All of it. Included.

Google sign-in

Sign in with your Google account. Hey Look! has not finished Google’s review yet, so Google shows a warning first and allows up to 100 people to sign in. What to do

Google review pending

Microsoft sign-in (OAuth)

Outlook.com and Microsoft 365 through Microsoft's own window (public client, PKCE, no secret).

Work accounts may block IMAP/SMTP

iCloud, Yahoo and any IMAP/SMTP account

Add iCloud or Yahoo with an app password, or any other account that offers IMAP and SMTP.

Detect settings

Type an address and the app finds the servers: presets, provider autoconfig, the Thunderbird ISPDB, DNS and probing.

Trust a certificate for one account

For servers with their own certificate, such as Proton Mail Bridge on 127.0.0.1. It turns certificate checks off for that account only.

Off by default

Combined inbox or one mailbox

See all mailboxes in one list, or switch to a single mailbox from the folder pane or the command bar.

Folders and quick views

Standard and custom folders with nesting, plus quick views: Unread, Flagged, Pinned, Snoozed, Scheduled.

Download limit per mailbox

Choose how many recent mails to keep on this computer: 500, 1000, 2000 or 5000 (default 2000). Older mail stays on the server.

Offline reading and search

Mail you have already downloaded can be read and searched without a connection.

New mail at once (push)

New Inbox mail arrives at once on servers that support IMAP IDLE. A switch in Settings > Mailboxes > Reading & sync turns it off. A server without IDLE, or a lost connection, falls back to checking at your interval (every 2 minutes by default). While push works, the regular check of all folders runs only every 10 minutes (or your interval, if it is longer).

Inbox only

Order and Display name

Drag mailboxes (or use Alt+Up and Alt+Down) into the order you like, and give each a Display name that is shown instead of the address.

Conversations

Messages of one thread are grouped, and you act on the whole conversation.

Focused and Other

Newsletters and bulk mail (anything with List-Unsubscribe) move to an Other tab.

Header heuristic

Remote content blocked by default

Remote and background images stay blocked until you load them, once for a message or always for a mailbox.

Tracking pixels

Because every remote image is blocked, a tracking pixel is blocked with them. The app keeps no tracker list and does not claim to detect trackers.

Images you allow

The app downloads them itself (up to 60 per message, 6 MB each). Where it cannot, the message view may request an image directly.

Sandboxed message frame

Each message is shown without scripts, under a restrictive content policy, with no iframe, object, embed or form.

Message background

Mail is shown on the background its sender chose, also in the dark theme. A button in the reading pane switches a message between that original background and a dark one; your choice is remembered.

Link text warning

If the visible text of a link is a web address that points to a different host, you get a "This link may not go where it says" confirmation.

URL-shaped link text only

Risky attachment warning

Opening an executable or script attachment (exe, msi, bat, ps1, js, lnk and more) asks first.

On by default

One-click unsubscribe

For newsletters, unsubscribe with the RFC 8058 one-click request, or open the sender's page or a mailto.

Save attachments

Save one attachment or all of them to a folder. Inline pictures appear in the message.

Print and view original

Print the open message (not offered on macOS) and show the raw message source.

Read in a window of its own

Double-click a conversation (or press Shift+Enter) to read it in a window with Reply, Forward, Archive, Delete, Flag, Snooze, Summarise and Translate. Up to 8 windows can be open.

PDF attachments

On Windows the preview draws the PDF inside the app. On macOS and Linux it offers Open in your default app and Save as.

Rich-text editor

Font and size, colours and highlight, lists, alignment, styles, text direction, tables, pictures, links, emoji and symbols, find and replace, and clear formatting, in one row of buttons. The message is sent as plain inline formatting that other mail programs show the same way.

Paste options

Pasting from Word, Excel, Outlook, web pages and other apps is cleaned. A small button after the paste switches it between keeping the source formatting, merging into the text around the cursor, and text only. Ctrl+Shift+V (Cmd+Shift+V on a Mac) always pastes text only.

Replies keep the look of the original

The quoted message sits in a block of its own, below your text and signature, with its fonts, colours, tables, lists and pictures. The block cannot be broken by accident.

Write in a window of its own

Hold Shift when you click New mail, Reply or Forward, double-click a draft, or press Pop out (Ctrl+Shift+O). A setting makes a window the normal way. Each window remembers its size and place; up to 8 can be open.

Autosave and restore

The message is saved to Drafts by itself about every 30 seconds, and a copy is kept on your computer every few seconds. If the app ends unexpectedly, the next start saves it to Drafts by itself and says so in a toast. A message with Encrypt on is not copied to the disk.

Importance and preview

Mark a message High or Low importance; mail you receive shows it in the list. Preview as recipient shows the message on a light or a dark background and changes nothing in what is sent.

Confidential

A message marked Confidential is shown without copy, print or forwarding, and its window is hidden from screen capture and recording. Linux does not block screen capture.

Windows, macOS

Recipient chips

Addresses are checked as chips, with suggestions from people you wrote to and who wrote to you. Cc and Bcc included.

