Learn how to create to-dos via email.

Mail to Things is a powerful way to create to-dos from other apps, services, and platforms. Simply send an email to Things Cloud, and it will appear as a to-do in your Things Inbox. The subject becomes your to-do’s title, and the body is your note.

Enable Mail to Things

In order to use this feature, you must first enable Things Cloud. You can then proceed with the steps below to enable Mail to Things.

Mac
  1. On your Mac, open Things.
  2. In the menu bar at the top of your screen, click Things → Settings.
  3. Click the Things Cloud tab.
  4. Under Mail to Things, click Manage.
  5. Click the checkbox for Enable “Mail to Things”.
iPad & iPhone
  1. On your iPad or iPhone, open Things.
  2. Tap Settings → Things Cloud → Mail to Things.
  3. At the bottom, tap Enable “Mail to Things”.
Vision

In Things for Vision, please follow the same steps as described in the iPad & iPhone tab above.

Once you’ve enabled the feature, you’ll see your new @things.email address. This address is private and unique to you. Any emails you send to it will appear in your Inbox. You may want to copy the address and save it in your Contacts app so it’s easy to find later.

Create to-dos via email

Mail to Things is extremely simple to use. Just send an email to your personal @things.email address, and it will appear as a to-do in your Inbox. It’s that easy. The subject becomes your to-do’s title, and the body is your note.

Here are a few ways you could use it:

  • Send to-dos to Things from other platforms, such as Windows or Android.
  • Forward an email to Things from your iPhone; Things will link back to the email so you can find it again later.
  • Give your @things.email address to a trusted partner or colleague so they can delegate to-dos to you.
  • Create powerful workflows with other apps or online services.

There are many ways to use this feature, since anything that can send an email can create a to-do in Things.

A few things to note:

  • There is no way, via email, to set tags or any other metadata.
  • If an email is longer than 4,000 characters, it will be truncated.
  • Things only supports plain text; any formatting will be lost.
  • File attachments are not supported and will be ignored.
  • You can send a maximum of 50 emails per 24-hour period. Excessive emails will not be processed.

Create powerful workflows

You can use Mail to Things to create powerful automatic workflows with various apps and online services such as Apple Shortcuts, IFTTT, Zapier, and TaskClone.

We’ve created a few examples to show you what’s possible. You can adopt them into your own setup or build your own.

IFTTT

IFTTT (If This Then That) is a free web-based service that allows you to create “applets”. These applets use rules to make things happen: If this happens, do that. Or in the case of Things: If this happens, put a to-do in my Things Inbox.

Here’s an example to get you started:

Create to-dos from Google Assistant

This applet makes it possible for Android users to create to-dos by speaking to Google Assistant. Just say “Okay Google, add buy chocolate to Things” – and a new to-do “Buy chocolate” will appear in your Things Inbox. It also works with Google Home, and the Google Assistant app for iOS.

Get This Applet

IFTTT is also available as an app for iOS and Android.

Zapier

Zapier is a web-based service that allows you to create “zaps”. These zaps make it possible to create to-dos in Things from business tools such as Slack, Trello, Basecamp, GitHub, and more.

Here are a few examples to get you started:

You can view more Things integrations on the Zapier website.

TaskClone

TaskClone is a web-based service that copies your to-dos from Evernote, OneNote, and even handwritten notes, and emails them to your Things Inbox.

Clone From Evernote

Clone From OneNote

Clone Handwritten Notes

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