How to send Workfront Push Notifications to your iPhone
In the Workfront instances that we administer, we recommend minimizing the number of email alerts. However, there are a few events that are not only important enough to email, but important enough for Push Notifications (e.g. the “little Red circle with a number in it”) to users’ iPhones, vs waiting for them to check their email.
This afternoon, I did some research and found an oldie-but-a-goodie solution, and am now receiving Push Notification from Workfront to my iPhone.
The general steps are listed below, and there is a video and some links listed under tips at the end.
Not every notification deserves immediate attention, but the important ones should be impossible to miss. Thoughtful notification strategies help teams respond faster while reducing email overload.
On your iPhone
- download the free Boxcar app
- sign up and log in
- click settings (top left)
- click Add a Service
- scroll down and click Email Account
- edit the Name (e.g. “Workfront”)
- click Save
In your email program
- check for new mail
- open the one from Boxcar
- copy the “custom forwarding address” in it
- create a rule that forwards Workfront emails to that address
- NOTE: you might be asked for a confirming code
In Workfront
- log in to Workfront
- click My Settings
- click preferences
- click Email Me When…
- check “on” the emails you want
- save
To test
- close Boxcar on your iPhone
- do something in Workfront that will initiate one of the emails you kept “on”
- your iPhone will buzz/ring and pop the subject of the email
- you will see (at last!!) the little red “1” on your phone; the whole point!
- when you click into Boxcar, you can see the email
Tips
- MacWorld’s excellent primer about Boxcar helped me put this all together; see http://tinyurl.com/AtAppStorePushNotification
- To simplify my email rules, I use Gmail’s plus addressing for each login (e.g. firstname.lastname+client1@gmail.com, firstname.lastname+client2@gmail.com), and direct anything that was sent (from Workfront) to firstname.lastname+client1@gmail.com to my Boxcar “Client1” folder
- Once I confirmed the Push was all working, I changed the rule so it would delete the email in my gmail account, too
- If you can not use plus addressing as I have, consider including some “contains text” restrictions on your rule to ensure that only the Workfront emails you are after are being forwarded to Boxcar (e.g. contains “Request Submitted:”, etc.)
- Ironically, I initially signed up for Boxcar with firstname.lastname+boxcar@gmail.com, but received some errors, and had to revert to firstname.lastname@gmail.com (I’ve informed them)
- Some email providers may truncate the body of the email for security purposes
- To see the original email from within Boxcar, change the Advanced Settings on the Email Account service you set up to open the email (e.g. in Gmail); once you’ve logged in, you can click right through to the Workfront alert, and from there, to Workfront (pausing to log in…hmmm…next blog, perhaps…)
Final thoughts
The importance of sharing the latest news that drove this (albeit now dated) technique continues to increase, and since that time — fortunately — there are now lots of other ways to stay connected.
And food’s always appreciated, too.
Learn more
This is Episode 8 of 17 in our Oldies But Goodies series.