Complete list of TweetByMail command codes

Here is the list of TweetByMail commands and what they do. In each case, you just send an email with the command as the message. Remember, if TweetByMail does not recognize a command, the message will be posted as a Twitter status update on your account… so spelling counts!

In the case of those commands that require responses, the response is sent back to the requesting email address right away.

IMPORTANT: Anytime you see {brackets} in a command, it is meant to be replaced by a specific word. So if you see the command status {username} you should actually send status tweetbymail (replacing with the user that you want to look up). No brackets of any kind should ever be in a command.

The first word must be spelled correctly, but can be in any case… eg: status, Status, and STATUS will all work.

status {username}

Responds with the latest status update for the specific user. You do not have to be following the person for this. If the updates are public, you will get it. If they are hidden, you’ll be told so.

follow {username}

Adds the user to your friend list, and responds. You will begin to receive this user’s updates in your Twitter stream.

verify {secret word}

This is used to authorize a new email address when using the TW2.ca short email. The secret word must be a match for the account. A response is sent.

on

Activate the twitter stream for the account. Updates will be sent to the requesting email address until you say ‘off’.

wake

Same as ‘on’.

off

Pause the twitter stream for this account. This command can be sent from any address, whether it was the previously specified update address or not. (Can be used to switch delivery address, by sending ‘off’ then ‘on’ again.)

off {username}

You can request not to be sent updates from a specific user. (I call it “gagging” them) Note that if this is a very chatty user, it may interfere with your ‘max’ allowed tweets per batch, even though they aren’t being sent.

on {username}

If you have previously gagged a user, this will resume the sending of their tweets in future.

whitelist

This command will reverse the method of account filtering to ONLY send tweets from account specified on your filter list. You have to specifically state on {username} to get those messages delivered.

Note: when switching from blacklist to whitelist, your existing filtered accounts remain unchanged. If you have blacklisted accounts, then those will become whitelisted. If there are no accounts on your filter list, you will receive NO tweets, as nobody would be whitelisted.

Also, in whitelist mode the commands on {username} and off {username} will work as they logically should, to set tweet delivery on and off for that user.

blacklist

This will return your account to the default filtering method, blocking all incoming tweets from the selected accounts.

filter

This will send a report by email of your current filter settings including the accounts on your filter list. With mobile email of limited lengths, a long list of filtered usernames may get cut off.

filter clear

Your list of filtered usernames will be removed. This cannot be undone. If in blacklist mode, you will receive tweets from all your friends. If in whitelist mode, you will receive tweets from nobody.

sleep {hours}

Pauses the incoming twitter stream for the specified number of hours. After that period, the stream will be automatically resumed. You can resume the stream early by sending the ‘on’ or ‘wake’ command. (same thing) If no number of hours is specified (if you just send ’sleep’) it will give you a healthy rest of 8 hours by default.

max {number}

You can throttle the number of tweets that will be sent out in a batch. (currently, status updates are delivered every five minutes) If you Twitter feed has more new updates than your throttle allows, the rest of the updates will not be sent via email… ever. The next batch will start again with the newer tweets. The maximum number of tweets possible is 20 per batch, however, the allowed maximum may also be lowered in times of service testing or problems.

test

If this command is sent to a valid account address, you will receive a positive response.

info

Sends a brief report on your account settings for the TweetByMail address in question.

undo

This will delete the latest tweet for this account. If sent repeatedly, it will continue to cycle back through your updates, deleting each one. It will only delete updates that were sent through TweetByMail.

@{username} {message}

This is not a TweetByMail command, but it will be passed on as a Twitter status update as a standard at-reply, but I figured I should mention it here.

d {username} {message}

Send a Direct Message sent only to the username specified. (note: it will also work with the command dm in place of d)

This list will continue to grow as more commands are added. Is there something you’re really wanting TweetByMail to do? Let me know.