Changelog
What's new.
Every release of Pigeon, with the same notes you see in its update window. Pigeon updates itself, so you're probably on the newest one already.
A fix for the mailbox window once a free trial has ended.
Fixed
- When the free trial had ended, the mailbox window could open taller than the screen, with its top and bottom cut off, and Zoom or Fill would not make it shorter.
Opening Pigeon looks steadier, and Claude can now tell which of your emails you have already answered.
Improved
- When Claude searches or reads your mail through the Pigeon plugin, it now sees whether you have replied to each message, so it no longer mistakes an answered email for one still waiting on you.
Fixed
- When Pigeon opened, the placeholder rows in the message list could slide in from the top left, or sit too narrow with their edge cut off, before your mail appeared. They now appear in place and stay still.
The message list no longer jumps when a window opens.
Fixed
- While a window was opening, the placeholder rows in the message list sat a little too high, and could slip under a widened sidebar. When your mail arrived they slid right and down into place. They now stand exactly where your messages appear, and simply fade away when the messages arrive.
You can attach files to an email now: drag them onto the composer, paste them in, or choose them with the paperclip.
New
- Drag a PDF, a Word document or any other file onto the composer to attach it. The composer lights up while you drag and says what dropping will do, and each file then appears under the letter with its name and size.
- The paperclip at the foot of the composer, and Attach Files in the Format menu, attach files you choose. A file copied in the Finder can be pasted in, and a folder is sent as a zip.
- Click an attached file to look at it in Quick Look, or its cross to take it off the letter.
- Attachments of up to about 26 MB can be sent from Gmail and from Microsoft 365 mailboxes alike. Pigeon says before you send when the files are too large.
- Pictures dropped on the letter still go into it where you drop them. Drop them on the area under the letter to send them as files instead.
A conversation now reads as a stack of messages in the order they were sent, and a planes.agency Gmail account can be added on a new Mac with nothing to set up first.
New
- Opening a message shows the whole conversation as cards in the order they were sent, earlier messages above and later ones below, each with its own attachments. Long conversations fold their middle into one line you can click to open.
- When Gmail files a reply as a new conversation, the reply now names the message it answers, and clicking that line opens it.
- Setup offers Gmail on a Mac that has never run Pigeon, with no file to copy across first.
Fixed
- Clicking into the search box and typing straight away no longer loses the first second of what you typed.
- A search you were still typing could be replaced by the inbox when Pigeon checked for new mail. It now stays.
Search now corrects typos, understands Gmail's OR and minus, and starts a search with its best matches. Pigeon also restarts its mail check by itself if it stops.
New
- Search corrects typos. When a word is misspelt, a note at the foot of the list says "Showing results for" the corrected words, with a link to search for what you typed instead. It knows your senders' names, so "evens cycles order" finds your Evans Cycles order.
- Search understands Gmail's operators. OR joins two words or two filters, as in from:rachel OR from:niketa, and a minus in front of a word or filter leaves it out, as in -newsletter.
- A newest-first search now starts with up to three top results, the closest matches to what you typed, on a raised panel above the rest of the list.
- Filter chips under a search add Has attachment, Unread, From a person, a time period or a sender from the results in one click.
Improved
- Best match ranks better: Pigeon rereads the top fifty results with an on-device model, ranks conversations you have written in higher, and ranks calendar invitations lower unless you are searching for a meeting.
- Recurring mail, such as monthly receipts from the same company, shows its newest copy first.
- An email address typed beside other words now also finds messages that mention it, not only ones sent to or from it.
- A search for two words of a name, such as from:"rachel pandyan", also finds the person by their email address when no name is stored.
- Previews in search results no longer show link addresses and image markup.
- Clicking anywhere outside the search field, including the top of the window, puts it away.
Fixed
- If Pigeon's background mail check stopped, no new mail arrived until Pigeon was reopened, and nothing said so. It now restarts by itself, and the sidebar says it is not checking for new mail, with a Restart button, until it is running again.
- The background mail check could appear in the Dock as a second, unresponsive Pigeon.
- After Tab accepted a suggestion in the search field, the filters ran together into one block until the next key was pressed.
