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Your AI tool is connected to Gmail. Now let’s put it to work — ask it to read your inbox and give you a summary you can actually use.

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Get your first summary

Open gemini.google.com and paste this prompt:
Copy this prompt
Check my Gmail and summarise all my unread emails.

For each email, include:
- Who it's from
- The subject line
- A one-sentence summary of what it says
- Whether it needs a reply (yes / no / not sure)

Group them by importance: urgent first, then informational, then newsletters or promotions.
Within a few seconds, Gemini will read your inbox and return a structured summary.
First time? Gemini may ask you to confirm Gmail access. Click Allow when prompted.
You should see a summary that looks something like this:
Unread emails (12 total): Urgent
  • Sarah Chen — “Budget approval needed” — Asking for sign-off on Q2 budget by Wednesday. Needs reply: yes
  • IT Support — “Password expiry reminder” — Your password expires in 3 days. Needs reply: no (action needed)
Informational
  • Project Team — “Sprint review notes” — Summary of last week’s sprint. 3 action items assigned to you. Needs reply: not sure
  • HR — “Updated leave policy” — New guidelines for annual leave requests. Needs reply: no
Newsletters & Promotions
  • LinkedIn News — “This week in tech” — Weekly industry roundup. Needs reply: no
  • Coursera — “New courses for you” — Course recommendations based on your profile. Needs reply: no
That’s it — you just caught up on your entire inbox in seconds.

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Filter by sender

Want to see everything from a specific person? Try this prompt.
Copy this prompt — replace the name
Find all emails from [person's name or email address] in the last 30 days
and summarise them.

Include:
- The date of each email
- The subject line
- A brief summary of what they said or asked
- Any action items or requests directed at me

Put the most recent emails first.
This is incredibly useful for catching up before meetings. If you’re about to meet with someone, ask AI to summarise all recent emails from them. You’ll walk in fully prepared.

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Try different summary styles

The first summary is a great start. But depending on your situation, you might want a different format. Try these styles.
Copy this prompt
Summarise my unread emails as a quick catch-up for someone who's been
away for a few days.

Write it in a casual, friendly tone — like a colleague filling me in
over coffee. Keep it to 5 sentences maximum.
The key skill here is prompt writing. Notice how each prompt tells the AI exactly what format you want, what to include, and what to leave out. The more specific your instructions, the more useful the summary.

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Go further

Once you’re comfortable with the basics, try these creative prompts. They work with both paths — say them with Wispr Flow, type them, or paste them.
Say this or copy this prompt
Are there any emails I haven't replied to that are more than 3 days old?
Say this or copy this prompt
Summarise all newsletters I received this week.
Say this or copy this prompt
Find emails with attachments and list what was attached.
Say this or copy this prompt
Find all emails from [person's name] and draft a quick reply to their most recent one.
Say this or copy this prompt
Which emails this week mentioned a deadline? List the deadline and who set it.
This is the magic of natural language. You do not need to memorise commands or search syntax — just describe what you want. If the AI is not sure what you mean, it will ask you to clarify.

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Ask follow-up questions

The AI remembers the emails it just read. You can ask follow-up questions without fetching the emails again. Try any of these:
Say this or copy this prompt
Were there any emails about [topic]?
Say this or copy this prompt
Which emails had attachments? List the sender, subject, and what the attachment seems to be.
Say this or copy this prompt
Summarise only emails from the last 24 hours.
Say this or copy this prompt
Draft a short, professional reply to [sender's name]'s email about [topic].
This is where AI really shines. Instead of scrolling through hundreds of emails looking for one piece of information, you can just ask. “Did anyone send me a PDF this week?” is much faster than checking every email yourself.

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Save your summary

Want to keep a copy of your summary? Here’s how.
  • Copy and paste: Select the summary text and paste it into a document, email, or notes app
  • Share: Click the share icon on Gemini’s response to get a shareable link

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What just happened?

Let’s recap what you did:
  1. Connected an AI tool to your Gmail account
  2. Fetched your unread emails — the AI handled this automatically
  3. Summarised your inbox in a structured, useful format
  4. Filtered by sender to see emails from a specific person
  5. Customised the summary style to match your needs
  6. Asked follow-up questions to find specific information
The key insight: AI is excellent at reading large amounts of text and extracting what matters. A task that would take you 20 minutes of scrolling took the AI about 10 seconds.

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Troubleshooting

Go to gemini.google.com/extensions and check that the Google Workspace extension is toggled on. If it shows an error, toggle it off and on again. Make sure you are signed in with the correct Google account.
Check that the Workspace extension is installed by typing /extensions list in Gemini CLI. If it’s not listed, run the install command again:
gemini extensions install https://github.com/gemini-cli-extensions/workspace
Then exit (/quit) and restart Gemini CLI.
Your inbox might not have enough unread emails. Try asking for a broader search: “Summarise all emails from the last 7 days” instead of just unread ones. You can also be more specific: “Summarise the 20 most recent emails.”
By default, the AI may only fetch the most recent messages. Ask it to go further back: “Read all emails from the last 30 days and summarise them” or “Find the last 50 emails and give me a summary.”
Your Gmail authorisation may have expired. Try these steps:
  • Gemini App: Toggle the Workspace extension off and on again in Settings → Extensions
  • Gemini CLI: Exit and restart Gemini CLI — it should prompt you to re-authorise
Add filtering instructions to your prompt. For example: “Ignore promotional emails and newsletters”, “Only include emails from real people, not automated systems”, or “Focus on emails related to [project name].”
Wispr Flow may occasionally mishear technical terms or proper nouns. You can review and correct the text in Gemini CLI before pressing Enter. If voice input is causing too many errors, switch to typing or pasting prompts instead.
Nice work — you’ve built a real productivity workflow for your inbox. Head to Keep going for ideas on how to use this every day.