Bryan's Email Command Center
Complete User Manual
This app is your AI-powered executive assistant built around your Microsoft 365 inbox. It connects directly to your Exchange account, syncs your email and calendar, scores every message by urgency, and lets you work with Natasha — your AI chief of staff — to get through your inbox faster.
Key Concepts
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Live Sync
The app stays in sync with your Outlook inbox via Microsoft Graph API. Changes you make here appear in Outlook immediately.
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AI Triage
Every email is scored by urgency (Urgent → Noise) using Claude AI. Scores improve as you give feedback.
N
Natasha
Your AI assistant. She can read, file, delete, reply to, and analyze your email. Give her natural language instructions.
🔒
Your Data
Everything is stored locally on this server. Nothing is uploaded to external cloud services beyond Microsoft 365.
First-Time Setup
- Click Settings in the bottom-left sidebar.
- Under Microsoft Account, click Sign in with Microsoft.
- A code appears on screen — go to
microsoft.com/devicelogin in any browser, enter the code, and sign in with your Microsoft 365 account.
- The app detects the sign-in automatically and shows your name in the top bar.
- Click Sync (top bar) to load your first batch of email.
Navigation & Layout
Top Bar
| Element | What it does |
|---|
| ☰ Sidebar toggle | Collapse or expand the left sidebar for more screen space. |
| Auth badge (top right) | Green dot = connected to Microsoft. Red = not signed in. Click Settings if red. |
| ↻ Sync | Manually trigger a full sync of all primary folders right now. |
| 🌙/☀️ Theme | Toggle between light and dark mode. Preference is saved. |
Left Sidebar — Main Views
| Item | What it opens | Badge meaning |
|---|
| N — Natasha | AI chat assistant | Number of items on Natasha's Desk needing your attention |
| Triage | AI-scored email list | Count of urgent emails |
| Board | Kanban task board | Cards needing attention |
| Dashboard | Priority widgets | — |
| Calendar Events | Upcoming calendar | Invites needing RSVP |
| Help | This page | — |
| Settings | Configuration | — |
Left Sidebar — Folders
Below the main navigation is your full email folder tree, mirroring your Outlook folder structure. Folders with unread mail show a blue count badge. The ● dot means a folder is set to auto-sync every 5 minutes.
- Click a folder name → view that folder's emails
- Click ▸/▾ arrow → expand or collapse sub-folders
- Hover a folder → click ▶ Review → start a guided review session (see Folder Review Sessions)
Folder Icons
| Icon | Folder type |
|---|
| 📥 Inbox / 📤 Sent / 📝 Drafts / 🗑 Deleted / 🚫 Junk / 📦 Archive | Well-known system folders (auto-detected) |
| 📌 1: / 📋 2: / 💬 3: / 🔔 4: / 📅 5: / ⏳ 6: / ✅ 7: | Your custom numbered categories |
| 📢 | Marketing / newsletter folders |
| 📁 | All other folders |
Natasha — AI Chat Assistant
Natasha is your executive assistant. Think of her as a senior EA who has read all your email, knows your priorities, and has the authority to take real actions in your inbox — not just summarize things.
She takes real actions. When Natasha says she deleted, moved, or marked something — she did it. Changes appear in Outlook immediately.
The Chat Interface
- Text input at the bottom: Type your request and press Enter or click Send.
- 🎤 Mic button: Click to use voice input (see Voice Features for setup).
- 📎 Attach: Attach a file or image (PDF, Word, Excel, screenshot) for Natasha to read and discuss.
- Paste screenshot: Press Ctrl+V anywhere in the chat to paste an image from your clipboard.
- 🔊 Voice button: Natasha will speak her responses aloud (uses browser text-to-speech).
- ↺ New: Start a fresh conversation and clear history.
- 📬 Inbox: Open the slide-out inbox panel to browse emails while chatting.
