS Devices
1 Like
What do you use on the backend? Gmail, Fastmail?
PDF button? I don’t see one?
Go to settings and then see images below to get the PDF button directly on emails. (Hoping the pictures are in order).
4 Likes
Awesome, thanks for taking the time to give me such a great explanation!
Fastmail for 99% keep an iCloud account for a few odd Apple related bits as well.
Great wishlist of useful features!
I was using Mail to access my Gmail accounts until Mail suddenly decided to stop letting me do so, and so I am currently using Spark for Gmail. My main quibble is the inability to set a default font size for viewing and writing emails, which I would have thought was fairly basic functionality for an email app. I also haven’t figured out how to navigate using the keyboard.
YOU ROCK!! This is nice for iOS for sure. While not technically the same thing as an “archive” of the actual email (.eml file including attachments) it at least saves a “copy” of the email message.
Like you, I don’t save many emails outside of my email platform, but I am starting to realize potential future benefits (just-in-case, better contextual search in DT, etc.), but I am still working through how I intend to use DEVONthink (still a new user to it).
I still wish there was a better integration with DT from Spark.
I too am working through DT as a relatively new user. There are definitely a lot of bugs that pop up on the mobile, but at least developers are reasonably quick to respond.
I did briefly play with an auto import work flow
-flag message in spark and archive
-flagged messages in spark show flagged in mail.app as well
-when back on iMac set a rule to auto import to DT (or just drag and drop) the “flagged” Smart Folder
This brings in the .eml, but I’m not sure it’s actually any better. Having the pdf retains formatting and is easy to search. I also find that the .eml doesn’t work all the time to send a new message (especially since I will end up moving emails to a “storage account” rather than one it was sent from so I’ve seen a lot of broken links when trying to open back up the original .eml on mobile.
2 Likes
Yes—used Mailmate for years until I need 365 and Exchange. Went to Spark.
To use MailMate with Office365 with OpenAuth2, the use of the test-release of MailMate is recommended:
(see #3088 OAuth2 for Office 365 not working - MailMate - freron )
It is possible that your IT department will have to explicitly allow the use of MailMate. This is usually not a problem. The same would be the case for, e.g., Thunderbird.
I have been using the test-release of MailMate with Office365+OpenAuth2 with no problems for approx. the last 6 months.
With the news of Spark going subscription, any considerations on where to move next?
How long will the current versions (before whatever new one was released) will continue to be supported without being forced into a subscription?
With currently 20 e-mail accounts (yes, I know it’s a lot), but I haven’t found another solution for that. I can’t remember how Mail.app treats a few things that I use in Spark. (tried Airmail not going back to them)
- Ability to have individual inboxes (or unified inbox) and to easily switch back and forth
- Ability when I am in a specific individual inbox, if I push reply, it replies from that account only
- I recall years ago deleting an email on Mail.app just ‘archived’ instead of actual deleting it
- Needs to have a client on all devices
I no longer use features like ‘send it later, snooze, etc’. I am pretty good about just checking my email 2x/day (morning and evening) and that’s it.
All 20 of my e-mail accounts are Google-Workspace accounts or Gmail (eventually want to get rid and move potentially to Fastmail for the critical accounts.
Thoughts?
I started a parallel discussion here. Hope you find something useful for your need
If they are all Google accounts, may be give Minestream or two birds a try ?
1 Like
Mail handles this - you can show individual boxes or the unified inbox. Works on Mac and IOS
This is how Mail works for me. I can’t remember whether it’s the default or a preference setting
Not sure what you mean by this. On Mac, you can choose Archive or Delete by message. On IOS, there’s a setting that allows you on a per account basis to choose whether delete or archive is the default. You ca also set swipes to either
Apple devices, yes.
The one major weakness (for me) of Mail on iOS/iPadOS is the lack of a simple share sheet. You can share mails and message content, but it’s not obvious how and has some limitations
2 Likes