Attach by button, drag or paste

Drop on the top of the composer to put a picture in the message, on the bottom to attach it.

25 MB size warning

Warns when attachments plus pictures pass the usual server limit and blocks the send until you reduce them.

Signatures and templates

Create them for all accounts or one mailbox and insert a template into the body.

Undo send

After Send the message waits in a local outbox for 0, 5, 10, 20, 30 or 60 seconds (default 10). It survives a crash or kill. A normal Quit sends it at once.

Quit sends at once

Send later

Pick a preset or any date and time up to one year ahead. A worker inside the app sends it, so the app has to be running.

App must be running

If the app was closed

A message whose time passed while the app was closed is sent at the next start by default. The "ask" setting makes it wait as Overdue instead.

Retries for scheduled sends

Temporary network and server errors are retried up to 3 times, 5 minutes apart. Login and address errors are not.

Meeting from the composer

A Meeting switch turns a message into a calendar invitation with an event in your calendar.

Ctrl+Enter sends

Cmd+Enter on macOS.

Undo for archive, delete, junk

These reach the server after 3, 6, 10, 15 or 30 seconds (default 6), so you can take them back.

Snooze with your own times

Presets (in 1 hour, later today, tomorrow, weekend, next week) or times you set. The conversation returns to the Inbox then.

Snooze reminders

A notification when a snoozed conversation returns.

Windows, Linux

Pin, flag, read and unread

Pin to the top, flag, and mark read or unread from keys or the command bar.

Mark as read timing

Immediately, after 2 or 5 seconds, or never.

Block sender

Moves the conversation to Junk and hides later mail from that address in the Inbox view. Nothing is moved on the server.

Filters

Rules on From, To, Subject or any field ("contains" or "equals") that archive, delete, junk, mark read, flag, pin or move to a folder. They run on newly synced mail.

Sweep

A dialog lists your senders. Per sender: archive all, delete, mark read or block.

Bulk selection

Ctrl+A selects all, then act on the selection.

Right-click menu

Right-click a conversation (or press Shift+F10) for Reply, Forward, Flag, Pin, Snooze, Move to, Archive, Delete, Move to Junk and more. With several ticked, it acts on all of them.

Search operators

from:, to:, subject:, body:, folder:, is:unread|read|flagged|pinned, has:attachment, after:, before: (dates or 7d) and "quoted phrases".

Search panel

Scope (this folder, a mailbox, everything), filters and date pickers.

Search in webmail

For a mailbox whose webmail is known, a button opens it. Gmail gets the same search with the operators translated.

Month, Week and Agenda views

Switch with Ctrl+1 and Ctrl+2, or the m, w and a keys.

Invitations with Accept, Tentative, Decline

A card shows the time in your zone, place, organiser, attendees and conflicts. The reply goes out from the right account, with an optional note.

Updates and cancellations

Recognised when the From address equals the stored organiser. There is no DKIM, SPF or S/MIME check.

Reminders

Event reminders fire from a background worker.

Import and export .ics

Bring a calendar file in, send events out.

Time zones and first day

Times show in your zone (automatic by default). Weeks start on Monday, Sunday or Saturday.

Repeating events

Shown as a read-only series. A single occurrence cannot be edited.

Limit

Sync with Google and Microsoft

Turn it on per mailbox in Settings > Mailboxes > (account) > Calendar. The calendars you choose appear next to your local calendar with their colours, and the events you add, change, delete or answer are saved back to Google Calendar or Outlook. Calendars you can only read, such as holidays, stay read-only. It is a separate permission from mail, off until you turn it on, and turning it off removes the synced calendars from this computer.

Optional

Google calendar sync and Google’s review

Hey Look! has not finished Google’s review yet. Until it has, Google shows a warning first and allows up to 100 people to sign in with Google, for mail and for calendar. See what to do. Microsoft calendar sync is not affected; a work or school account may need an admin to approve it.

Limit

CalDAV and other calendar services

Not supported. They may come in a later update.

Not yet

Key generation

Create an Ed25519 / Curve25519 or RSA 3072 key with an optional expiry, locked by a passphrase.

Encrypt, sign, decrypt, verify

Encrypt a message to the recipients' keys, sign it, decrypt incoming mail and verify signatures.

Not yet tested with other OpenPGP software

Import, export, backup

Import and export armored keys and save a passphrase-protected backup file.

Backup guard

Closing the key page without a backup asks "Back up now" or "Close anyway".

Passphrase attempts limit

After repeated wrong passphrases, unlocking waits 30 seconds.

Recipient key status

Shows whether each recipient has a usable key before you send.

Where secret keys live

In the app's own database, locked with your passphrase. They are not in the OS credential store.

Summarise a conversation

2 to 5 bullet points for a thread. Sends up to 24,000 characters of the readable messages.

Needs your endpoint

Translate a message

Into a language you pick. Sends up to 60,000 characters, in parts of about 8,000 characters one after the other. A notice shows the part it is on and a Cancel button; a part that fails can be retried without redoing the finished ones.

