Client Challenge: The client was drowning in emails and struggling to keep track of important information and to-dos. Sifting through email chains to find relevant details and extract actionable items was time-consuming and inefficient. They needed a system to streamline this process and improve their workflow.

Solution: We implemented an automated system to convert key information and action items from emails into a Notion Database.

Technology Stack:

• Gmail: Email management platform
• Make: Integration platform as a service (iPaaS)
• OpenAI: Artificial intelligence (AI) for text summarization and action item extraction
• Notion: Collaborative workspace and note-taking app

Workflow:

1. Label Emails: The client labels relevant emails "Notion" in Gmail.
2. Triggering Automation: Make recognizes the "Notion" label and initiates the automation.
3. Email Filtering: The system filters out emails ensuring only relevant information is processed.
4. Summarization: OpenAI summarizes the first email in a thread (to avoid redundancy in email chains).
5. Action Item Extraction: OpenAI analyzes the summary to identify potential action items.
   • If action items are found, they are extracted and listed.
   • If no action items are found, the system acknowledges this in the output.
6. Notion Integration:
   • The summary is sent to Notion and used to create a new database entry for the email.
   • If action items are identified, separate tasks are created in Notion's task database and linked to the original email entry.
7. Tag Removal: The "Notion" tag is removed from the processed email in Gmail, indicating completion.

Benefits:

• Reduced Information Overload: Key takeaways from emails are captured in a concise and searchable format within Notion.
• Improved Task Management: Action items extracted from emails are automatically converted into actionable tasks, streamlining workflows.
• Increased Efficiency: The automation eliminates manual work of summarizing emails and creating tasks, freeing up the client's time.