Read, analyze, and auto-reply to Gmail emails with OpenAI, Slack, and Sheets

Description

A fully automated, AI-powered email assistant built in n8n that reads incoming emails, understands their intent and sentiment, classifies them by category, drafts intelligent context-aware replies, and sends them automatically — all without any human intervention. Built using OpenAI + Gmail/SMTP integration for any business or team.

🎯 What's the Goal?
Replace slow, manual email handling with an always-on AI email assistant that reads every incoming message, understands what the sender needs, and responds instantly with a professional, personalized reply — escalating only when truly necessary.

💡 Why Does It Matter?
Email overload is one of the biggest productivity killers for businesses. Teams spend hours every day reading, triaging, and replying to repetitive messages — support requests, meeting inquiries, sales questions, and more. This workflow automates the entire cycle: inbox → understand → reply → log → escalate, saving hours per day while improving response times from hours to seconds.

⚙️ How It Works
Gmail trigger polls inbox for new unread emails
Email content (subject + body) is extracted and cleaned
AI classifies email: Support / Sales / Meeting / Complaint / Spam / General
Sentiment is analyzed: Positive / Neutral / Negative / Urgent
AI drafts a professional, context-aware reply based on classification
If sentiment is Urgent or Negative → escalate to human via Slack
If routine → auto-send reply via Gmail
Email thread logged to Google Sheets (sender, category, sentiment, reply)
Slack notification sent with summary for team awareness
Label applied in Gmail for organization & tracking

🔧 Configuration Requirements
Gmail OAuth2** (for reading inbox and sending replies)
OpenAI API key** (for classification, sentiment & reply generation)
Google Sheets OAuth2** (for email log & analytics)
Slack Bot Token** (for escalation alerts & team summaries)
Optional: SMTP credentials** (if using non-Gmail provider)
Optional: CRM webhook** (to sync contacts & interactions)

🚀 Setup Guide
Import this workflow into your n8n instance
Connect credentials: Gmail OAuth2, OpenAI, Google Sheets, Slack
Open the Set Email Config node and configure:
check_interval_minutes — how often to poll inbox (recommended: 5)
auto_reply_categories — which categories to auto-reply (e.g. Support, General)
escalate_categories — which to escalate (e.g. Complaint, Urgent)
sender_name — your name or business name for reply signature
log_sheet_id — Google Sheets document ID for logging
slack_channel — channel name for escalation alerts
Customize reply templates in the Set Reply Templates node
Run a test with a sample email using the manual trigger
Verify reply quality in Gmail Sent folder
Check Google Sheets log for the entry
Activate workflow — it will now monitor inbox automatically
Monitor escalation volume in Slack and tune thresholds weekly

📞 Contact Us
Need help setting up or customizing this workflow for your business?
👉 https://www.oneclickitsolution.com/contact-us/