getting started

Seven steps. Ten minutes.

This is the practical setup guide — written for the adult child who's already managing most of their parent's care and wants to share the load. You can stop after any step and resume later; nothing is wasted partway through.

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step 1 — sign in

Sign in at app.joinsandwich.com.

Open app.joinsandwich.com. Sign in with Google or create a Sandwich account with your email. This is your account — the family member running point.

step 2 — create the workspace

Set up your Loved One's Family Inbox.

You'll land on a page titled “Set up your Loved One's Family Inbox.” Fill in three things:

  • Family name — what you want to call the shared workspace, e.g. The Smith Family.
  • Loved one's first and last name — we derive their inbox address from this.
  • Date of birth — optional; useful for medical context.

Hit Create Family Inbox. The address is allocated instantly.

step 3 — note the address

Your parent's private inbox address.

Something like:

helen-smith-AB12@lovedone.app

The 4-character code is letters and digits, no I / O / 0 / 1, so it's easy to dictate aloud.

This address is permanent. Providers may keep it on file for years. If you ever need a fresh one, you can rotate it from settings; the old one forwards for 90 days before it stops.
step 4 — tell providers

Hand the address to every provider.

Every doctor, pharmacy, insurer, attorney, and care agency has an “alternate contact email” field. Put your parent's lovedone.app address there. Three easy ways:

  • At the next visit — hand the front desk a note with the address.
  • Through the patient portal — log in, find Communication preferences, add the address.
  • By email — write to the office once: “Please add this address as my parent's family contact email.”

You don't need to replace your parent's personal email. Most families leave it in place and add the Family Inbox as a second contact. Mom keeps her own inbox unchanged. The family also sees what arrives.

step 5 — invite siblings

Invite siblings — and your parent, if they want in.

On the dashboard, find the Family members & roles card and click + Invite member. Enter name, email, relationship, and pick a role:

  • Coordinator — active sibling who helps manage care.
  • Viewer — read-only; good for a distant relative or your spouse who should stay in the loop.

They get an email with an Accept invite button. Click and they're in. (If they ignore the email and just sign in directly with the same address, they're still auto-added.)

Both parents in one workspace? Yes. Add Dad later via + Add loved one on the dashboard. Both inboxes show up as separate cards, and every invited sibling sees both.
step 6 — read what arrives

Watch the provider mail come in.

Each message has filters (all / unread / starred / archived), a read indicator, star and archive buttons, sender-domain badges, and attachment downloads (PDFs and images attached to provider emails are saved and openable in one click).

step 7 — manage your team

Pause, resume, remove — as life changes.

As the workspace owner, you can Pause a member temporarily (revokes access, keeps history), Resume them later, or Remove them permanently. The owner can't be paused or removed; every workspace always has exactly one owner.

That's it. Open app.joinsandwich.com to begin.

Ready?

Ten minutes from now you'll have a working Family Inbox.

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