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Productivity ChatGPT 6 min read · free

Inbox zero with AI triage

Sort the noise from the signal and draft the replies.

The short answer

Paste a batch of emails and have AI sort them into reply-now / later / ignore and draft the quick replies. For a permanent setup, use an AI email client like Shortwave or Superhuman. You always approve before anything sends.

Email isn't hard, it's relentless. Let AI do the first pass — sorting and drafting — so you only spend judgment where it's actually needed. The win isn't a tidy inbox; it's spending less of your finite attention on email at all.

Apps that do this
  • ▸Shortwave — AI email client that summarises, sorts and drafts for you
  • ▸Superhuman — fast email with AI triage and writing built in
  • ▸Claude / ChatGPT — paste a batch and have it sort and draft (strip sensitive details first)
Beginner

Let it sort the pile

Start by using AI purely as a sorter: paste a batch and have it group emails into reply-now, reply-later, and ignore. Seeing the relentless pile resolved into three clear buckets removes most of the overwhelm, because the hard part of email is the constant deciding of what deserves attention at all.

Intermediate

Draft the replies, keep control

Have it draft responses for the reply-now bucket — one or two lines you edit and send. The non-negotiable rule: AI drafts and you approve; never auto-send, because a single wrong tone or fact under your name isn't worth the saved minute. Strip anything sensitive before pasting.

Advanced

Systematise the recurring stuff

Most inboxes are dominated by a handful of recurring email types. Build reusable response templates so AI drafts them instantly in your voice, and convert action-needed emails straight into tasks rather than leaving your inbox as a chaotic to-do list. The goal is an inbox that no longer owns your attention.

  1. 1Paste a batch of emails into AI — strip anything sensitive first.
  2. 2Ask it to group them: reply-now, reply-later, ignore.
  3. 3Have it draft one-line replies for the urgent ones.
  4. 4Edit and send — you approve every one.

Inbox prompts

promptHere are 10 emails [paste]. Group them into reply-now, reply-later, and ignore. For the reply-now ones, draft a one-to-two-line response I can edit. Flag anything that needs a real decision from me.
promptDraft a polite, firm reply that declines this without burning the relationship: [paste].
promptWrite me 3 reusable email templates for the requests I get most: [describe the recurring email types].
promptSummarise this long email thread and tell me the one thing I actually need to decide or do: [paste].
promptRewrite my draft reply to be warmer and shorter, and make the ask clearer: [paste].
promptDraft a friendly chase-up for an email I sent that hasn't been answered: [paste original].
promptTurn this rambling reply I wrote into 3 clear sentences: [paste].
promptWrite a holding reply that buys me time without sounding dismissive, for: [paste].
promptRead this email and tell me what the sender actually wants, whether it needs a reply at all, and if so, draft a reply that's polite but takes me 10 seconds to send: [paste].
💡 Never let it auto-send. AI sorts and drafts; you approve and hit send.

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