Inbox Triage Blueprint

How a one-person team auto-triages 100+ emails/day using GPT + rules.

Author

Taylor Rodgers
May 07, 2025

Still drowning in email? 

For solo operators and small teams, inbox chaos is a silent killer — draining hours, delaying responses, and killing deal momentum. But you don’t need a VA or a support team to manage the mess.

With the right setup, you can automatically sort, label, and respond to high-volume email using a free GPT and a few Gmail rules. It’s fast, simple, and saves 5+ hours a week.

Featured Workflow

Build a lightweight AI-powered email triage system that labels, forwards, and summarizes inbound messages without lifting a finger. This setup is perfect for client services, lead gen, or any business that gets 50+ inbound emails per day — especially if you're juggling multiple inboxes, client threads, or routine follow-ups. You’ll combine Gmail’s filters with a custom GPT running through Make.com to process messages on autopilot.

Tools Used:

Setup Steps:

1. Trigger – New labeled email in Gmail - Create Gmail filters to auto-label incoming client emails (e.g. “Leads”, “Support”, “Invoices”).

2. Action 1 – Make.com watches Gmail label - Use the Gmail > Watch Emails module to trigger when a new email hits a specific label.

3. Action 2 – Clean Input - Add a text parser module to isolate Subject, Body, and Sender.

4. Action 3 – GPT Summary - Use a Make > OpenAI module with this inline prompt: > "You are an executive assistant. Summarize this email in 2 sentences and suggest a next action. Be concise and clear."

5. Action 4 – Auto-forward or save - Based on label or keywords, either forward to another email address or log to Google Sheets.

6. (Optional) Daily Digest - Schedule a daily digest email to yourself with all GPT-generated summaries for inbox review.

Expected Outcome & Metrics:

  • Time saved: 5–7 hrs/wk

  • Manual work replaced: Reading + routing 100+ emails

  • Success metric: ≥ 90% of inbox labeled and triaged without manual touch

Troubleshooting Tips:

  • Gmail not triggering? Double-check filter settings and label names.

  • GPT outputs too long? Add “Max 2 sentences” to your prompt.

  • Not catching all messages? Add backup filters to cover alternate addresses or CCs.

3 Tactical Steps

Set up Gmail filters for your most common inbound types — e.g. “Leads”, “Billing”, “Support”.

Create a Make.com scenario that watches those labels and sends the email content to ChatGPT.

Have GPT generate summaries or next steps, then auto-forward or store the result where you want it.

Pro Tip

Stack this with Gmail’s native templates — have ChatGPT draft replies and save them as canned responses for 1-click follow-up.

PS

Want to automate more of your inbox — like booking calls or sending files automatically? Reply with “Inbox Pain” and I’ll send you a full SOP for expanding this setup.