Starter Chips
When the chat is empty, quick-start buttons appear. Click any to instantly send that request:
| Chip | What it does |
|---|
| 📋 Brief me | Natasha summarizes what's happened since your last check-in |
| 🚨 What's urgent? | Shows the critical items needing attention right now |
| 📬 Work through inbox | Natasha starts reviewing your inbox one email at a time |
| ✍️ Replies I owe | Finds emails waiting for your response |
| 📅 My week | Reviews your calendar and flags prep needed |
| 🎯 My priorities | Links current email activity to your stated goals |
What Natasha Can Do
Email Actions
- Read email — "What did the MEND email say?" or "Read the last email from John"
- Search — "Find all emails from AWS last month" or "Show me unread emails about the contract"
- Delete / Archive / Mark read — "Delete all Temu emails from 4:notification" or "Archive the newsletter from yesterday"
- Move email — "Move the invoice from Brian to 1:to respond"
- Flag / Unflag — "Flag the email from the insurance company" (flagged emails are never deleted automatically)
- Block senders — "Block all email from spammer@domain.com" or "Block the whole domain"
- Undo actions — "Undo that" or "Undo my last 3 actions"
- Search Deleted Items — "Find the email I just deleted from John" and restore it
Draft & Send
- Draft a reply — "Draft a reply to the client asking for an update" — Natasha shows you the draft first
- Send email — After you approve the draft, say "Send it" and it goes immediately
Organization
- Create kanban cards — "Add this to the board — I need to follow up with Brian by Friday"
- Review folders — "Let's clean up 4:notification" — Natasha walks through it systematically
- Bulk cleanup — "Delete all Fyxer and ShareSync emails from 4:notification" — handled in one operation
- Sync a folder — "Sync my 2:FYI folder" — pulls fresh data immediately
Calendar & Tasks
- Check calendar — "What's on my calendar tomorrow?" or "Do I have any conflicts Thursday?"
- Extract action items — "Add this meeting to Natasha's Desk" — she flags it for your review
Safety Rules You Should Know
- Flagged emails are never deleted. If an email is flagged in Outlook, Natasha will skip it during bulk cleanups and notify you. To delete a flagged email, explicitly unflag it first.
- All deletes are soft. Nothing is permanently deleted — everything goes to Deleted Items in Outlook and can be recovered.
- Natasha declares before acting. Before deleting an email, she states its subject and sender. This is your chance to catch a mistake before it happens.
- She never makes things up. If she can't read an email, she'll tell you. She won't guess at email content.
The Inbox Panel
Click 📬 Inbox in the chat top bar to open a slide-out email browser alongside the chat. Use it to browse your inbox while talking to Natasha without switching views.
- Use the folder dropdown to switch between folders
- Click an email subject to inject it into the chat — Natasha will read and respond to it
- Inline action buttons: ✓ mark read, 📥 archive, 🔇 mark noise, 🗑 delete
- 🧹 Clean noise button appears when noise emails are detected — archives all of them at once
Folder Review Sessions
Review sessions let you and Natasha work through a folder together in an organized, structured way — one group of emails at a time — without losing your place.
Starting a Review
- In the left sidebar, hover over any folder. A ▶ Review button appears on the right.
- Click ▶ Review. A mode picker appears.
- Choose how to group emails for this review.
- The app syncs the folder, builds groups, and switches to Natasha's chat.
Review Modes
| Mode | How it groups | Best for |
|---|
| 📅 By Date | One calendar day per group, newest first | Daily catch-up, cleaning up notification folders |
| 👤 By Sender | All emails from the same sender together (exact email address) | Reviewing what a specific vendor or client has sent, identifying senders to block |
| 📌 By Subject | Related email threads grouped together (strips Re:/Fwd:) | FYI or project folders where topics matter |
The Session Bar
While a review is active, a blue bar appears at the top of the chat:
📁 4:notification · By Date · Group 3 of 12: 10 April 2026 (6 emails) [✕ End Review]
This bar tells you exactly which folder and group you're in. It updates live as Natasha advances through groups. The session is stored server-side and survives if you close and reopen the chat.
During a Review
- Natasha loads the current group and presents each email with a summary and recommendation.
- After you take action on the group (delete, archive, respond, skip), say "next" or "move on" and she advances to the next group automatically.
- You can take bulk actions on a whole group at once — "Delete all of these" works.
- You can also ask Natasha about specific emails: "What's the AWS email about?"
Ending a Review
- Click the ✕ End Review button in the session bar, or
- Say "End the review" to Natasha and she'll clean up the session.
