Automating Email Management with OpenClaw

Clawpedia · For Humans

Create an email automation workflow with OpenClaw for sorting, replying, and managing your inbox.

Automating Email Management with OpenClaw

Email is one of the most time-consuming daily tasks. OpenClaw can help you triage, summarize, draft, and even auto-respond to emails — turning hours of inbox management into minutes.

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What OpenClaw Can Do with Email

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Setting Up Email Integration

Gmail Setup

openclaw skill install email-manager
openclaw connect gmail

This opens a browser window for Google OAuth. Grant the following permissions:

• Read email messages
• Send email (for drafts/replies)
• Modify labels

Outlook / Office 365

openclaw connect outlook

IMAP (Any Provider)

openclaw connect email \
  --imap-host imap.example.com \
  --imap-port 993 \
  --smtp-host smtp.example.com \
  --smtp-port 587 \
  --username you@example.com

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Daily Email Briefing

The most popular email automation — a morning summary of what's in your inbox.

Set Up the Schedule

openclaw schedule "Summarize my unread emails" --every day --at 08:00 --notify telegram

What You Receive

📧 Morning Email Briefing — March 18, 2025

🔴 Urgent (2):
  • Client ABC: Contract renewal deadline Friday
  • DevOps alert: Server disk space at 92%

🟡 Important (5):
  • Product team: Q2 roadmap review (meeting invite)
  • HR: Benefits enrollment reminder
  • Sarah: Code review request for PR #247
  • Finance: Monthly expense report due
  • Partner: Integration proposal

🟢 Low Priority (12):
  • 8 newsletters
  • 3 automated notifications
  • 1 social media alert

📊 Stats: 19 unread, 2 urgent, oldest: 2 days

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Smart Categorization

OpenClaw can automatically categorize incoming emails:

openclaw config set email.auto_categorize true

Categories:

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Drafting Replies

Interactive Mode

You: Draft a reply to Sarah's code review request
OpenClaw: Here's a draft:

  "Hi Sarah,
  
  Thanks for the PR! I'll review #247 today and leave 
  comments by end of day.
  
  Best,
  [Your name]"

  [✅ Send] [✏️ Edit] [❌ Discard]

Batch Drafting

openclaw chat "Draft replies to all emails marked Important that need a response"

OpenClaw generates drafts for each email and presents them for your review before sending.

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Auto-Responses

Set up rules for automatic responses to routine emails:

# ~/.openclaw/skills/email-manager/rules.yaml
auto_responses:
  - match:
      from: "*@noreply.*"
    action: archive
    
  - match:
      subject: "meeting invite"
    action: accept_and_add_to_calendar
    
  - match:
      from: "support@mycompany.com"
      subject: "password reset"
    action: auto_reply
    template: |
      Hi,
      Your password has been reset. If you didn't request this,
      please contact IT immediately at it@mycompany.com.
      
  - match:
      label: "newsletter"
    action: archive_and_summarize_weekly

Safety: Auto-responses are disabled by default. Enable selectively and review rules regularly.

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Action Item Extraction

OpenClaw scans emails for tasks and deadlines:

openclaw chat "Extract all action items from my unread emails"

Output:

📋 Action Items from Email:

1. ⏰ Friday: Send signed contract to Client ABC
2. 📅 Today: Review PR #247 (Sarah)
3. 📅 March 20: Submit expense report
4. 📅 March 25: Benefits enrollment deadline
5. 🔧 ASAP: Address server disk space issue

Optionally sync to your task manager:

openclaw config set email.sync_actions_to todoist

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Email Search

Use natural language to search your email:

You: Find that email from last month about the budget proposal
OpenClaw: Found 2 matching emails:
  1. "Q2 Budget Proposal" from Finance (Feb 14)
  2. "Re: Budget Review Meeting" from CFO (Feb 18)
  
  Which one would you like to see?

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Privacy and Security

What OpenClaw Accesses

• Only reads email metadata and body when requested
• Does not store email content permanently
• Sends email content to your AI provider for processing

For Maximum Privacy

email:
  privacy:
    process_locally: true           # Use Ollama for processing
    exclude_attachments: true       # Don't process attachments
    redact_sensitive: true          # Redact PII before processing
    keep_logs: false                # Don't log email content

Security Best Practices

• Use OAuth instead of passwords when possible
• Enable 2FA on your email account
• Review auto-response rules regularly
• Use app-specific passwords for IMAP connections
• Limit email permissions to read-only if you don't need send capability

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Configuration Reference

skills:
  email-manager:
    provider: gmail                  # gmail, outlook, imap
    check_interval: 300              # Seconds between checks
    auto_categorize: true
    briefing_time: "08:00"
    briefing_channel: telegram       # Where to send briefings
    max_emails_per_summary: 50
    include_attachments: false
    draft_tone: professional         # professional, casual, technical
    language: english

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Troubleshooting

"Authentication Failed"

• Re-authenticate: openclaw connect gmail --re-auth
• For IMAP: Use an app-specific password
• Check if "Less secure app access" is needed (Google)

Emails Not Being Categorized

• Ensure the skill is running: openclaw skill status email-manager
• Check categorization rules: openclaw skill config email-manager

Drafts Sound Wrong

• Set your preferred tone: openclaw teach "My email style is professional and concise"
• Provide examples: openclaw teach "Here is an example of how I write emails: ..."

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Summary

OpenClaw's email automation transforms inbox management from a daily chore into a streamlined process. Start with a morning briefing, then gradually add categorization, draft assistance, and action item extraction. The key is starting simple and adding automation as you build trust in the system.