Autopilot

Autopilot is a full-window map of the conversations in your message list, grouped by whether they need you.

Autopilot replaces the message list and reading pane with a map. You sit in the middle; each conversation is a circle around you, grouped into clusters. It is a way to see what is waiting, pick one conversation, and read it beside the map.

Autopilot is available whether or not AI is set up. Conversations are grouped by whether they are unread, whether you have replied to them, and whether they come from a person or from a mailing list or an automatic sender.

Open Autopilot

Use any of these:

Click the Autopilot button at the bottom left of the window. The button is hidden while the compose window is open.
Choose View › Enter Autopilot.
Open the command palette with ⌘K (Ctrl+K on Windows and Linux) and choose Enter Autopilot.

On a phone-sized window, the Autopilot button floats at the bottom of the screen, and the bottom navigation bar is hidden while Autopilot is open.

Leave Autopilot

Use any of these:

Click Exit at the top right of the map.
Click the Autopilot button again. Its tooltip reads Leave Autopilot while Autopilot is on.
Choose View › Leave Autopilot.
In the command palette, choose Leave Autopilot.
Press Esc. If a conversation is open beside the map, or a card is showing, the first Esc closes it and the next leaves Autopilot.

Read the map

Part	What it shows
Autopilot header	At the top left, with a line saying how many conversations are waiting on something: Nixt Mail is tending N live threads counts the ones in Needs you and Waiting on, or Nothing needs tending when there are none. When the list has more than fit, the line ends · N more not shown.
You	The circle in the middle, with your initials and a line to every conversation still waiting.
Needs you	The cluster for unread conversations from people.
Waiting on	The cluster for conversations you have replied to, so the next reply is theirs. A reply counts when it is sent from Nixt Mail, or from another app that marks messages as replied to, as Apple Mail and Outlook do.
Handled	The cluster for conversations you have read and not replied to, and ones you marked handled. Mail from mailing lists, newsletters and automatic senders is here too, read or not — messages with an unsubscribe link, automatic replies, and senders such as no-reply addresses. Its name is below it.
Circles	One for each conversation, showing the sender’s initials in their colour. A blue dot on a circle means the conversation has unread mail, as in the message list. Each cluster shows how many it holds.
Exit	Leaves Autopilot.
Recluster	Rearranges the circles around their clusters. It never moves a conversation to another cluster. It is not shown when the map is empty.
Summarize N threads	With AI set up, asks for summaries of the conversations in Needs you and Waiting on that come from a connected account and have none yet, one after another. See Summarize the whole map.

On a narrow window, the buttons at the top right show only their icons; hover over one to see its name.

When nothing on the list needs a reply or is waiting on one, the map shows only you, with All clear under your circle.

The map is drawn from the message list you had on screen — the folder, All inboxes, or search results, without what you have snoozed — and shows at most 12 conversations: those that need you first, then those waiting on someone, then the rest, each in the order of the list. A conversation you mark handled counts with the rest, so when more are waiting than fit, each one you mark makes room for the next. Change the folder or search before opening Autopilot to change what it shows.

Look at one conversation

Click a circle. The rest of the map dims, and a card appears at the bottom.
Read the card:

Part of the card	What it shows
Name and initials	The sender, and when the conversation last came in.
Line under the name	The sender’s domain and the conversation’s subject.
Text	Nixt Mail’s summary of the conversation, marked AI, when AI has summarised it. Otherwise the start of the message, or No summary yet — open the thread to read it. With AI set up, Summarize with AI under it opens the conversation beside the map and asks for a summary; see Summarize a message.
Action: line	What the summary suggests doing, when it suggests something.
Suggested reply	When Nixt Mail suggests a reply, the card leads with it as a button, for example Tuesday works great. Click it to open the conversation beside the map with that reply in its reply box, ready to edit and send; the reply box has the keyboard, so you can type straight away. A reply you had already started is kept.
Follow up	On a conversation in Waiting on, the card leads with Follow up instead of a suggested reply. Click it to open the conversation beside the map with Just following up on this — any update? in its reply box, ready to edit and send. A reply you had already started is kept. It is not offered once you mark the conversation handled.
Open thread	Opens the conversation beside the map.
Mark handled	Moves the circle to Handled and closes the card. Next to a suggested reply or Follow up it is the ✓ before the clock. On a circle you marked handled it reads Not handled and moves the circle back. It is not offered for conversations that start in Handled.
Snooze	The clock at the end of the row. Choose a time — Later today, Tomorrow morning, This weekend or Next week, as the Message menu offers — to put the conversation away until then. It leaves the map, as it leaves the message list, and the keyboard moves on to the next conversation still waiting.

To go back without choosing, click Back to map at the top right, click an empty part of the map, or press Esc.

With the keyboard, press Tab to move between the circles, Exit and Recluster, and Return or Space to open a circle’s card. On a circle, the arrow keys move to the nearest circle in that direction; at the edge of the map they stay where they are. The card’s first button then has the focus, so Return again presses it. Closing the card returns you to its circle, and after Mark handled the focus moves on to the next conversation still waiting. E, the Archive key, marks handled without opening the card: on a circle, on a card, or on the conversation open beside the map — but not while you are typing. A screen reader reads each circle as the sender, its cluster and the subject, and reads the card when it appears.

Mark handled changes only the map: the message itself is left as it is. The circle stays in Handled when you quit and reopen Nixt Mail, until a new message arrives in the conversation — then it comes back to be looked at.

Read a conversation beside the map

When you click Open thread, the conversation opens in a panel on the right of the map, with the full reading pane: its toolbar, attachments and reply box all work as they do in Mail. The conversation’s circle on the map has a ring around it.

Click Next at the top right of the panel to open the next conversation still waiting — one that needs you or is waiting on someone, and that you have not marked handled — in its place. When nothing else is waiting, Next is greyed out.

Click Mark handled beside it to mark the conversation handled and open the next one still waiting; when nothing else is waiting, you are back at the map. On a conversation you have marked handled it reads Not handled and puts it back, and it is not shown for conversations that start in Handled. When the panel is too narrow for its name, it shows only its ✓ — hover over it to see what it will do.

The clock beside it snoozes the conversation, with the same times as the card, and opens the next one still waiting in its place — or, when nothing else is waiting, takes you back to the map.

If you archive, delete or move the conversation from the panel, the panel closes and you are back at the map. To close the panel yourself, click Back to map at its top left, or press Esc.

On a narrow window, the conversation takes the whole width until you close it.

Motion

The map drifts, glows and pulses while you look at it. The movement stops:

when Settings › Appearance › Animations is set to reduce motion, or follows a system setting that does,
while the compose window, the command palette or a dialog covers the map, and
while the Nixt Mail window is not the one you are using.

The glow behind the Autopilot button follows the same rules.