- When the last group is complete, Natasha automatically ends the session.
Tip: For noisy folders like 4:notification, By Date works best — you see exactly what came in on each day and can clean it all at once.
Triage Dashboard
The Triage view shows every email across all synced folders, scored by AI urgency level. It's your at-a-glance command center for what needs attention.
Urgency Levels
| Level | Color | Meaning |
|---|
| 🚨 Urgent | Red | Needs action today — client emergencies, employee issues, financial problems |
| ⚡ High | Orange | Important but not on fire — respond within 24 hours |
| ⭐ Important | Blue | Matters but no immediate urgency |
| • Normal | Grey | Routine email — address when you get to it |
| ▾ Low | Light grey | Low priority — FYI only |
| ~ Noise | Muted | Marketing, newsletters, automated system messages — can be archived in bulk |
Stat Bar & Filters
- The colored chips at the top show counts by level. Click any chip to filter to that level only. Click again to clear.
- Business / Personal category buttons filter by the email category detected by AI.
- ✉️ Draft Ready chip appears when Natasha has drafted an AI reply — click to review it.
- 🧹 Clean Noise button appears when there are noise emails — archives all noise in one click.
Per-Email Actions
| Button | What it does |
|---|
| ✉️ Draft Ready | Opens the AI-generated draft reply for this email |
| 👎 Not Urgent | Tells the AI this isn't actually urgent — removes it from the urgent filter and trains the model |
| 🚫 Noise | Marks as junk/marketing — archives it and improves future noise detection |
| 👤 Personal | Re-categorizes as personal (useful when AI got it wrong) |
AI Draft Replies
When Natasha creates a draft reply, it appears in a modal with the draft text in an editable field. You can:
- Edit the text before sending
- Click ✓ Approve & Send to send immediately
- Click Save for Later to save as an Outlook draft without sending
- Click Cancel to discard
Seed All Unread
The 📥 Seed All Unread button fetches all unread email across every folder — including months of history. Use this when you first set up the app or after being away. It runs in the background and may take 5–15 minutes for a large mailbox.
Kanban Board
The Board is a shared task manager between you and Natasha. Cards represent emails, follow-ups, projects, or anything that needs tracking. Natasha creates cards automatically when she spots action items.
Columns & Cards
Cards live in columns (e.g. To Do, In Progress, Waiting/Blocked, Done). The column a card is in represents its current status.
- Drag a card between columns to update its status.
- Click the + button on any column header to add a card directly to that column.
- Click + Add Card (top right) to create a card and choose its column.
Card Filters
- Mine — cards assigned to you
- Natasha's — cards assigned to Natasha
- Overdue — cards past their due date
Card Detail (click any card to open)
| Field | Description |
|---|
| Title | Short, action-oriented summary of what needs to be done |
| Description | Full context, details, or notes |
| Column | Current status (drag or use dropdown to move) |
| Priority | Urgent / High / Normal / Low — shown as a color badge on the card |
| Assignee | Bryan, Natasha, or a team member |
| Due Date | Sets an overdue flag after this date passes |
| Waiting On | Track if progress is blocked waiting for Bryan or Natasha |
| Labels | Custom color tags — type a label name and press Enter to add |
| Attachments | Email file attachments linked to this card (not copied — referenced from the email) |
| Comments | Notes from Bryan or Natasha — press Ctrl+Enter to submit |
Click Save to persist changes to a card. Changes are not auto-saved.
Linking Email Attachments to a Card
- Open the card and click + Link from email in the Attachments section.
- A list of attachments from the source email appears with checkboxes.
- Check the files you want to link and click Save.
- Linked files can be downloaded directly from the card.
Asking Natasha to Manage Cards
- "Add this to the board — follow up with Brian about the invoice by Friday"
- "Move the AWS card to Done"
- "What cards are overdue?"
- "Create a card for the Huntress renewal and assign it to me"
Dashboard & Widgets
The Dashboard holds widgets — blocks of context that Natasha reads to understand your priorities. Every active widget influences how she scores incoming email.
The Priorities Widget
This built-in widget holds your current business and personal priorities. Natasha checks these when triaging email — anything related to an active priority gets scored higher.
