Remember when Google just meant a search engine? Me neither. Everybody has a Gmail account these days (and often more than one for various work purposes). 

Whether you use Gmail to accept calendar invites, update your team members about projects, or even to process new sales leads, a lot of your daily communication will take place within Gmail. 

But keeping your Gmail organized can be tedious, especially when you're receiving dozens of emails every day. (Forget about reaching inbox zero.)

But with our automatic workflows—we call them Zaps—you can minimize repetitive tasks by easily saving email attachments, automatically following up with new leads, comprehensively managing tasks, and even using AI to clean up your inbox. Here's how to automate Gmail.

Table of contents

• Generate a to-do list from your inbox

• Get AI to enrich your email workflows

• Easily save email attachments

• Send notifications from your inbox

• Follow up with new leads faster

Generate a to-do list from your Gmail inbox

Unless you have a photographic memory, it's practically impossible to keep track of every email that requires you to take action, especially if they're left to languish starred or unread in your inbox. And, if you're like me, a clean and efficient to-do list is a must to sleep at night. 

You can set up a Zap to connect your Gmail account to Google Sheets to create lists from specific emails, automatically add labeled emails to your task manager of choice, and more.

Get AI to enrich your email workflows

Do you need a helping hand when it comes to writing email copy that actually converts leads? Or maybe you sift through hundreds of emails every day, labeling them as you go—and you'd like to save yourself the hassle. 

Fortunately, you can use AI to help you do everything from penning emails to generating a daily digest of your emails in Slack. Once you receive a new email, ChatGPT or OpenAI will analyze the content, then carry out the instructions you give it. Finally, it will send the output wherever you need it to go. Here are a few examples: 

Automatically save email attachments

Constantly losing track of email attachments? This is an issue everyone with a Gmail account seems to face. By setting up automatic workflows, you can easily save Gmail attachments to Dropbox, Google Drive, or whichever cloud-sharing app you use. 

You can even save email attachments to specific folders so you can keep your organization streak going with your file management, not just your inbox. 

Send notifications from your inbox

Working collaboratively with a team comes with its fair share of challenges, communication often being on the top of that list. But with a few pre-set workflows, you can easily turn your Gmail inbox into an effective information-sharing machine. 

For example, you can send an email when a Google Sheet is updated so team members can stay up to date on a project. You can also send emails from your Gmail account to your team chat app of choice, streamlining communication. Or one of my personal favorites: you can send auto-scheduled email updates to your team, minimizing your daily repetitive tasks without sacrificing communication.

Follow up with new leads faster 

You work hard to acquire new leads. From running campaigns across multiple platforms to hosting webinars, you know it's also incredibly important to follow up as fast as possible. If you wait too long to respond—or *gasp* miss their email altogether—there's a decent chance you'll lose a customer. 

Automatically follow up with new leads by sending an email as soon as they show interest. With Zapier, you can set up personalized Gmail auto-responders for instant engagement with a high-intent lead.

The same goes for new customers who sign up for a webinar or subscribe to your newsletter. A simple welcome message can do wonders for your business. With these Zaps, you can automatically send emails in Gmail whenever you get a new subscriber in Mailchimp, for example, or a sign up to your webinar. 

Take your Gmail inbox to the next level

With Zapier, you can integrate Gmail with the rest of your tech stack and manage your email without the anxiety.

This is just the start of all that you can do with Gmail and Zapier. Zapier supports thousands of apps, so you can automate almost any task at work. Start building your Zap now and see what you can create!

This article was originally published in March 2021 and was most recently updated in December 2023 by Elena Alston.