- A scrollbar flashed in the search menu as it opened.
Search now lives in the middle of the window and filters your mail as you type, and messages that are a parcel, a booking or a code say so at the end of their row.
New
- The search field sits in the middle of the top of the window. Typing filters the message list straight away, and the down arrow walks the results while you keep typing. Return opens the highlighted message.
- Search suggests the rest of a word in grey as you type. Press Tab or the right arrow to accept it.
- Press / anywhere in the mailbox to start a search. With the field empty you see your recent and saved searches and the filters, and typing a filter such as from: offers its values.
- A message that is a delivery, a booking, a bounced email, an out-of-office reply, an order, an offer or a verification code shows a card at the end of its row, with a button to copy the code, track the parcel or open the link.
- A conversation now shows which earlier messages carry attachments, with a button to open each one and see its files.
Improved
- A search that takes a moment shows a spinner and a moving outline in the search field, then how long it took.
- Filters in the search field have more room around them.
- Mailings sent through relay services such as iCloud Hide My Email are recognised as automated mail rather than mail from a person.
- Closing a tab in the composer now discards that draft, asking first if it has words in it. Closing the composer window keeps every draft, and opening it again brings them all back as tabs.
- With several tabs open in the composer, ⌘W closes only the current tab.
Fixed
- ⌘W closed the whole mailbox window when a message was open. It now puts the message away, as Escape does.
- Some newsletters stayed on the loading placeholder for many seconds while their images loaded. The words now appear first and the pictures fill in.
- The message list's placeholder appeared to sweep in from the left when the window opened.
Pigeon can now tell us when it crashes, with a switch to turn that off, and the tabs in the composer look more like the tabs in a code editor.
New
- Settings under General has a new switch, Share anonymous usage and crash reports, which is on by default. It tells us that Pigeon opened, that a search or a send happened, which version you are on, and the technical details of a crash, including one in the background process that checks for new mail. It never includes a name, an address, a subject, what you searched for or anything from your mail. Turn it off and nothing more is sent.
Improved
- The tabs at the top of the composer are flat, editor-style tabs that line up with the window's traffic lights. The close button now appears only on the tab you are pointing at.
The buttons under a message are simpler, with a new way to open it in Claude, and marketing mail no longer has to be greyed out.
New
- Open in Claude sits at the end of the buttons under a message you are reading. Press C to hand the message to Claude, which writes a reply in your voice and opens it back in Pigeon as a draft.
- A new switch in Settings under General turns off the greying of marketing mail, so every row in the message list reads the same.
Improved
- No Thanks now appears on personal mail with no unsubscribe link, including from people you write to. Where there is nothing to leave, such as a receipt, the Unsubscribe button is hidden rather than greyed out.
- Previous and Next under a message are now just their arrow keys, and React has lost its smiley.
- Claude's own mark replaces the sparkles on every Claude button, in the reader, the composer and Settings.
Fixed
- An Outlook folder row with a long code for a name, which could not be deleted, is cleared. Its messages had already been deleted in Outlook and are now treated as deleted.
You can snooze a message until a time that suits you, and hand a reply or a first draft to Claude from Pigeon.
New
- Snooze a message to hide it from the Inbox until later. Press H while reading, use the clock button beside Label, or right-click a row. Pick a time such as Tomorrow or Next week, or choose your own date and time. The message comes back at the top of the Inbox, unread, with a notification, and a Snoozed row in the sidebar lists what is waiting. Snoozing works for Gmail and Outlook mail alike.
- Reply with Claude opens a new Claude session with your message ready to discuss, and the draft it writes opens back in Pigeon. The composer has a matching Continue in Claude button.
- Claude drafts now appear in front of your other apps with a banner, and you can switch that off in Settings under General.
- A short checklist helps you connect Claude, create your tone of voice and write your first email with it.
- Banners for verification codes lead with the code and have a Copy Code button. The code also shows on the message row, and clicking it copies it.
Improved
- Mail you send now carries your name in From, not just your address, which helps it read as coming from a person.
- Plain HTML messages such as GitHub and Vercel notifications now show in a clean sans-serif face rather than Times.
