About Mail Boss

Mail Boss is a free service that allows you to create and manage recurring emails from any mail client. If you use Gmail and the Chrome/Edge browser, the simplest way to use the service is to click the "INSTALL GMAIL PLUGIN" button at the top of this page and then follow the instructions. After the plugin is installed, a new "Schedule repeating" option will be added to the Gmail web client as shown here:

If you're not a Gmail or Chrome/Edge user, you can still use the service. To get started, click the "SIGN UP" button at the top of this page and follow the instructions. After completing the sign-up process, you'll receive a unique Mail Boss email address to which you can send messages that are to be scheduled for later delivery. We recommend adding this email address to your mail client's contact list. Next, to schedule a new recurring email, create the message in Gmail as usual but send it to your Mail Boss contact with a special "scheduling instruction" in the subject line indicating what time, how often, and to whom the email should be sent. The scheduling instruction must come at the end of the subject and start with a hashtag (#) like this:

Subject: Happy New Year! #2020-01-01 9:00am repeat every year to bob@domain.com

This subject line indicates that a message with the subject "Happy New Year!" should be delivered to bob@domain.com on January 1, 2020 at 9am and repeated at the same time every year (dates are in YYYY-MM-DD format). Of course, the scheduling instruction will be removed from the subject line when the message is delivered. Note that though you can enter the scheduling instruction manually, it's much simpler to navigate to this page and click the "HELPER" link at the top. The Helper application makes creating a scheduling instruction a simple point and click process.

In addition to scheduling new messages, you can also send commands like "#list" and "#delete" to your Mail Boss email address in order to manage your scheduled messages directly from your email client. See the section titled Manage Scheduled Messages below for more information.

Features

Mail Boss supports many convenience and scheduling features including:

Future dated and recurring emails

Month-end emails (e.g., last day of each month, three days before end of month, etc.)

Particular days each month (e.g., every second Sunday, last Friday of each month, etc.)

Send before or after the target date (e.g., send two days before the last Friday of each month)

Custom repeat intervals (e.g., every other week, every third month, etc.)

Multiple days per week (e.g., every Monday, Wednesday, Friday)

Receipts when emails are sent (configurable per email)

Skip individual recurring emails as needed (e.g., skip next 3 messages, skip specific dates, etc.)

Supports all languages and unicode characters (scheduling commands must be in English)

Create, view, and delete scheduled messages from any mail client (web or mobile)

Chrome/Edge browser plugin for Gmail and helper web app provided to simplify scheduling

Requires no permissions to your email account

Cancel your account at any time with an automated email

Service is completely FREE OF CHARGE (donations appreciated)

Documentation

To use Mail Boss, start by clicking the "SIGN UP" button at the top of this screen to receive a unique Mail Boss email address. Next, create a new contact in your mail client using this address and name it something like "Mail Boss". You can then schedule recurring messages by sending them to your Mail Boss email address with a special "scheduling instruction" in the subject line indicating when, how often, and to whom the email should be sent. The scheduling instruction must be at the end of the subject line and start with a hashtag (#) like this:

Subject: Happy New Year! #2020-01-01 9:00am repeat every year to bob@domain.com

This subject line indicates that the message should be delivered to bob@domain.com on January 1, 2020 at 9am and repeated at the same time every year (dates are in YYYY-MM-DD format). After sending the message to Mail Boss, you should receive a confirmation email within 30 seconds. Of course, the scheduling instruction will be removed from the subject line when the message is delivered to the target recipients. Though you can if you wish, creating scheduling instructions manually is not recommended and helper applications are provided to simplify the process (see next section).

Schedule Messages with Helper Apps

Rather than creating scheduling instructions manually, it's recommended that you use either the Chrome/Edge browser extension for Gmail or the helper application available at this site in order to simplify the process of creating properly formatted scheduling instructions. Even if you plan to schedule messages using a helper application, browsing the documentation under the "Schedule Messages Manually" section below is recommended as it may help you understand all of the features offered by Mail Boss.

