Tame your inbox with AI
Summarise long threads, sort what matters, draft replies in your voice and turn emails into tasks. Plus the privacy rules, and why you read every reply before it goes.
Video transcript
Too many emails and not enough time? AI can read the long threads, sort what matters and draft the replies. Here’s how to do it well, and safely.
It can summarise a long thread in seconds, sort your inbox into piles, draft replies for you to edit, and pull out the tasks buried in your email.
For a long thread, ask what’s been decided, what’s still open and what you need to do. Then check any dates and figures against the emails themselves.
To triage, ask it to sort your emails into four piles. Tell it your priorities first, so urgent means urgent to you, not just loud.
When you reply, you make the decision and AI finds the words. Give it a few emails you’ve written, so the draft sounds like you.
Work email is full of personal and confidential information, so use the assistant your employer has approved, never a personal chatbot.
And if an assistant reads your inbox, remember that anyone can email it instructions. So let it read and draft, but read every reply yourself before it goes.
Read the full guide below for prompts to summarise, sort and reply.
In 30 seconds
- Ask for summaries, a sorted inbox and draft replies, then edit before anything is sent.
- Work email belongs in the tools your employer has approved, not a personal chatbot.
- If an assistant reads your inbox, watch for Jargon busterPrompt injection: Hidden instructions in a web page or document that try to trick an AI into doing something you didn’t ask.: hidden instructions aimed at the AI.
It’s Monday morning. There are 140 unread emails, two threads with forty replies each, and somewhere in there, the one message that matters. AI can’t stop the email arriving, but it can read faster than you, sort the pile and draft the routine replies, so your attention goes where it counts.
Three ways to bring AI to your email
- Built into your email appMany email apps now include an assistant, such as Gemini in Gmail or Microsoft Copilot in Outlook, depending on your plan.
- Copy and pastePaste a thread into a chat assistant and ask for what you need. Simple, but only for email you’re allowed to share.
- A connected assistantLink an assistant to your mailbox with a Jargon busterConnector: A link between an AI assistant and another app, such as your email or cloud storage, that lets it read information there and sometimes act., so it can search and read for you. Handy, but it needs the most care.
The techniques below work with all three. At work, though, the first question isn’t which tool is best, but which one your employer has approved.
Summarise and sort
A long thread hides three things you need: what’s been decided, what’s still open and what’s being asked of you. Ask for exactly those. AI can mix up who agreed to what, or state a deadline nobody set, a Jargon busterHallucination: When AI states something false as if it were true, because it predicts plausible words rather than checking facts., so ask it to quote the exact words for anything you’ll act on.
Summarise this email thread in no more than six bullet points. Cover what’s been decided, what’s still open, and what I’m being asked to do, by when. My name is [your name]. Quote the exact words for any deadline, figure or promise. If people disagree, say who and about what. [paste the thread]
To triage, ask it to sort your emails into four piles: urgent, reply today, read later, and archive or delete. Tell it your role and priorities first, so urgent means urgent to you, not just loud. Many assistants can save details like these for next time. If yours can’t see your inbox, paste in the sender, subject and first line of each email.
I’m [your role], and my priorities this week are [your priorities]. Sort the emails below into four groups: urgent (needs me today, with a real cost if I miss it), reply today, read later, and archive or delete. Give a one-line reason for each, and flag anything that looks like a scam. [paste the sender, subject and first line of each email]
Replies in your voice, and emails into tasks
For replies, you make the decision and AI finds the words. Say in a line what you want to say, and paste in two or three emails you’ve written before, so it can match your style. Our guide to writing at work with AI has more on keeping your voice.
| Vague | Specific |
|---|---|
| “Reply to this.” | “Say yes to Tuesday, no to the extra report, and ask for the figures by Friday. Three sentences.” |
| “Write a polite no.” | “Decline the invitation warmly, and suggest we catch up next month instead.” |
| “Chase this up.” | “Write a short, friendly reminder that the invoice is overdue, and ask when it will be paid.” |
Emails are full of hidden jobs. Ask it to list every action in a thread, or in a day’s email, with who asked and by when, ready to paste into your to-do list or calendar.
AI can also help stop the pile building up. Describe what you want, such as moving newsletters into a folder or flagging anything from your manager, and ask for step-by-step instructions to set up a rule or filter in your email app. Menus change, so if a step doesn’t match your screen, tell it what you see.
Stay in charge
Work email is full of personal and confidential information. Use the assistant your employer has approved, signed in with your work account, and don’t paste work email into a personal chatbot. See using AI at work safely for why.
Read every reply before it goes. Some tools can send replies or act on your inbox for you, so keep that switched off, or make it ask each time. And a summary can hide the warning signs of Jargon busterPhishing: A scam message pretending to be from someone you trust, to trick you into sharing details or paying., such as an odd sender address. Open anything that asks for money, passwords or urgent action, and check it yourself.
Check yourself
3 quick questions nothing is savedTools in this guide
Spotted a mistake? Tell us and an editor will check it.
