How to Automate Gmail Daily Inbox Reporting?
Description
Start your day with one clear email that sums up everything that reached your inbox in the last 24 hours. Great for managers and teams who want quick updates without digging through threads.
At 7 AM on a schedule, the flow pulls recent messages from Gmail with a dynamic date filter. Key details are organized into a simple list, including sender, recipients, cc, and a short preview. OpenAI reads that list and returns a clean JSON summary with highlights, issues to watch, and action items. A styled HTML report is then sent from Gmail, with a subject that shows yesterday’s date range so your team knows exactly what the report covers.
You only need a Gmail account and an OpenAI API key. Set the recipients, cc list, and adjust the Gmail search query to match your inbox rules. Most teams cut morning email review from about an hour to just a few minutes and miss fewer urgent threads. This is helpful for shared inboxes, support queues, project updates, and daily standups. Once active, it runs on its own every morning and keeps everyone aligned with the same view.
Tools Required
What this workflow does?
- Scheduled run at 7 AM to deliver a consistent daily digest
- Gmail fetch uses a dynamic after date filter to grab the last 24 hours
- Aggregate step extracts sender, recipients, cc, and a short snippet
- OpenAI summarizes emails into JSON with summary, key issues, and action items
- HTML email report is sent from Gmail with a clear date range in the subject
- Configurable recipients and cc list for team wide delivery
What are the benefits?
- Reduce daily email review from about 60 minutes to under 5 minutes
- Automate up to 90 percent of morning inbox triage
- Cut missed important emails by up to 80 percent through one daily summary
- Connect Gmail and OpenAI so your team sees a single clear report
- Create a repeatable record of issues and actions for audit and follow up
How to set this up?
- Import the template into n8n: Create a new workflow in n8n, click the three dots menu, select 'Import from File', then choose the downloaded JSON file
- You'll need accounts with Gmail and OpenAI. See the Tools Required section above for links to create accounts with these services.
- Open the Schedule Trigger and set the time to 7 AM in your preferred timezone. If your n8n is in a different timezone, adjust the hour to match your local morning time.
- Double click the Gmail node that fetches emails. In the Credential to connect with dropdown, click Create new credential and follow the on screen steps to connect your Google account with OAuth2.
- In the same Gmail fetch node, review the search query q. Keep the dynamic date code for after and update any hardcoded email or label to match your inbox. Optionally add is:unread or label filters.
- Open the Aggregate node and confirm the included fields are id, From, To, CC, and snippet. Leave the aggregate setting to gather all items.
- Double click the OpenAI node. In the Credential dropdown, click Create new credential, paste your OpenAI API key from your OpenAI account, and select a supported model such as gpt 4o mini.
- Review the OpenAI prompt text and adjust the tone or output keys if your team needs a different summary style.
- Open the Gmail send node. Set the To address and cc list, then review the subject and HTML body. Replace any placeholder addresses with your team emails.
- Click Execute Workflow to run a test. Confirm that messages are fetched, summarized, and that a test email arrives in your inbox with the correct date and content.
- If everything looks good, click Activate in n8n so the schedule runs every morning.
Need help or want to customize this?
Ask in the Free Futurise Community.
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