Desktop Mailbox

How it works

• Open the door: click the door. Or grab it and swing it. It slows on its hinges and bounces off its stop.
• Close it: click again, or push the door shut. The latch catches it.
• Read a letter: click the letter sticking out of the slot. It comes out in its envelope: the wax seal pops, the flap opens and the letter slides out. To see every letter that has come, click the envelope on the front of the box, or choose Your Letters in the right-click menu.
• Write back: press Write back on a letter. Your reply is kept on this Mac, in ~/Mailbox/.replies. Nothing is sent anywhere.
• Hide files: drag files or folders onto the box. The door swings open and they land on the floor and the two shelves, as their own icons. It holds 24.
• See a file: click it to see its name. Press Space to preview it, like in Finder. Double-click to open it.
• Take it back: drag it out, or right-click and choose Put Back to return it to where it came from, even its old spot on the desktop.
• Move it: hold Option and Command and drag.
• Resize it: hold Option and drag up to grow it or down to shrink it.
• Taller or shorter pole: hold Command and drag up or down. Or right-click and choose Pole Height.
• How often letters come: right-click, then Letters. About once a day, a few times a week, about once a week, or paused.
• Clean up: press Throw away on a letter, or right-click and choose Throw Away Read Letters.

At a glance

Keeps files in

~/Mailbox, a normal folder you can open in Finder

Works on

macOS 14 or later, Apple silicon and Intel

Price

Free. No ads, no accounts, no tracking in the app

Licence

MIT, open source

Made by

Krrish Parmar

Install

1. Download the .dmg and open it.
2. Drag the app into Applications and open it from there.
3. The first time, macOS may say it cannot be opened, because the app is not registered with Apple yet. Open System Settings, then Privacy & Security, and click Open Anyway. You only do this once.

More objects

• Desktop DrawerA wooden drawer under your desktop for everything you are not using right now.
• Desktop FridgeDrag files in, shut the door, forget about them.
• Desktop Vending Machine KeypadYour files on little shelves. Type a code and one drops.
• Desktop Vending MachineYour files on little shelves. Press a button and one drops.