Fixed
- New-mail banners could show a white square instead of Pigeon's icon.
Best match search now understands what you mean as well as the words you type, and adding a mailbox happens in Settings rather than the setup window.
New
- Best match search finds messages by meaning as well as by their words. Pigeon prepares this in the background, and the sidebar says so while it catches up.
- Settings has an Accounts page listing your mailboxes and how far each has got. Add Mailbox in the account menu now opens it, and a mailbox is added there with a sign-in in your browser.
Improved
- Adding a mailbox no longer takes over the screen. Your newest mail arrives in a minute or so, and the sidebar shows the rest coming in.
- When Pigeon cannot reach a mailbox, the sidebar says so, with a Sign In button when your permission has been withdrawn.
Fixed
- Some Outlook and Gmail messages could go missing when a check for new mail was interrupted or refused. Pigeon now fetches them on the next check.
- Pigeon could stop checking every mailbox when one of them could not be set up. It now carries on with the others.
Setting up a mailbox is much quicker: Pigeon opens on your newest mail in well under a minute and brings in everything older in the background.
New
- A new mailbox opens on its newest mail straight away, and the rest downloads in the background while you use Pigeon. The sidebar shows how much is in and how far back search reaches, and a notification says when all your mail has arrived.
Improved
- Your newest mail starts downloading as soon as you sign in, so it is usually ready by the time setup finishes, and the count on the setup screen moves with every message.
- Gmail downloads keep to the pace Google allows, and any messages Google refused are fetched again rather than left missing.
- Setup no longer offers a tour or a game, since there is no longer a long wait to fill.
Fixed
- After pressing Send, the Undo notice sat half below the bottom of the window. It now appears inside the window, above the Dock.
You can now take back a message for a few seconds after sending it, and select and copy across paragraphs in the reader.
New
- Undo send: after you send a message, a notice at the foot of the window counts down the seconds before it goes, with an Undo button. Undo, or ⌘Z, reopens the letter in the composer exactly as it was. Choose how long to wait, or turn it off, in Settings, General, Sending.
- In the reader, a selection can run across paragraphs, headings and lists, and copying keeps bold, italics, links and lists when you paste.
- Messages you have replied to carry a reply arrow in the message list, and the reader says "Replied" beside the folder.
- When a sender offers no way to unsubscribe, U can now send a short "No thanks" reply to newsletters and sales mail filed under Updates or Promotions. The wording is in Settings, General, Sending.
Improved
- Pigeon is always set in DM Sans and Bitter, and the typefaces now come with the app, so the first window is in the right type even offline. The Typeface menu has gone.
- The mailbox behind a message opened over the list is blurred more lightly, so the list and the sidebar still read behind it.
- A message opened over the list now fits a narrow window, and the buttons under it shorten rather than being cut off.
- The reply button under an open message now reads "Quick Reply". It still replies to everyone.
- Tab in the subject line of the composer now moves to the letter.
- In a reply, quoted text has one line down its side instead of a column of dashes.
- The "cold start" note beside the search time sits on the same line, and hovering it says how much was read from disk.
- The keyboard shortcut shown on a hovered sidebar row is now evenly spaced inside its highlight.
Fixed
- A reply sometimes opened with its header half folded away.
- The sidebar button stood over the corner of a message opened over the list, and could take clicks meant for closing it.
Pigeon now has a 14-day free trial and a licence, and setting it up on a new Mac is a guided journey from signing in to searching.
New
- Pigeon is free for 14 days, with no card and no account. The days start when your first mailbox has finished syncing, and if you already use Pigeon they start with this update. When the trial ends Pigeon stops fetching new mail, and everything already on your Mac still opens and searches.
- Settings has a Licence pane. Paste your licence key there to activate this Mac, check it, or free this Mac for another. One key works on up to three Macs, and a licence link from your receipt opens Pigeon and fills the key in for you.
- Subscribing from inside Pigeon while your trial is running keeps the days you have left: your first payment is due when the trial would have ended. A banner near the end of the trial and Buy Pigeon in the Pigeon menu both offer it.
