Mail integration
Use Apple Mail, Gmail, or Microsoft 365 as a read-only local knowledge source for reply tracking, Ask, and meeting preparation.
Last updated: 30 July 2026
Overview
Mail integration brings authorised messages into Overshow as a read-only knowledge source. It supports reply-owed detection, local search and Ask, meeting preparation, and links back to the source message. Overshow cannot compose, send, edit, or delete mail through this feature.
Three sources are implemented:
- Apple Mail reads the local Mail index on this Mac after you grant Full Disk Access.
- Google Gmail uses delegated Google OAuth with
https://www.googleapis.com/auth/gmail.readonly. - Microsoft 365 / Outlook uses delegated Microsoft OAuth with
Mail.Read.
Google connection controls remain hidden from general users while Google OAuth verification is in progress. The Gmail data handling and scope documented here describe the implemented connection that is being verified; Microsoft and local Apple Mail availability is unchanged.
What Overshow reads
For cloud mail, Overshow reads message and thread identifiers, sender and recipient details, subject, date, labels, snippets, and selected message headers. For messages that pass the initial on-device filtering, it temporarily fetches body text so the local pipeline can decide whether a reply is owed and create a useful excerpt.
Overshow stores only a bounded excerpt, relevant metadata, source links, derived state such as reply status, and local full-text and semantic search indexes in its encrypted local database. It does not persist full message bodies in normal operation.
Apple Mail is read from the local on-disk index and follows the same bounded local-ingestion model. Full Disk Access is requested only when the Apple Mail source is enabled.
What the data is used for
Authorised mail data supports user-facing features in the desktop app:
- Detecting conversations that may need a reply.
- Including relevant mail excerpts in local search and Ask.
- Finding correspondence that may help with meeting preparation.
- Opening the original message in the provider or local mail client.
Overshow does not use mail access to compose, send, edit, delete, archive, or relabel messages.
How cloud connections work
- You choose to connect a supported cloud mailbox and complete the provider's OAuth consent flow.
- app.over.show stores the provider access and refresh tokens encrypted at rest.
- The desktop app obtains a current access token and calls Gmail or Microsoft Graph directly over HTTPS.
- Normal message payloads are processed by the desktop app and are not proxied through or routinely stored by Overshow's web service.
- The bounded local result is stored in the SQLCipher-encrypted database on your Mac.
Calendar and mail permissions are additive. Connecting mail does not silently remove an existing calendar grant, and a calendar-only connection does not authorise mail.
Provider permissions
| Provider | Delegated permission | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| Google Gmail | https://www.googleapis.com/auth/gmail.readonly |
Read authorised message metadata and content for the local mail features you enable |
| Microsoft 365 / Outlook | Mail.Read |
Read authorised message metadata and content for the local mail features you enable |
The integrations do not request mail send or write permissions.
Retention, revocation, and deletion
Mail metadata, bounded excerpts, source links, derived state, and local full-text and semantic search indexes are retained in the encrypted local database by default. A Free plan's searchable-history window limits what can be recalled; it does not delete older mail data.
To stop future cloud access, revoke Overshow in your Google or Microsoft account or use your organisation's administrator controls. Revocation stops future sync after the current grant becomes unavailable, but it does not delete data already stored locally.
To remove the local database, including provider-derived mail data, use Settings → Data → Reset local data and complete the typed confirmation. Deleting your Overshow account removes the provider tokens held by app.over.show, but local data remains on the Mac until you reset or otherwise remove it.
An operator may configure an explicit hard-retention cap for mail. Without that policy, local mail is retained until the user removes the local data.
Approved local and AI clients
Mail remains in the local encrypted database unless you explicitly approve another client in Overshow. A relevant excerpt may then be returned to that approved client as part of the search or memory feature you requested:
- A local client keeps the query and returned excerpt on your device.
- A cloud client sends its query and returned excerpt to its own provider under that provider's terms.
Client access is scoped, redacted, and revocable. Overshow does not transfer Google Workspace data for advertising, sale to data brokers, credit or lending decisions, or development of generalised or non-personalised AI or machine-learning models.
AI and Google Workspace data
Overshow may use Gmail data as context for a search or on-device inference you request. This does not update model weights.
Overshow does not use data obtained through Google Workspace APIs to develop, improve, or train generalised or non-personalised artificial intelligence or machine-learning models.
Overshow's use and transfer of information received from Google APIs adheres to the Google API Services User Data Policy, including its Limited Use requirements. See the Privacy Notice for the complete access, use, storage, sharing, protection, retention, and deletion disclosures.