Mail Integration

Reference for reading and managing email via Apple Mail on macOS.

Reading Unread Counts

tell application "Mail"
    set personal to unread count of mailbox "INBOX" of account "Personal"
    set work to unread count of mailbox "INBOX" of account "Kajabi"
    return "Personal: " & personal & ", Work: " & work
end tell

Note: Account names vary by user. List accounts first if unsure.

Listing Accounts

tell application "Mail"
    get name of every account
end tell
-- Returns: {"Personal", "Kajabi", "iCloud", ...}

Reading Messages

Get Recent Unread Messages

tell application "Mail"
    set msgs to (messages of mailbox "INBOX" of account "Personal" whose read status is false)
    set result to {}
    repeat with m in (items 1 thru (min of {10, count of msgs}) of msgs)
        set end of result to {subject of m, sender of m, date received of m}
    end repeat
    return result
end tell

Get Message Details

tell application "Mail"
    set m to message 1 of mailbox "INBOX" of account "Personal"
    return {subject:subject of m, sender:sender of m, content:content of m}
end tell

Sending Email

tell application "Mail"
    set newMessage to make new outgoing message with properties {
        subject:"Subject Line",
        content:"Email body text here",
        visible:true
    }
    tell newMessage
        make new to recipient at end of to recipients with properties {
            address:"recipient@example.com"
        }
    end tell
    send newMessage
end tell

Note: Set visible:true to review before sending, or visible:false to send immediately.

Searching Mail

tell application "Mail"
    set results to (messages of mailbox "INBOX" of account "Personal" whose subject contains "invoice")
    return count of results
end tell

Moving Messages

tell application "Mail"
    set m to message 1 of mailbox "INBOX" of account "Personal"
    move m to mailbox "Archive" of account "Personal"
end tell

Anti-Patterns

DON'T assume account names

Always list accounts first - names vary by user's email setup.

DON'T send without user confirmation

Draft emails should be shown to the user before sending. Set visible:true.

DON'T delete messages without explicit permission

Moving to Archive is safer than permanent deletion.