- Setting up Pigeon on a new Mac now walks you through it: sign in to Gmail or Microsoft 365, pick a sound and an appearance, add Pigeon to Claude, then watch your mail arrive one mailbox at a time.
- Add Mailbox in the account switcher connects another mailbox and fetches its mail.
- While your mail arrives you can take a short tour, or play Flappy Pigeon, which is also in the Help menu.
- A trash button beside the label button in the reader bins the open message.
- The attachments library can open in a window of its own.
Improved
- Show original and Load images have moved into a menu at the top right of the reader, with a third row that opens the message in a new window.
- The buttons under a message, from Previous and Next to Quick Reply All, React and Unsubscribe, are larger and easier to read.
- Searching for mail that needs a reply is much faster, especially the first time after Pigeon opens.
- The search indicator only appears for searches that are really slow, and a slow first search says it was reading your mail from disk.
Fixed
- Icons in right-click menus were drawn black in dark mode.
- A search could run twice, and an older page of results could replace a newer one.
- The window buttons in message windows and the tone of voice editor sat too high.
Mail you send from Pigeon now says so in one short line, which you can turn off.
New
- Letters, quick replies and unsubscribe replies sent from Pigeon end with a "Sent via Pigeon" line under your signature, above any quoted message. Turn it off in Settings, General, under Sending.
The composer's header folds away as you scroll a long letter, and numbered lists keep the number you start them on.
Improved
- In the composer, To, Cc and the subject fold into one line as the letter scrolls up, and unfold when you scroll back or click that line.
- The composer's scroll bar now runs down the window's edge instead of beside the text.
- The whole Send button in the composer can be clicked, not only its label.
Fixed
- A numbered list started by typing a number other than 1, such as "4. ", showed or became 1 instead of keeping the number you typed.
Pictures too large for Exchange are caught before you send, tables show their lines, and a slow search now says it is searching.
New
- When the pictures in a letter are too large for the account sending it, the composer offers to make them smaller, from a button in the footer or when you press send.
- New mail can play one of macOS's own alert sounds, chosen in Settings, alongside the pigeon recordings.
Improved
- The pigeon sounds have descriptive names, and Coo is now the default.
- While a search is running, the list header says Searching, a bar sweeps under it and the old results fade until the new ones arrive.
- Tables have lines between their columns in the composer and in the mail you send, and the reader no longer runs a table with a single row together into one line.
- Pictures placed in the body of a message, such as ones pasted into a letter, now appear in the reader instead of being left out.
- The composer's block menu is wide enough that Subheading and Numbered list stay on one line.
Fixed
- Pressing Return in the Subject field now puts the caret in the letter.
- Typing a dash and a space in an empty letter showed the Write something prompt again instead of the bullet.
- The resize handle on a signature's picture in Settings could not be dragged.
- A signature's logo beside the words filled the editor instead of appearing at the size it is sent.
You can choose several messages and act on them together, and every icon in Pigeon now shares one style.
New
- Shift-click chooses a range of messages in the list and Command-click adds or removes one. Right-click a chosen message to mark them read or unread, label them or delete them together, and press ⌫ to move them to the Bin. Escape puts the choice down.
Improved
- Every icon in the window has been redrawn in one consistent line style, from the sidebar and the reader's replies to the composer's format bar, attachments and Settings.
You can mark a whole mailbox read from the sidebar, and the composer now formats lists, tables, links and pictures the way an editor should.
New
- Right-click any mailbox or label in the sidebar and choose Mark All as Read. Every unread message it counts is cleared, not just the ones on screen, and Pigeon asks first when there are more than 1,000.
- The composer has a Format menu. ⇧⌘7 starts a numbered list, ⇧⌘8 a bulleted one, ⇧⌘9 a quote, and ⌘] and ⌘[ indent and outdent a list item.
- Insert a table from the composer's footer or the Format menu. Tab moves between cells and adds a row at the end, and rows and columns can be added and removed.
- Paste, drop or insert pictures into a letter, and resize them from their own bar. They are sent inside the message rather than as attachments.