Chrome/Edge Browser Extension for Gmail

To use the Chrome browser extension/plugin for Gmail, click the "INSTALL GMAIL PLUGIN" button at the top of this page to install it into your Chrome compatible browser and then navigate to the Gmail site. Compose a new message as you would normally but rather than click "Send", click on the arrow part of the "Send" button. This will present you with a small popup window where you should see "Schedule send" and "Schedule repeating" options (see image below). The "Schedule send" option is provided by Google for one time deliveries of future dated messages. The "Schedule repeating" option is added by the Mail Boss browser plugin and can be used to send recurring messages. To schedule a recurring message, click "Schedule repeating" and complete the resulting dialog box to schedule the message.

Note that when using the Gmail browser plugin, you should enter the email recipients as you normally would when sending a message from Gmail (in the "To", "CC", and "BCC" fields) since the plugin will automatically copy those addresses to the scheduling instruction and redirect the message to your Mail Boss email address.

Mail Boss Helper Web App

If you're not using Gmail or the Chrome/Edge browser, you can use the helper application available here to schedule your recurring messages. Simply navigate to this site and click the HELPER option at the top of the screen. Specify when and to whom your message should be delivered in the popup dialog box, click the "Copy to clipboard" button, and then paste the contents of your clipboard to the end of your email's subject line before sending the message to your Mail Boss email address. You'll receive a response from Mail Boss within 30 seconds confirming that a new message has been scheduled.

Schedule Messages Manually

Click to show documentation for manual scheduling

Manage Scheduled Messages

You can manage your recurring messages completely within your mail client by sending special commands to your Mail Boss email address.

Retrieve a List of Scheduled Messages

To view all of your currently scheduled messages, send an email to your Mail Boss address with just "#list" in the subject line:

Subject: #list

You should receive a response email within 30 seconds with the full list of your currently scheduled messages. This list includes the next scheduled delivery date, subject line, recurring schedule, creation date, message ID, and all recipients for each email.

Modify or Delete Scheduled Messages

Currently, the only way to modify the recurring schedule, recipient list, or content of a recurring message is to delete it and create a new one. If you find that your recipient list changes often, you may consider sending the message to a mailing list that allows you to modify the recipients without updating the email in Mail Boss. See the Google Groups Mailing List section below for more information.

To delete an existing email, first request a list of all scheduled messages as documented in the section above, find the message ID for the email that you'd like to delete, and send a message to your Mail Boss address with a subject line that contains the "#delete" command followed by a space and the message ID like this:

Subject: #delete 3n6c86ot591qgdul0l6kuag2t444d6u5jrb4auo1

You should receive an email from Mail Boss within 30 seconds confirming that the message was deleted.

View Scheduled Messages

To view the contents of a scheduled email, request a list of all scheduled messages using the #list command, find the message ID for the email that you'd like to view, and send a message to your Mail Boss address with a subject line that contains the "#view" command followed by a space and the message ID like this:

Subject: #view 3n6c86ot591qgdul0l6kuag2t444d6u5jrb4auo1

You should receive an email from Mail Boss within 30 seconds containing the subject and contents of your scheduled message. Another way to view the contents of a scheduled message is to find the original email in your "Sent" folder (the email you sent to create the message). The #list command returns the date and time the scheduled message was created so this information can be used to help locate it.

Update Your Timezone

Mail Boss needs to know your time zone in order to deliver messages at the right time. This value was collected at sign-up but if you move to a new time zone, you can update it by sending a message to your Mail Boss address with "#timezone" followed by a space and your new time zone in the subject line like this:

Subject: #timezone America/New_York

The easiest way to determine your new time zone is to click on the "SIGN UP" button at the top of this page to see your current time zone according to your browser. If correct, simply click on the time zone to copy it to your clipboard and then paste it into the subject line as shown above. If not correct, the "SIGN UP" dialog box includes a link to a site that can help you find the correct value.

Cancel Your Account

You can cancel your account at any time by sending a message to your Mail Boss email address with the command "#cancel" followed by a space and your Mail Boss ID like this:

Subject: #cancel c275daea-9bc7-435f-9349-21ec35cae9ed

This will delete all record of your Mail Boss account from our database. Please note that you must delete all of your scheduled messages before you can cancel your account.

Schedule Text Messages (SMS & MMS)

You can use Mail Boss to schedule free delivery of text messages by addressing them to each carrier's "Email to SMS Gateway" mail domain. Each mobile carrier provides a gateway for passing emails to their customers via SMS or MMS text messages. For example, to schedule delivery of an SMS text mesage to customers of AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon, you would create a message in Gmail like normal (including a Mail Boss scheduling instruction in the subject line) but you would use each recipient's phone number and their carrier's mail domain in the "to" part of the scheduling instruction like this:

Subject: #2020-01-01 9:00am to 8885551111@txt.att.net,8885553333@tmomail.net,8885554444@vtext.com
Body: Happy New Year!