- Click + Add in the Business or Personal column to add a priority.
- Add a title (required) and optional notes for more context.
- Remove a priority with the × button on each item.
Custom Widgets
Create your own widgets for any context you want Natasha to know about — active clients, vendors, projects, issues you're tracking.
- Click + Add Widget in the top right of the Dashboard.
- Enter a Widget Name (e.g. "Active MSP Clients").
- Enter a Description — this appears in the UI as context.
- Enter Natasha Instructions — tell her how to use this widget (e.g. "When you see email from any of these companies, flag it as high priority and mention the related client").
- Click Add Widget.
Once created, use the + Add item button inside the widget to add entries (client names, vendor names, project names, etc.).
The N Badge
Each widget shows an N badge. Hover over it to see the instructions Natasha is using for that widget. This is useful to verify she's using the widget correctly.
Calendar Events
The Calendar view shows your upcoming Microsoft 365 calendar events, synced from Exchange. Natasha can also create, update, and cancel events directly.
Syncing Your Calendar
Click Sync Calendar to pull the latest events from Exchange. The calendar doesn't auto-refresh — run a sync whenever you want current data. Events from the past 7 days and next 30 days are loaded.
What's Shown
- Today's Schedule — all events happening today in chronological order
- Upcoming Events — next 30 days of meetings and appointments
Each event shows the date, time, title, location (if set), and whether you need to RSVP. Events with an RSVP needed badge are meeting invites waiting for your response — the badge count also appears in the sidebar.
Asking Natasha About Your Calendar
- "What's on my calendar tomorrow?"
- "Do I have any meetings with the Johnson client this week?"
- "Am I free Thursday at 2pm?"
- "What do I need to prep for next week's board meeting?"
Creating Events
Natasha can add meetings and appointments to your Outlook calendar directly. She defaults to Eastern Time unless you specify otherwise.
- "Schedule a call with Josh at Acme on Friday at 2pm for 30 minutes"
- "Add a team meeting next Monday at 10am — invite sarah@xactit.com and mike@xactit.com"
- "Block Thursday afternoon from 1 to 5 as focus time"
- "Set up a Teams meeting with the Johnson client on April 20th at 3pm"
Natasha will confirm the date, time, and attendees before creating. After creation, the event appears in your Outlook calendar immediately.
Updating Events
- "Move my Monday 10am meeting to Tuesday at the same time"
- "Add Karen to the Johnson client call on the 20th"
- "Change the location of the Friday meeting to Conference Room B"
Cancelling Events
- "Cancel the team meeting on Monday"
- "Remove the Johnson call from my calendar"
Cancelling removes the event from your calendar. Natasha will confirm the event name before cancelling.
Sent Items Search
Natasha can search your Sent Items folder to look up emails you've previously sent — useful for verifying what was communicated, finding prior conversations with someone, or checking if something was already addressed.
Example Requests
- "Did I send anything to Josh last week?"
- "What did I send about the BCRCC proposal?"
- "Find the email I sent to the Johnson client about the renewal"
- "Did I already follow up with Acme about the invoice?"
- "Show me the last few emails I sent to Karen"
Natasha searches your Sent Items directly from Outlook (not just the local cache), so results are always current.
Natasha's Desk
Natasha's Desk is where she surfaces items she found in your email that need your attention — meeting invites, deadlines, action items, business opportunities. She puts things here so they don't get buried.
Item Types
| Icon | Type | Example |
|---|
| 📅 | Event | A client lunch mentioned in an email |
| ✅ | Task | "Please send me the contract by end of week" |
| ⏰ | Deadline | Renewal date or payment due date found in email |
| 💡 | Opportunity | A prospect or potential deal Natasha spotted |
| 👁 | Observation | A pattern or trend Natasha wants to flag |
Actioning Items
- ✓ Got it — marks the item as handled and removes it from the desk
- 📧 (email icon) — opens the source email that generated this item
- Dismiss ▾ — opens a reason menu so Natasha can learn from your feedback
Dismiss Reasons (and what they teach Natasha)
| Not relevant | This type of item shouldn't be surfaced |
| Not this year | Too far in the future — bring it up closer to the time |
| Never show again | Never surface items like this again |
| Handled elsewhere | Already taken care of — good intel for Natasha that you use other systems |
Filters
Use the All / Events / Tasks / Opportunities buttons to filter Desk items by type.
