Currently In Development
Notes From Email:
Send emails to your Obsidian vault.
A hosted service that turns every email it receives into a new note in your vault, with its attachments intact.
Currently in development. Join the waitlist!
Remember Evern*te's email-to-notebook feature? Yes, so do I.
When you want to save an email to your vault, you forward it to the unique email address Notes From Email gives you. In your vault, it will be saved as a new note with the subject line as the title, and its attachments linked in the note body. Simple, but very useful.
Frequently Asked Questions
How does this work?
Notes From Email consists of two components: A server which receives and stores the incoming
mail, and an Obsidian plugin which fetches the mail data from the server, and turns it into notes and files.
The Obsidian plugin will periodically fetch your new data from the server. Once processed locally, the data is
removed from the server.
Why is there a server?
Email is an inherently asynchronous medium – meaning that when you send that email, it should be received even if the Obsidian client isn't currently running on your device. So there has to be some server component to store that data until your Obsidian client next fetches it.
I hope there is some sort of encryption involved?
Short answer: Yes, PGP.
Longer answer: We employ private/public key pairs. A public key is used to encrypt data, but can't by used for
decrypting it. The related private key can only be used to decrypt data.
The Obsidian plugin creates a key pair, and stores the public key on the server so the incoming mails can be
encrypted and temporarily stored there. The Obsidian client pulls new data from the server, and decrypts it
locally, inside your vault, using the private key. That private key never leaves the client.
But why encryption?
First of all: Your notes and emails are none of my business. The less I know about them, the better! But
standard email is unencrypted, and—as mentioned above—there has to be some server component to
receive and temporarily store that email data until your Obsidian client next fetches it.
But that storage stage is important. Whatever you end up emailing yourself, if it is saved in plain text and
some unsavory person gains access to the server, then you want to minimize the risk of that person reading
your emails-in-waiting currently stored on the server.
So encryption (that can't be decrypted on the server side) it is.
If someone gains access to the server, could they access my vault?
No. Your Obsidian client only fetches email data from the server, but the server can't see your vault, doesn't know anything about it, can't see its contents, and can't save anything into it. It's a one-way street going from the vault to the server, but not the other way around.
Will this be a free service?
No, but the subscriptions will be very affordable. Just like with my other products there'll be different
price points for personal and commercial use. I'd love to offer all of this for free, mind, but I'm running a
business, and all of that costs time and money etc.
I plan on adding a trial mode, of course.
I'm game, where can I create an account?
I'm not there yet, sorry. 😅 Feel free to sign up below for the newsletter to stay in the loop!
Who are you?
My name's Carlo Zottmann. I'm the proprietor of ActionsDotWork., a one-person indie software
development company based in Flensburg, Europe.🇪🇺
I also create macOS and iOS apps, plus a couple of free Obsidian plugins,
and I teach people how they can simplify their work life by using personal macOS/iOS-level automations.
Join the Waitlist
"Waitlist" is just a fancy word for "a newsletter about something that isn't done yet".
~1 post/month. It is provided by the GDPR-compliant Buttondown service.
About this email subscription ℹ️
After clicking "Subscribe" you will receive an opt-in email, which you need to confirm to complete your
subscription. Had a sudden change of mind? Then just ignore the email. No hard feelings. :)
Your address will only be used for updating you on the progress of my apps, upcoming releases, and the
occasional sale. Every email will contain a working unsubscribe link. I'm committed to the GDPR🇪🇺 both by
conviction and by law. Common decency applies.
Sounds Good? Allow Me To Keep In Touch.
Stay up to date with Notes From Email's progress, my apps and services, and the occasional sale.
A place to discuss your Shortcuts workflows. You can also ask questions, share your ideas and report bugs.
Lots of friendly people there.
Visit the ActionsDotWork Forum
If you want to chat, find me on Mastodon
@actionsdotwork@pkm.social (just apps & services) and
@czottmann@norden.social (personal account).
I'm also on Bluesky:
@actions.work (just apps & services) and
@zottmann.dev (personal account).
And since I need a place to post tutorials and whatnot, there's
@ActionsDotWork on YouTube.