Can something (IFFTT?) text/call based on email filter

March 3, 2021 7:42 AM

Can I set gmail up to send me a text or make an automated call if an email with the words "covid" and "vaccine" comes in?

I'm trying to access covid vaccines for my parents. Vaccination rollout is a complete shitshow here. But I've pre-registered them a few places and they will get an email telling them when they're eligible to make an appointment. Of course, the system will likely crash ten minutes later, so I want to make sure I know right away. They're not great about keeping at their phones. I know I can auto-forward to my email, but I want to maximize the chance that I'll know/notice instantly when something comes in. I would love to get a text and/or a phone call in addition to the email. Hell, can we make my phone make that noise it makes when there's an amber alert?

I have access to their gmail and mine.

posted by If only I had a penguin... to Computers & Internet (16 answers total)

Response by poster: Oh, I should add that I'm in Canada and Google Voice, a thing i see come up a lot, is not available here.
posted by If only I had a penguin... at 7:48 AM on March 3, 2021

You can set up gmail to forward to a text message if you know the email address conversion for your carrier. For example, in the US, if you have ATT its [phonenumber]@text.att.net. So you set that up as a forwarding address first, then set up a filter that forwards to that address if those words are included.

So you set it up as a forwarding address for them (but leave the setting as disable forwarding) then set up a filter with the key words you want.
posted by mercredi at 8:00 AM on March 3, 2021 [5 favorites]

Forwarding to the SMS email address is almost surely going to be the easiest way (and I have done this myself for similar things).

Depending on your phone and mail client, you may also be able to directly get a notification for emails based on certain criteria (the easiest is usually if it's from a known sender).

Finally, if you're a programmer and want something more sophisticated, you could use a service like Twilio to automate SMS or phone calls. But I doubt this would be worth the extra effort given the short-term need.
posted by primethyme at 8:04 AM on March 3, 2021

Forwarding to text will work (you'll at least get some kind of message), but it's likely that whatever email you get will be in HTML and kind of unreadable as a text message. IFTTT.com used to have a way to trigger based on mail received to Gmail, but it looks like that functionality has been removed.
posted by hanov3r at 8:42 AM on March 3, 2021

If not ATT, the sms-email gateway address of other providers are listed on this page.
posted by pseudophile at 8:49 AM on March 3, 2021

Yes. Gmail has a TON of filtering options, and you can probably define your own, then forward those specifically to your SMS gateway, as needed.

If that doesn't work for you, there is probably a way to incorporate PushBullet so you get a notification on your phone. Not quite SMS, but it's just as good, IMHO.
posted by kschang at 11:40 AM on March 3, 2021

For Canada you can email your cell number at:

Rogers: [e-mail]
Telus: [e-mail]
Bell: [e-mail]
posted by tiamat at 3:07 PM on March 3, 2021

Response by poster: So my parents and I all have freedom mobile, which doesn't seem to do the email to sms thing. Looking into pushbullet now.
posted by If only I had a penguin... at 6:26 PM on March 3, 2021

@OP, according to this list, you need to "activate" the feature first.

Freedom Mobile
txt.freedommobile.ca
Must send SMS 4000 from phone to activate.

https://support.gomotionapp.com/en/articles/407-email-to-sms-gateway-list
posted by kschang at 1:01 AM on March 4, 2021

Response by poster: kschang, Yes, I had seen that. I tried sending a text that said just "4000" to my email address yesterday. The email came though, but my attempts to then test email -> sms failed.
posted by If only I had a penguin... at 8:25 AM on March 4, 2021

The Gmail app for iPhone (and, I bet, for Android) can do push notifications, and I sometimes get alerts from the app before see the mail pop up in a simultaneous web mail session. So maybe set up an otherwise unused Gmail account, connect it to an otherwise unused Gmail app, and have the filter forward the emails to that mail account?
posted by hanov3r at 9:28 AM on March 4, 2021

@OP, please keep in mind that COMPLEX emails that cannot be easily parsed by the gateway will be ignored.

Please try sending something simple, WITHOUT SIGNATURE or fancy graphics, just something like "HELLO TEST"
posted by kschang at 10:18 AM on March 4, 2021

Response by poster: I literally just sent the word "Test" and I have no signature.
posted by If only I had a penguin... at 10:55 AM on March 4, 2021

Looks like for freedom you have to unblock each incoming address indivudally.

Freedom instructions

Relevant bit:

How do I whitelist/unblock an email address(es)?
Open your messaging application (i.e. Google Messages, Apple Messages)
Enter 4000 as the recipient of the message.
Start your message with Unblock, followed by the email(s) you wish to block.
i.e. “Unblock [e-mail]”
posted by tiamat at 11:53 AM on March 4, 2021

Response by poster: Hmm...ok...and since these will be forwarded, I suppose the email to unblock is my own. Will try...and I was doing it wrong...I was texting my email with "4000" as the text.
posted by If only I had a penguin... at 12:08 PM on March 4, 2021

Response by poster: huh...it said "all requested addresses were already unblocked."
posted by If only I had a penguin... at 12:08 PM on March 4, 2021