Set this up once and every morning Claude goes through your inbox, drafts replies to the routine stuff in your own voice, and flags anything that needs you. You just review and hit send.
✅ What you'll need
| What | Why |
|---|---|
| A paid Claude plan (Pro or higher) | Scheduled tasks run in Claude Cowork, which needs a paid plan. The Gmail connection itself works on any plan. |
| The Claude Desktop app | Cowork lives here (Mac or Windows). Download it at claude.com/download. |
| A Gmail or Google Workspace account | Claude reads your sent mail to learn your voice and saves drafts back to Gmail. |
🔗 Step 1: Connect Gmail to Claude
- In Claude, open Customize > Connectors
- Find Gmail, click Connect and sign in with your Google account
- Approve the permissions Google asks for
This lets Claude search and read your inbox and sent mail, and save drafts.
On a Team or Enterprise plan? An admin has to switch on the Google connectors first, under Organization settings > Connectors.
⚙️ Step 2: Turn on code execution
Claude needs this to build and save a skill.
- Go to Settings > Capabilities
- Turn on Code execution and file creation
(Team and Enterprise admins control this under Organization settings.)
🧠 Step 3: Teach Claude your voice and build the skill
This is a two-stage prompt. Stage 1 gets Claude to read your recent sent emails and write up a voice profile. Stage 2 turns that into a reusable skill.
Paste this into a new Claude chat:
I want you to build a skill called "email-drafts" that drafts replies to my connected inbox every morning in my own voice. Do this in two stages.
STAGE 1: Learn my voice
Read my 100 most recent sent emails from my Gmail account (search in:sent), in batches of 25. Skip anything automated, mass-sent, or under 15 words. After each batch, note the patterns, then combine them into one profile. For each one, note:
- How I open emails differently for clients vs prospects vs internal team vs vendors/ad platform reps
- My sign-off style and how it changes by audience
- Sentence length and structure (short and direct, or more explanatory)
- How I say no, push back, or deliver bad news
- How I chase someone who hasn't replied
- Phrases and words I use often
- Phrases I never use (e.g. filler openers like "I hope this email finds you well")
- Spelling convention
- Punctuation habits, note in particular whether I use em dashes (I don't, so never use them in drafts)
Write this up as a voice profile and save it as references/voice-profile.md inside the skill folder. Show it to me before moving on to Stage 2 so I can correct anything that's off.
STAGE 2: Build the skill
Once I've confirmed the voice profile, create SKILL.md for "email-drafts" that does the following when run:
1. Check my inbox for emails received in the last 24 hours.
2. Draft a reply for anything that's routine and doesn't need my personal judgement, using the voice profile. Save every draft as a reply in the original Gmail thread.
3. Never use the send, reply or forward actions. Only ever create drafts.
4. Do NOT draft replies for anything involving contracts, money, disputes, legal threats, or negotiation. Flag these instead with a one-line note on why it needs me directly.
5. Compile a short morning summary: how many drafts were created, how many were flagged, grouped by category. Keep it under a 2-minute read.
Formatting rules for every draft, no exceptions:
- Local spelling for my country
- No em dashes, ever
- Sentence case body copy, no padded openers or closers
- Lean and direct, get to the point in the first line
- Match formality to category (warmer with clients, brisk with platform reps, casual with team)
When the skill is ready, package it as a skill file I can save.🔍 Step 4: Check the voice profile, then save the skill
Claude shows you the voice profile before it builds anything. Read it and correct anything that's off. This is the most important step. The better the profile, the more the drafts sound like you and not like a generic assistant.
Once it's right, tell Claude to go ahead with Stage 2. When it's done:
- Save the skill file Claude gives you
- Open Customize > Skills and check email-drafts is there and switched on
- If it isn't, click + > Create skill > Upload a skill and upload the file
⏰ Step 5: Schedule it in Claude Cowork
- Open the Claude Desktop app and switch to Cowork
- Click Scheduled in the left sidebar, then New task
- Choose Set up manually
- Name it Morning email drafts and paste the prompt from Step 6
- Set the frequency to Weekdays (or Daily) at a time before you usually check email
- Click Save
Shortcut: type /schedule in any Cowork task and describe what you want.
Scheduled tasks run in the cloud, so your computer doesn't need to be on.
📨 Step 6: The scheduled task prompt
Run the email-drafts skill on my inbox. Check for anything received in the last 24 hours. Draft replies for anything routine, flag anything involving contracts, money, disputes, or negotiation for me to handle directly. Save all drafts to Gmail as replies in the original thread. Never send, reply or forward anything. Give me the morning summary.☕ What happens next
Every morning Claude goes into your inbox, drafts replies to the routine emails in your voice, flags anything that needs your judgement, and leaves you a short summary. You open Gmail, review the drafts, and hit send. No more starting your day from a blank inbox.
