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Email & Inbox

Outlook Inbox Triage

The same inbox triage for Microsoft 365 — categories, rules, and a daily digest.

Saves about ~4 hrs per week

What it does

  • Classifies new Outlook mail as urgent, action, newsletter, or FYI using Power Automate
  • Applies Outlook categories so your inbox sorts itself as mail lands
  • Sends a daily digest of what needs a reply and what can wait
  • Learns your tone over time to reduce mis-filed mail

How it works

  1. New mail arrives in your Outlook inbox
  2. Power Automate flow reads subject, sender, and body
  3. An Outlook category is applied based on the AI classification
  4. Daily digest summarizes the day's must-answer mail

What's included

  • Power Automate flow setup
  • Outlook category rules
  • Daily digest flow

Set it up yourself

Follow these 5 steps in order. You will need accounts for: Outlook.

Step 1: Open Power Automate

  1. Go to https://make.powerautomate.com and sign in with your Microsoft 365 account (the one connected to the mailbox you want to triage).
  2. Look at the region selector in the top-right — pick the region closest to your tenant so the flows run fast.
  3. Confirm the left menu shows Home / Create / Templates. If you land on a billing page first, your tenant is missing an eligible license — you can still create flows with a free Microsoft account.

Watch out: Use the same account as your mailbox, or the flow cannot read your mail.

Step 2: Create the triage flow

  1. Click "Create" → "Instant cloud flow" — actually choose "Automated cloud flow" instead for email triggers.
  2. Name it Outlook Inbox Triage and search for the trigger "When a new email arrives (V3)".
  3. Select it and click Create.
  4. In the trigger, set Folder to "Inbox" and check "Only with Attachment" as false — we want every email.
  5. Click "+ New step" and add an "HTTP" action (Power Automate HTTP action).
  6. Configure the HTTP action: Method POST, URI https://api.anthropic.com/v1/messages, and add the headers from the guide: x-api-key, anthropic-version: 2023-06-01, content-type: application/json.

Watch out: The HTTP action must be the built-in "HTTP" connector, not "Send an HTTP request" from a premium connector list.

Step 3: Add the classification prompt

  1. Click the HTTP step and expand Body.
  2. Paste the classification JSON from the guide with your API key and the model name (e.g. claude-sonnet-4-6).
  3. Replace the placeholder fields with dynamic content: click inside the body where it says From, and insert "From" from the trigger's dynamic-content list.
  4. Do the same for Subject and Body — in the dynamic picker, select Body preview if Body is not available.
  5. Save the flow.

Watch out: Dynamic content must be picked from the trigger flyout, not typed — if you type it as plain text the flow sends nothing useful.

Step 4: Apply categories

  1. Click "+ New step" and add a "Condition" control.
  2. Check whether the HTTP response contains URGENT — set the condition to: Body, contains, URGENT.
  3. In the "If yes" branch, add action "Apply category" (Microsoft 365 outlook connector) and select the category you created for urgent mail in Outlook.
  4. In the "If no" branch, add another Condition for ACTION, NEWSLETTER, and FYI in sequence.
  5. For each branch, add the matching "Apply category" step.
  6. Save. If this is your first time using the Outlook connector, sign in when prompted.

Watch out: Create the four categories in Outlook first (Settings → Categories) or the Apply category step will error.

Step 5: Schedule the digest

  1. Create a second automated flow named Outlook Daily Digest.
  2. Use the trigger "Schedule" → "Recurrence", set to run every 1 day at 8:00.
  3. Add step "Get emails (V3)" from the Outlook connector, Folder = Inbox, and a filter query like categories:anything?cat=\"Urgent\" (use the guide's OData filter for your category names).
  4. Add the HTTP step with the digest prompt from the guide, feeding it the list of fetched emails.
  5. Add step "Send an email (V2)" — set To to yourself, Subject to the digest title, and Body to the HTTP response text.
  6. Save and test: send yourself email today, then run the flow manually with Test button.

Watch out: The OData filter syntax is particular — copy it exactly from the guide or the query returns zero emails.

Frequently asked questions

What does the Outlook Inbox Triage automation do?

The same inbox triage for Microsoft 365 — categories, rules, and a daily digest. Classifies new Outlook mail as urgent, action, newsletter, or FYI using Power Automate

How much time does Outlook Inbox Triage save?

It is estimated to save ~4 hrs per week. Actual savings depend on your volume.

Which tools does Outlook Inbox Triage use?

It works with Outlook.

What does Outlook Inbox Triage include?

Power Automate flow setup, Outlook category rules, Daily digest flow.

Can I set up Outlook Inbox Triage myself?

Yes. The do-it-yourself guide on this page walks through 5 steps, from getting access to testing the finished automation.