Email at the speed of your keyboard.
Telex is a compact, fast email client for Windows. Dense lists, one key for every action, and all your mail on your own disk, searchable offline.
- Rust core
- WebView2
- SQLite + FTS5
- IMAP + SMTP over TLS
- No Electron
- No telemetry
01 · Why Telex
Built like a tool.
Everything in Telex is tuned for getting through a lot of mail quickly, without reaching for the mouse and without anyone looking over your shoulder.
- 01
Dense by default
Twenty-pixel rows, a condensed face for the list and mono for dates and sizes, so a screen holds a lot of mail. Want more air? Switch to Comfortable.
- 02
One key per action
Reply, forward, flag, delete, undo, filter, move through the list: each is a single key. The mouse is optional.
- 03
Your mail, on your disk
Messages are kept in full in a local mail base, so reading and searching work offline. There is no Telex server for your mail to pass through.
- 04
Private by default
No account and no telemetry. Remote images stay blocked until you allow them, and your password stays in Windows Credential Manager.
- 05
Light on your PC
A Rust core in the WebView2 window that Windows already has. No Electron, no bundled browser, a small installer.
- 06
Fluent in Polish mail
Old charsets like Windows-1250 and ISO-8859-2 decode correctly, search ignores diacritics, and replies quote the Polish way: “Dnia 10.10.2026 o 06:12, Anna Kowalska napisał(a):”.
02 · Keyboard
One key per action.
The keys you use all day are single keys, with no Ctrl chords to remember. Try them here: press any key from the list.
| Keys | Action |
|---|---|
| ↑/↓ | Previous / next message |
| Home/End | First / last message |
| N | New message |
| R | Reply |
| Shift+R | Reply to all |
| Shift+F | Forward |
| E | Edit a draft or an unsent message |
| Ctrl+Enter | Send from compose |
| F | Flag / unflag |
| U | Toggle unread |
| Del | Move to Trash |
| Z | Undo last delete |
| / | Quick filter |
| H | HTML / plain text view |
| Esc | Clear filter · save draft and close |
03 · Screens
A closer look.
Real screenshots of the current build, showing the sample mailbox Telex opens with before you add an account.
1/6R opens the reply right in the reading pane: plain text in a mono face, quoted with a Polish header.
04 · Roadmap
Early, and honest about it.
Telex reads, syncs and sends real mail today. This is what comes next, in order.
- 01
Real mail over IMAP
DoneSSL/TLS with password login, folders from the server, sync on start and every 10 minutes, offline search.
- 02
Write back
DoneReading, flagging, moving and deleting reach the server. Changes wait in a queue that survives restarts and lost connections.
- 03
Sending
DoneSMTP over SSL/TLS or STARTTLS, an Outbox that retries, and a copy of every sent message in Sent on the server.
- 04
HTML mail
DoneRendered in a sandbox where no script can run. Remote images stay blocked until you allow them, per message or per sender, and Telex fetches them itself.
- 05
Filters
DoneA Sorting Office: rules that sort, flag, move and auto-reply, run on arrival or on demand, each leaving a note on the message.
- 06
Gmail and Outlook.com
Up nextOAuth2 sign-in, since both refuse plain passwords over IMAP.
- 07
Templates and identities
PlannedQuote templates, signatures and several identities per account.
- 08
Updates and signing
PlannedAutomatic updates and a code-signed installer.
05 · Download
Get Telex for Windows.
The first preview build is being finished. The installer will appear right here: this page checks for new releases every hour.
- System
- Windows 10 or 11, 64-bit
- Runtime
- WebView2. Built into Windows 11; on Windows 10 the installer fetches it if needed.
- An IMAP account (SSL/TLS, port 993) and SMTP (465 or 587), with a password.
The installer isn’t code-signed yet, so Windows SmartScreen may warn you. Choose More info, then Run anyway.
Questions
Which mail providers work?
Any provider that offers IMAP over SSL/TLS (port 993) and SMTP over SSL/TLS (465) or STARTTLS (587) with a password: most hosting mailboxes and many providers. Gmail and Outlook.com need OAuth2 sign-in, which is on the roadmap.
Can Telex send mail?
Yes. Mail goes out over SMTP, waits in the Outbox if the connection fails, and is marked Sent only once your server accepts it. A copy goes to the Sent folder on your server.
Does Telex send anything about me anywhere?
No. There is no account, no telemetry and no Telex server. The app talks to your mail servers, and to the servers that host a message’s images only when you choose to load them.
Is it like The Bat!?
That is the inspiration: a fast, dense, keyboard-driven client with serious filters. Telex is a new app written from scratch, and not affiliated with Ritlabs.