Settings
Microsoft Account
Shows your connected Microsoft 365 account (name and email). Use the Sign Out button to disconnect. If you're not connected, click Sign in with Microsoft and follow the device code flow.
My Goals & Objectives
Goals are used by Natasha to score incoming email. An email related to an active goal scores higher. Add goals that reflect your current quarter's priorities.
- Goal title: What you're trying to achieve (e.g. "Close 2 new MSP clients this quarter")
- Description: Optional extra context for the AI
- Category: Business or Personal
Update your goals when your priorities change — they directly influence which email Natasha flags as high priority.
Folder Sync
Shows your full folder tree with a toggle for each folder. Primary folders (checked) sync automatically every 5 minutes. Non-primary folders only sync when you manually request it.
- Turn on folders you check daily (your main work folders, client folders)
- Turn off folders you rarely visit
- Click Refresh Tree to re-sync the folder structure from Microsoft (useful after adding/renaming folders in Outlook)
Email Signature
Natasha can automatically append your email signature to all outgoing emails and drafts she creates. The signature is stored once and applied every time she sends or drafts on your behalf.
- Detect automatically: Ask Natasha "Detect my email signature" — she'll scan your recent sent emails and extract it.
- Set manually: If auto-detect doesn't work, provide your signature text: "Set my signature to: [your signature text]"
- Check current signature: Ask "What signature are you using?" or "Show me my stored signature"
- Clear signature: Ask "Clear my signature" to stop appending it
Once your signature is set, it's automatically included in every draft and email Natasha sends — you don't have to think about it.
Tone Learning
The AI learns your writing style from your Sent folder to create draft replies that sound like you. Click 🎙 Re-sample Sent Mail to run it. Do this periodically after sending a batch of emails so Natasha keeps up with how you write.
Sync Status
Shows when each resource (messages, calendar, etc.) was last synced and what type of sync ran. "Incremental" means a delta sync (only changes), "Full sync" means all data was fetched.
Webhook Subscriptions
Webhooks give you real-time email push notifications from Microsoft — instead of waiting for the 5-minute sync cycle, new emails arrive within seconds. Requires a webhook URL to be configured by your admin.
- Each subscription shows what resource it's watching and when it expires (they auto-renew hourly)
- Click Setup Webhooks if subscriptions aren't configured
Block List
Blocked senders are automatically moved to Deleted Items when their email arrives on sync — they never touch your inbox.
- Block an email address: Enter
spam@example.com and click Block
- Block an entire domain: Enter
example.com (no @) — blocks all email from that domain
- Add a note: Optionally document why you blocked this sender
- Remove: Click Remove next to any entry to unblock
- The block list also appears on your Dashboard as a widget and is downloadable as a
.txt file compatible with Zix and most email gateway import formats
Natasha can manage the block list for you: "Block everything from @temu.com" or "Show me who I have blocked."
System
Shows diagnostic info: how many emails and events are cached locally, when the last sync ran, and whether webhooks are configured. Useful for troubleshooting.
Voice Features
Voice Output — Natasha Speaks
Click the 🔊 Voice button in the chat top bar to toggle voice responses on or off. When enabled, Natasha reads her responses aloud using your browser's text-to-speech engine.
- Works in Chrome, Edge, and Safari without any setup
- Uses a natural English voice if available (prefers Samantha, Microsoft Aria, or Google US English)
- Long responses are trimmed to the first 3 sentences to avoid being tedious
- Voice stops automatically if you click the mic to speak
- Your preference (on/off) is saved across sessions
Voice Input — Speak to Natasha
Click the 🎤 Mic button to speak your message. Your speech is transcribed in real time and sent to Natasha when you finish speaking.
Chrome blocks microphone access on HTTP (non-HTTPS) connections. Since this app currently runs over HTTP on your internal network, you need to add a one-time exception in Chrome before voice input will work.
Enabling Voice Input in Chrome (Required Step)
- Open a new Chrome tab and type
chrome://flags/#unsafely-treat-insecure-origin-as-secure in the address bar. Press Enter.
