Create Draft Email for Unread Emails
Automatically draft professional AI-powered replies for all your unread emails and save them as Gmail drafts ready for review and sending.
Last updated
November 16, 2025
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Key Takeaways
- AI-generated draft replies - GPT-4.1 reads each unread email and writes a professional, context-aware response saved as a Gmail draft
- Human review before sending - Drafts are never sent automatically, so you always have the final say before anything leaves your inbox
- Scheduled scanning - The workflow runs on a schedule (default: every minute) and processes up to 20 unread emails per run
- Works with any Gmail account - Connects through a Gmail connector to read emails and create drafts
What This Workflow Does
This workflow finds unread emails in your Gmail inbox, sends the content to an AI model that generates a professional reply, and saves that reply as a Gmail draft addressed to the original sender. You then review, edit if needed, and send each draft yourself. It is designed for people who want to speed up email responses without losing control over what gets sent.
Use cases:
- Quickly drafting replies to customer inquiries
- Keeping up with a high-volume inbox during busy periods
- Creating starting-point drafts for sales follow-ups or partnership replies
How It Works
| Step | What Happens |
|---|---|
| 1. Scheduled Trigger | The workflow runs on a cron schedule (default: every minute) |
| 2. Find Unread Emails | The Gmail Find Email node searches for unread messages (query: is:unread, limit: 20) |
| 3. Transform | Extracts the email results into a list for per-item processing |
| 4. AI Draft Generation | GPT-4.1 reads each email and generates a concise, polite reply using structured output |
| 5. Merge | Combines the original email data with the AI-generated response |
| 6. Create Gmail Draft | Creates a reply draft in Gmail addressed to the original sender with the AI-generated body |
Workflow Nodes
| Node | Role |
|---|---|
| Scheduled Trigger | Fires the workflow on a cron schedule |
| Find Email (Gmail) | Searches Gmail for unread emails with a configurable query and limit |
| Transform | Extracts the email list from the Gmail response for item-by-item processing |
| AI Node (GPT-4.1) | Generates a professional reply for each email using structured output (temperature 0.3) |
| Merge | Combines the original email metadata with the AI-generated reply |
| Create Draft (Gmail) | Saves a reply draft in Gmail with the AI-generated text, addressed to the original sender |
Setup Instructions
- Add the "Create Draft Email for Unread Emails" template to your Needle workspace
- Connect your Gmail account by creating a Gmail connector in the Find Email and Create Draft nodes
- Review the AI prompt in the AI node and adjust the tone or instructions to match your communication style
- Run the workflow manually once to confirm drafts appear in your Gmail Drafts folder
- Enable the scheduled trigger when you are ready for it to run automatically
Customization
| What You Can Change | How |
|---|---|
| Email query filter | Change the q parameter in the Find Email node (e.g., is:unread from:clients@example.com or is:unread -label:automated) |
| Emails per run | Adjust the limit in the Find Email node (default: 20) |
| Schedule frequency | Modify the cron expression on the Scheduled Trigger (e.g., */5 * * * * for every 5 minutes, 0 * * * * for hourly) |
| Reply tone and style | Edit the system and user prompts in the AI node to match your brand voice (formal, casual, technical) |
| AI temperature | Lower the temperature (e.g., 0.1) for more consistent replies, or raise it (e.g., 0.5) for more variety |
| AI model | Swap the model in the AI node if you prefer a different provider |
FAQ
Q: Will this workflow send emails on my behalf? A: No. It only creates drafts. You review every draft and decide whether to send, edit, or delete it.
Q: What happens if the same unread email is processed again? A: If the email is still marked as unread on the next run, it may generate another draft. To avoid this, archive or mark emails as read after reviewing the drafts.
Q: Can I limit it to only certain types of emails?
A: Yes. Change the Gmail query in the Find Email node. For example, use is:unread subject:urgent to only process emails with "urgent" in the subject line.
Q: What AI model does this use? A: The default is GPT-4.1 with a temperature of 0.3 for consistent, professional replies.
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