As long as each of the phone numbers listed above are addressed to the correct carrier domain, the message will be delivered via SMS text to each recipient. Of course, any emails sent to SMS text recipients should be kept short (ideally under 160 characters). Notice that the subject line in this example contains only the scheduling instruction. This is because some carriers will include the subject in parentheses prior to the body (i.e., "(subject) body" format) which doesn't look like a normal text message. For more information about this approach and a list of SMS Gateway email domains for the most common U.S. carriers, see this article. And if you need to determine the carrier for a particular mobile phone number, check out this free carrier lookup service.

Google Groups Mailing List

When sending scheduled messages to recipient lists that change often or are very large, it may be convenient to create a mailing list from a service like Google Groups. A mailing list allows you to modify recipient lists without changing scheduled messages in Mail Boss. Follow these steps to send messages to a Google Groups mailing list:

  1. 1. Go to https://groups.google.com/ and click the "CREATE GROUP" button to create a group (i.e., mailing list).
  2. 2. Add the email address "no-reply@mailboss.org" as a member of your group.
  3. 3. Grant permission to "Post" to this member.
  4. 4. Select "No email: web-only participation" for this member to prevent emails from being sent to the "no-reply" address.

Once you've created a new group, create a scheduled message directed to the group's email address (e.g., "dog_walkers@googlegroups.com"). Once the message is scheduled, you can manage the recipients directly from the Google Groups website.

Privacy Policy

Mail Boss takes your privacy seriously. Mail Boss doesn't sell or share any of your personal data. In fact, the only information we maintain about you is your email address and time zone. Your scheduled emails are stored in our system using AES-256 encryption and are only kept until the recurring schedule is complete at which point they are permanently deleted. All messages are processed in an automated fashion and never mined for data. Though we make every effort to safeguard your scheduled emails, we strongly recommend against including any sensitive information in messages managed by Mail Boss (for your protection and ours).

Disclaimer

Mail Boss is a free service that you can choose to use at your own risk. Here are the terms of service:

MAIL BOSS IS A FREE SERVICE PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SERVICE OR THE USE OF OR OTHER DEALINGS WITH THE SERVICE.

Contact

We hope you enjoy the Mail Boss service. If you have any questions or suggestions, please feel free to contact us via email or the support forum:

Email Address
admin@mailboss.org

Support Forum
https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/mailboss

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Sign-Up Instructions

From the email account that you'd like to use with Mail Boss, send an email to signup@mailboss.org including only your local time zone in the subject line as shown below. You should receive a reply within 30 seconds with further instructions.

To: signup@mailboss.org
Subject: unknown

NOTE: If the time zone shown above is incorrect, click here to find the right one. Use the full text name of the time zone in the subject line such as "America/New_York".

If your browser is configured for it, you can create the sign-up email automatically by clicking the button below. If that doesn't work, click on the email address and time zone values above to copy them to your clipboard and then paste them into your mail client to send the email manually.

SEND EMAIL

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Mail Boss Helper

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Mail Boss Extension Installed

You're on your way to sending scheduled messages from Gmail with Mail Boss! With the extension installed, you should now see a "Schedule repeating" option directly under Gmail's "Schedule send" feature when you click the arrow on the Send button as shown here:

However, in order for this extension to work, you must also sign up for the Mail Boss service. This will provide you with a unique Mail Boss ID that the extension will ask for the first time it's run. If you haven't signed up yet, click the button below to get started.

Sign Up for Mail Boss

Welcome to the Mail Boss v2 Beta!

Mail Boss has been completely rebuilt to allow it to work with all mail clients and avoid new Gmail security restrictions. Version 2 is currently in an open beta period as we test the new system. Please give it a try and let us know if you run into any problems or have any questions/suggestions (see contact information at the bottom of this page).

If you use a Chromium browser (Chrome, Edge, Brave, etc.) and Gmail, the simplest way to get started is to click the "INSTALL GMAIL PLUGIN" button and then follow the instructions. For other mail clients and browsers, read through the documentation below and then click the "SIGN UP" button to start using the service.

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