- The flag "Insecure origins treated as secure" appears. Click the dropdown next to it and set it to Enabled.
- In the text box below the flag, type the full address of this app:
http://100.82.70.18:8090
- Click the Relaunch button at the bottom of the screen. Chrome restarts.
- Return to this app and try the 🎤 mic button — Chrome will ask for microphone permission once, then remember it.
This change only affects this specific address. It's safe and commonly used for internal development tools. You only need to do this once per Chrome installation.
Microphone Permission
After completing the Chrome flag setup, the first time you click the mic button, Chrome will ask for microphone access. Click Allow. If you accidentally clicked Block:
- Click the lock icon 🔒 in Chrome's address bar while on this app.
- Find Microphone in the site settings and change it to Allow.
- Reload the page.
Troubleshooting
| Symptom | Fix |
|---|
| Mic button shows a red toast about HTTPS | Complete the Chrome flag setup above |
| Chrome says "Access denied" for microphone | Check microphone permission in Chrome's site settings (click 🔒 in address bar) |
| Voice not supported message | Use Chrome or Microsoft Edge — other browsers don't support the Web Speech API |
| Natasha doesn't speak even with Voice On | Check your system volume and make sure the browser tab isn't muted |
Tips & Best Practices
Daily Workflow
- Morning brief: Open Natasha chat and click 📋 Brief me or ask "What's urgent?" — she'll summarize what needs attention today.
- Work Triage: Check the Triage view for any urgent/high items she flagged overnight. Use the feedback buttons to train the AI on any misclassifications.
- Review a folder: Use Folder Review (▶ button in sidebar) to systematically work through your notification or FYI folders. By Date mode, newest first, is the fastest workflow.
- Handle desk items: Check Natasha's Desk for action items and events she extracted. Click "Got it" on anything you've handled.
Getting the Most from Natasha
- Be direct. "Delete all Temu emails from 4:notification" is better than "Can you help me with some emails from Temu in my notification folder?"
- She has standing permission. After you say "go ahead" or "yes" once for a type of action, Natasha continues without asking for re-confirmation on that session.
- She handles errors herself. If a search returns zero results, she syncs the folder and retries automatically. You don't need to troubleshoot for her.
- Use bulk cleanup for noisy folders. Instead of going one by one, tell Natasha: "Clean up 4:notification — delete all Temu, ShareSync, and RingCentral voicemail emails." She handles it in one operation.
- She remembers. Natasha tracks her recent actions. If something looks wrong, say "Undo that" and she'll reverse it.
Weekly Maintenance
- Run tone learning (Settings → Tone Learning) after sending a batch of emails to keep Natasha's draft style current.
- Update your goals (Settings → Goals) when quarterly priorities change.
- Check your block list — ask Natasha "Show me who I have blocked" or download the list from Settings to import into Zix.
- Review Dashboard widgets — add or remove priorities and context as your focus areas shift.
Useful Commands to Remember
| What you want | What to say to Natasha |
|---|
| Start your day | "Brief me" or "What needs my attention today?" |
| Clean a noisy folder | "Delete all [sender/category] emails from [folder]" |
| Find a specific email | "Find the email from John about the contract last week" |
| Read an email | "What did the MEND email say?" or "Read the last email from AWS" |
| Draft a reply | "Draft a reply to Brian asking for the invoice status" |
| Block a sender | "Block everything from @spammer.com" |
| Undo a mistake | "Undo that" or "Undo my last 3 actions" |
| Recover a deleted email | "Find the email I just deleted from John and restore it" |
| Get your calendar | "What's on my calendar tomorrow?" |
| Schedule a meeting | "Schedule a call with Josh on Friday at 2pm for 30 minutes" |
| Update an event | "Move my Monday 10am meeting to Tuesday at the same time" |
| Cancel an event | "Cancel the team meeting on Monday" |
| Search sent mail | "Did I send anything to Josh about the contract last week?" |
| Set up signature | "Detect my email signature" or "Set my signature to: [text]" |
| Create a task | "Add this to the board — follow up on the Huntress renewal by Friday" |
| Check a folder's size | "How many unread emails are in each folder?" |
| Force a sync | "Sync my 2:FYI folder" (fast, seconds) |