Improved
- Pasting from Safari, Chrome, Google Docs, Sheets, Word, Outlook, Numbers or Notes keeps headings, lists, quotes, tables and emphasis. Rows copied from a spreadsheet arrive as a table.
- Links in the composer show a bar with Open, Edit and Remove when the caret is in one. ⌘K adds a link without selecting words first, typed web addresses become links, and pasting an address over selected words links them.
- Formatting commands act on every selected paragraph, and Backspace at the start of a list item, heading or quote removes the formatting before any text.
- Numbered lists that start past 1 keep their number, and nested lists keep their indentation both in the reader and in what you send.
Fixed
- Typing a whole email address into To and pressing Return sometimes replaced it with a different contact. The address you typed is now kept when no suggestion begins with it.
- macOS's own typing predictions no longer draw over the composer's suggested closing.
Pigeon now keeps the attachments you open in a library you can search, helps you unsubscribe from mailings, and lets you react to any email.
New
- An Attachments screen keeps every file you save or preview, with the email it came in. Browse them as a grid of previews, search the words inside them with ⌘K, and open the email a file came from. Open it from the sidebar, with ⇧⌘A, or from the button on a message's attachments.
- Press U while reading a message, or choose Message ▸ Unsubscribe…, to leave a mailing. Pigeon uses the quietest way the sender offers: it unsubscribes in the background where it can, sends the request for you, or opens the sender's page. For cold sales email with no unsubscribe link, it offers a short reply asking to be removed.
- Rename or delete a label by right-clicking it in the sidebar. Deleting a label leaves the messages that carried it where they are.
Improved
- You can now react to any email, including from Exchange, on mailing lists and on messages with many people. Where Gmail's own reaction does not apply, the reaction is sent as an ordinary reply showing the emoji.
You can now label conversations, react to a Gmail message with an emoji, save your searches, and set your signature beside your logo. Messages you read in Outlook or on your phone now show as read in Pigeon too.
New
- Label a conversation: press L while reading, click the tag button under the subject, or right-click a row and choose Label. Type to find a label or make a new one. Gmail labels and Outlook categories with the same name are one label, and labels show as coloured tags on the row and in the reader.
- Search by label in ⌘K with label:, for example label:receipts.
- React to a Gmail message with an emoji: while reading, press E (or click React beside Quick Reply All) and pick one of eight with the mouse, the arrow keys or 1 to 8.
- Save a search: click the bookmark on the search button, or press ⌘D, and give it a name. Saved searches get their own section in the sidebar and come first in ⌘K. The searches Pigeon suggests for you are now listed under Suggested.
- Design your signature in Settings ▸ Signatures: put your logo beside your name or above it, format the words, resize the picture, and see how it will look when sent. You can also paste in a signature copied from another app or a web page.
- Typing after:, before: or date: in ⌘K shows a calendar. Click a day to fill it in, or pick a preset such as In the past week.
Improved
- Attachments are easier to find. Files come first, and pictures that are part of the message, such as signature logos, are grouped into one line underneath. With Show original on, those pictures appear where the sender put them.
- Search filters in ⌘K show as solid blue tags. One space after a from:, to:, subject: or in: value keeps the tag going so it can hold several words, and two spaces end it.
- Automated mail and the times in the message list are now the same size as everything else and easier to read, set apart by colour instead of small print.
Fixed
- Messages read or marked unread in Outlook or on your phone stayed as they were in Pigeon's Exchange inbox. They now follow, and Pigeon catches up on existing messages once after this update.
- Messages moved out of the Exchange inbox in Outlook, by a rule or on your phone disappeared from Pigeon. Pigeon now shows them in the folder they were moved to.
- Some Exchange messages you had deleted still showed in the Inbox. Pigeon moves them to Trash once after this update.
- Turning off Settings ▸ Block remote images had no effect. Images now load when blocking is off.
- With Keep watching for mail when Pigeon is closed switched on, Pigeon could stop checking for new mail for hours if the background watcher was not actually running. The window now checks for mail itself until the watcher is back.
- Rows scrolled under the account switcher no longer show through it.
Written notes begin at 0.18.0; earlier builds went out with a list of commits. Hear when Pigeon launches.