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Email & Inbox

Shared Inbox Triage

For team inboxes: AI classifies every ticket and assigns it before anyone looks.

Saves about ~6 hrs per week

What it does

  • Classifies every message in a shared inbox by topic and priority
  • Auto-assigns messages to team members by skillset and workload
  • Posts new high-priority items to Slack so nothing sits
  • Builds a weekly report of volume, response time, and backlog

How it works

  1. Message lands in the shared inbox
  2. AI classifies intent, priority, and suggested owner
  3. Message is labeled and assigned automatically
  4. High-priority items ping Slack with a digest line

What's included

  • Classification prompt
  • Assignment rules
  • Weekly backlog report

Set it up yourself

Follow these 4 steps in order. You will need accounts for: Gmail, Slack.

Step 1: Map your teams and topics

  1. List your support categories — the 3-8 topic buckets that cover 90% of mail (Billing, Product, Sales, Partnership, etc.).
  2. For each category, name the default owner (person or rotation).
  3. Create a Google Sheet "Routing Map" with columns: Category, Default Owner, Priority (high/normal), Slack Channel.
  4. Note which categories are high-priority and need instant Slack pings.

Watch out: Get this mapping agreed with the team first — the classifier only routes as well as this table is designed.

Step 2: Connect the inbox

  1. Decide access: Gmail delegation (Settings → Accounts → Grant access) or IMAP with an app password for a Google Workspace mailbox.
  2. For Gmail delegation: in Apps Script use Session.getActiveUser() plus the delegated account in the search; for IMAP use the n8n Email Trigger (IMAP) approach.
  3. If using n8n: create app password, note IMAP host/port and SMTP host/port.
  4. Test reading a message from the shared inbox before wiring the classifier.

Watch out: If the mailbox is a Google Group or Workspace shared mailbox, use delegation — IMAP access is often disabled at the account level.

Step 3: Add the routing prompt

  1. Build a prompt that returns JSON: {category, priority, suggestedOwner, oneLineSummary}.
  2. Seed it with the full Routing Map table so owner and channel names come back exactly as in the sheet.
  3. Add a fallback rule: if confidence is low, mark category=Unclassified and never block the message.
  4. Paste the prompt with your API key into the workflow/script.
  5. Test with 10 sample threads and compare against what your team would say.

Watch out: Keep the reply format strict JSON — a single parse failure can drop the whole message from routing.

Step 4: Set up Slack routing

  1. Create a Slack app (api.slack.com) with a bot token and "Incoming Webhooks" for each channel.
  2. For each category, set the destination channel per the Routing Map.
  3. In the workflow, after classification, post the one-liner + priority + suggested owner to the mapped channel.
  4. High-priority items post instantly; normal items can batch every 30-60 minutes.
  5. Add a weekly report flow: aggregate volume, avg response, and backlog into one Slack message on Mondays.

Watch out: Give the bot token only the channels:history and chat:write scopes — least privilege keeps the install simple.

Frequently asked questions

What does the Shared Inbox Triage automation do?

For team inboxes: AI classifies every ticket and assigns it before anyone looks. Classifies every message in a shared inbox by topic and priority

How much time does Shared Inbox Triage save?

It is estimated to save ~6 hrs per week. Actual savings depend on your volume.

Which tools does Shared Inbox Triage use?

It works with Gmail and Slack.

What does Shared Inbox Triage include?

Classification prompt, Assignment rules, Weekly backlog report.

Can I set up Shared Inbox Triage myself?

Yes. The do-it-yourself guide on this page walks through 4 steps, from getting access to testing the finished automation.