Skip to content
OpsDaddy.AI
Free guide
Follow @OpsDaddyAI on X

Inbox

AI automation to turn an email into a task list

Turns a long email or thread into tasks with an owner, a real due date and the next action, then exports them to your to-do app or calendar.

Level: Augment.

Trigger

When a long email or thread lands on you

Setup

about 20 min (estimate)

Before you start

Steps

  1. Copy the thread with its dates

    Open the thread, expand every message, and copy the text including each sender and date line. Delete phone numbers, account numbers and anything private. Write down your own name so the chat knows who "me" is. Gmail search: https://support.google.com/mail/answer/7190

  2. Extract the tasks

    Paste the thread. Chat help: https://help.openai.com/en/articles/6825453-chatgpt-custom-instructions

    Turn this email thread into a task list. My name is [your name]. Today is [date]. Use only the thread. For each task give: the task, starting with a verb; the owner (a name from the thread, or unassigned); the due date; the next physical action; and the quote it came from. Convert a relative date such as "by Friday" using the date of the message that said it, and show the working, for example "Friday after 3 March = 6 March". If there is no date, write no date. Put tasks that wait on someone else in a separate list called Waiting on. Then list every question asked of me that still needs an answer. Do not invent owners, dates or tasks.
Thread: [paste]

  3. Check owners and dates against the quotes

    Keep a task only if its quote shows that person taking it on. Check each converted date on a calendar. Fix it or delete it.

  4. Export to your to-do app

    Todoist's CSV help names TYPE, CONTENT, DESCRIPTION and DATE. TYPE is written in lowercase. A blank DATE means no date. If you leave out the PRIORITY column, Todoist stores the task at its highest priority, so add PRIORITY as 4 when you want the lowest. Save the output as tasks.csv, import it into a project, and look at the dates after import. Todoist CSV: https://www.todoist.com/help/articles/import-or-export-a-project-as-a-csv-file-in-todoist-YC8YvN

    Turn the tasks I kept into CSV for Todoist with exactly these columns: TYPE,CONTENT,DESCRIPTION,DATE. TYPE is task. CONTENT is the task. DESCRIPTION is the next action and the quote. DATE is the due date as YYYY-MM-DD, or empty. Wrap any field that contains a comma in double quotes. Only tasks owned by me. Output only the CSV.

  5. Or put the deadlines on your calendar

    Google Calendar imports a CSV whose headers are in English. Subject and Start Date are required. Start Date uses month/day/year, as in 05/30/2020 on the import help page. All Day Event is True or False. Wrap any field that contains a comma in double quotes. Calendar import: https://support.google.com/calendar/answer/37118

    Make a CSV for Google Calendar import with the headers Subject,Start Date,All Day Event,Description. One row per task of mine that has a due date. Start Date uses month/day/year, as in 05/30/2020. All Day Event is True. Wrap any field that contains a comma in double quotes. Output only the CSV.

  6. Confirm what you took on

    Write a three-line reply listing the tasks you own and their dates, and ask the right person to confirm anything marked unassigned. You send it.

Example output

My tasks
- Send the revised floor plan. Owner: me. Due 6 March (Friday after the 3 March message). Next: export the PDF. Quote: "Can you send the revised plan by Friday?"
- Book an electrician for a site visit. Owner: me. No date. Next: ask two electricians for availability.
Waiting on
- Sam: price for the tiles. Due 10 March.
Questions for me
- "Do you want the shelves painted or oiled?"
CSV
TYPE,CONTENT,DESCRIPTION,DATE
task,Send the revised floor plan,"Export the PDF. Quote: Can you send the revised plan by Friday?",2026-03-06

Power move

Give it today's date and make it show how each "by Friday" became a real date, counted from the message that said it. Ask for a separate Waiting on list so you can chase others without owning their work, plus "questions asked of me" to catch the reply you would otherwise forget.

What to check

  • Every task has a quote from the thread.
  • Every converted date matches a calendar.
  • Your app holds only tasks you actually accepted.
  • Imported dates display correctly.

What it can't do

It does not read your inbox by itself, send replies, or assign work to anyone. It can mix up who said what in a forwarded thread, and it does not read attachments you did not paste. Only an owner the thread shows agreeing counts. Remove private numbers before you paste.

Privacy

Paste only the text a chat tool needs. Leave out passwords, account numbers, and identity numbers. The steps link to each tool's own help page when a setting matters.

Related automations

Browse all AI automations