Needs your endpoint

Write with AI

Writes or edits the body from your instruction. Sends your draft, the subject and, for replies, up to 6,000 characters of the message you reply to.

Needs your endpoint

Any OpenAI-compatible endpoint

Works with any OpenAI-style /v1/chat/completions endpoint, including local servers. The model list comes from /models.

Key in the OS credential store

The AI key is kept in the system credential store, not in the database.

What leaves the machine

The text you ask about goes to the endpoint you configured. Decrypted OpenPGP content is sent too, because the assistant reads the readable messages. The endpoint's own terms and privacy policy apply to what it receives.

Help when it cannot work

If the Assistant is not set up, the key is refused, the address or model is wrong, the provider is busy or the answer is too slow, a message stays on screen until you close it and says what happened. Its button opens Settings > AI Assistant at the right field. Summarise and Write with AI can be cancelled.

Notifications with buttons

New mail on Windows shows up to three action buttons: Archive, Delete, Mark as read by default, or Flag, Reply, Snooze.

Windows

Notifications on Linux

A plain native notification through the desktop's notification service, without buttons.

Linux

macOS notifications

Not available in this version. The Settings page says so.

macOSLimit

Smart notifications

Bulk mail does not notify when smart mode is on (default).

Windows, Linux

Tray icon and unread badge

The unread count, a dot, or nothing (setting), plus a Windows taskbar overlay. On macOS the Dock icon shows the unread number (or nothing, by the same setting).

Windows, macOS Dock

Tray menu

Open Hey Look!, New mail, Check mail now, Pause notifications, Quit.

Keep running in the tray

Closing the window keeps the app and its sync running. Turn it off and the close button quits.

Windows title bar

On Windows the top bar is the title bar, with Snap Layouts on Windows 11 and F11 for full screen.

Windows

In-app update

The app checks GitHub for a newer version, downloads it with a progress bar, verifies the minisign signature and restarts into it after a 5-second countdown you can cancel.

Installs by itself on Windows; macOS and Linux need permission

Update addresses are checked

Only https://github.com/thnonl/hey-look/releases/download/<tag>/<file> is accepted.

Mail shortcuts

c new, / search, j and k move, e archive, # or Delete delete, ! junk, s snooze, p pin, * flag, u unread, r a f reply, reply all, forward, Esc close, Ctrl+A select all, F5 sync, F11 full screen. Backspace deletes on macOS only.

Calendar shortcuts

c new event, t today, m w a for month, week, agenda, arrows for previous and next.

Command bar

Ctrl+K (Cmd+K): new mail, sync, new event, calendar, settings, updates, Sweep, theme, reading pane position, conversations, Focused, switch account, archive, delete, flag, pin and any folder.

Appearance

Light, dark or system; 7 colour presets or any colour; 3 densities; reading pane right or bottom; 4 list switches; 6 text sizes. There is no full theme editor. Try it on the home page.

Languages

English by default; Vietnamese, French, Chinese (Simplified), Spanish, Japanese, German and Russian can be chosen in Settings > General and apply at once, without a restart. Dates and numbers follow the language. The translations are new and may contain mistakes.

English, Vietnamese, French, Chinese, Spanish, Japanese, German, Russian

Accessibility

Keyboard shortcuts and ARIA labels on controls. No accessibility audit or conformance claim.

Partial

Side menu

Fold the folder pane to a column of icons with the button at its top or Ctrl+B (Cmd+B). In a window narrower than 1100 px it folds by itself, and pointing at the icons opens the full menu over the list for a moment. Settings > Appearance sets Automatic, Always expanded or Always icons only.

Shortcuts while writing

Ctrl+K link, Ctrl+F find, Ctrl+H replace, Shift+F3 change case, Ctrl+Shift+V paste as text only, Ctrl+Shift+O pop out, Alt+F10 the toolbar (Cmd instead of Ctrl on a Mac).

Local storage

The mail cache and settings are a local SQLite file under the identifier thnonl.heylook.

Secrets in the credential store

Passwords, OAuth tokens and the AI key live in Windows Credential Manager, the macOS Keychain or the Linux Secret Service. OpenPGP secret keys are the exception.

Linux needs an unlocked keyring

No account, no licence check

No Hey Look! account and no licence server. There is no sign-in to the app itself.

No analytics code

No analytics or crash-reporting SDK is in the source. That is verified from the source, not by a traffic capture.

No ads

The app shows no advertising and has no ad code in the source. That is verified from the source, not by a traffic capture.

Every outbound request

Your mail servers; Google and Microsoft sign-in; Google Calendar and Microsoft Graph, only for a mailbox with calendar sync on; autoconfig, ISPDB and DNS for Detect settings; GitHub for updates; the AI endpoint you configure; the sender's unsubscribe address when you press Unsubscribe; remote images only after you allow them.

Quit safety

Held sends and queued actions are stored locally. A message that was being sent when the app stopped is queued again at the next start.

Windows, macOS and Linux

Windows 10/11, macOS 11+ (universal, not notarised), Linux (AppImage, .deb, .rpm).