Yesterday I posted a brief How to about launching GooglePlus from BoxCar. You may have limited use for that hack, especially if you are still waiting for an invite (hint: click that link). So, today I am going to give you an idea to save you from having to check email on your iPhone every few minutes.Star it Choose a label
For this "hack" to work you need an email, such as Gmail, that offers filters or rules that will run "in the cloud." You can potentially use this with Outlook, or any desktop email application, but you will need to leave your PC running for the rules to process. If you use a laptop that is not really practical.
Setting up BOXCAR
One of the great features of BoxCar is the ability to add an email as a service.
Login to BoxCar. You can do this from your desktop or your phone.
Add an Email Service.
You will be assigned a BoxCar forwarding address {random string}@push.boxcar.io.
Give the Account a Friendly Name. e.g. "The Boss" or "Important Clients."
Save the settings.
Setting Up Gmail
Login to Gmail. Go to Settings.... Filters.
Choose "Create a New Filter"
This is where you setup the conditions under which you forward email to BoxCar. Here are some examples:
- Forward every email from your boss
- Forward only urgent/high priority emails
- Forward emails from your top clients
- Forward emails that reference an important project you are working on
You can accomplish this by using a combination of filter values such as From, To, Subject, "Has the words" or "Doesn't have."
You can test the filters against your inbox to see what emails it captures. You may have to tweak these filters to isolate just the emails you want to be alerted to.
Once you have the filter setup in the next page you can set various actions to be taken on those emails:
- (Archive it)
- Mark as read
- {This is where you enter your BoxCar forwarding address}
- Never send it to Spam
- Always mark it as important
- Never mark it as important
Place a checkmark against each action you want, make sure you add the checkmark to the "Forward it to" action and have added your BoxCar forwarding address.
Now create the filter.
Relax and Enjoy
You now have a filter and notification setup that will pop up a boxcar notification on your iPhone when an important email arrives. You can now relax and get on with other activities knowing that your phone will alert you when an important email arrives.
You can use this to be notified when:
- the boss sends you an email
- when you receive an important email
- When a client emails you
- When a system outage message arrives in your email
- When a project communication is received
If you can identify a consistent set of conditions that are found in the emails you want to be notified of you can setup a rule and forward the result to BoxCar.
You don't have to capture everything in a single service on Boxcar, or in a single rule. You can create multiple rules to meet different conditions.
Check out BoxCar and go experiment for yourself!
