AI workers for Outlook

What is an AI worker for Outlook?

An AI worker for Outlook is an AI agent scoped to one job inside your Microsoft 365 mailbox, such as filing what arrived into the right folders or pulling a decision out of a forty message thread. It works through your connected work account and respects the folder and category structure you already use, writing only where you have granted it permission to write.

What these workers do

File the morning mail into folders

Reads what came in overnight and moves it into the folder structure you already use, so the inbox holds only what still needs a person.

Flag what needs an answer today

Separates the messages with a real deadline from the ones that merely look urgent, and categorises them so the difference is visible at a glance.

Summarize a reply-all thread

Turns a long chain into the decisions taken, the questions still open, and the specific thing being asked of you.

Draft replies for review

Writes the routine responses into your drafts folder and leaves the send button to you.

How an AI worker runs in Outlook

Built around folders and categories

Reading long corporate threads

What it is allowed to touch

Outlook questions, answered.

Does an AI worker work with a shared mailbox?

It works with the mailboxes your connected account can reach, which depends on the access your administrator has granted that account. If you can open the mailbox in Outlook, a worker connected as you can generally be scoped to it, and you can narrow it to that mailbox alone.

Will it move or delete my mail?

Only the actions you grant. Moving between folders, marking as read, and deleting are separate permissions, and deletion is typically withheld. A worker set up to file and flag can reorganise the inbox without ever removing anything.

Can it send on my behalf?

Only with send permission, which many Outlook workers deliberately do not have. The usual arrangement is that it drafts and you send, so nothing leaves your organisation's mail system without a person approving it.

Does it need my administrator to approve anything?

Connecting a Microsoft 365 work account follows your tenant's normal consent rules, so some organisations require an administrator to approve the connection once. After that, what the worker can do is governed by the permissions you set on it.

What AI workers can do in Outlook

The tools a worker can be granted in Outlook once you connect it. A kit grants only the ones its job needs, and you can narrow them further on the worker.

Search Email

Search emails across all connected mailboxes (Gmail, M365) in one call, interleaved newest first. If you already have an `id` or `threadId`, use email_get or email_get_thread directly. Each result carries `provider`, `emailAccountOwner`, and `isOutbound` (true for messages the user sent). A Gmail hit omits `hasAttachments` when its summary can't tell; filter with `hasAttachment` or read it with email_get. Paginate via the response's `nextPageToken` back as `pageToken`; stop when `hasMoreEmailsInNextResultPage` is false — there is no totalCount, and a full-`limit` page is complete (don't double-paginate). If `authWarnings` is present, one of several connected mailboxes needs reconnection; surface as a soft warning, not an error.

List Email Folders

List Outlook (Microsoft 365) mail folders across connected mailboxes; each item carries `id`, `name`, `parentId`, and `accountEmail`. Use a folder `id` to scope email_search (`folder`) or as an email_move destination — both also accept well-known names like inbox, so reach for this only to target a custom folder. Outlook-only: Gmail has no folders and contributes nothing here (use email_list_labels). Always HTTP 200; empty `items` with an `accessInfo` note means a permission or connection gap, and `authWarnings` flags a mailbox needing reconnection.

List Email Labels

List Gmail labels across connected mailboxes; each item carries `id`, `name`, `type` ('system' like INBOX/SENT, or 'user'), and `accountEmail`. Use a label `name` to filter email_search (`label`) or to add/remove via email_modify — call this to get valid names instead of guessing. Gmail-only: Outlook mailboxes contribute nothing (use email_list_categories or email_list_folders). Always HTTP 200; empty `items` with an `accessInfo` note means a permission or connection gap, and `authWarnings` flags a mailbox needing reconnection.

List Email Categories

List Outlook (Microsoft 365) categories across connected mailboxes; each item carries `id`, `name`, `color`, and `accountEmail`. Use a category `name` to filter email_search (`category`) or to add/remove via email_modify. Outlook-only: Gmail contributes nothing (use email_list_labels). Always HTTP 200; empty `items` with an `accessInfo` note means a permission or connection gap, and `authWarnings` flags a mailbox needing reconnection.

Get Email

Get a single email by its provider-prefixed ID (e.g., 'google:abc123' or 'm365:xyz789') with body, attachments, labels, and importance. Pair with email_search; to pull an attachment's bytes, pass its id from the returned `attachments[]` to email_get_attachment.

Download Email Attachment

Read one attachment from an email. Use as=model for native PDF/image input in supported hosted runs; otherwise returns base64. Take attachmentId from email_get. Inspect readable/reason for unavailable content. Reading file contents requires the forward_attachments permission.

Get Email Thread

Get all messages in an email thread by its provider-prefixed thread ID, in chronological order (oldest first) with body included. Unlike email_search, this bypasses label/folder rules so the conversation reads end-to-end — the user's own outbound replies appear even on otherwise-blocked labels (e.g. SENT). Contact/domain block rules still apply.

Send Email

Send a new email. Returns the sent message ID and thread ID on success. Use `sendFrom` (or `connectionId`) to pick an account when multiple are connected.

Reply to Email

Reply in-thread to an existing email. Base recipients are derived server-side from the source: an inbound source replies to the original sender; an outbound source (your own sent copy) replies to the original recipients. `replyAll=true` also adds the original CC list. To loop in someone who was NOT on the thread, pass `to`/`cc`/`bcc` — these are added on top of the derived recipients (not a replacement), and are the supported way to reply-and-CC a new person rather than starting a standalone email with email_send. Always sends through the source's mailbox — no sendFrom override. Returns the sent reply's message ID and thread ID.

Forward Email

Forward an email to new recipients. Optionally add a message above the forwarded content. Returns the sent message's ID and thread ID.

Create Draft

Compose a new email and save it unsent to the Drafts folder for a human to review and send. Same recipient/subject/body fields as email_send. Returns a `draftId` (and `threadId` when threaded); pass the draftId to email_send_draft to send it. Creating a draft never sends it — composing and sending drafts are separate capabilities.

Create Reply Draft

Compose an in-thread reply and save it unsent to Drafts for a human to review and send. Base recipients are derived server-side from the source exactly like email_reply (inbound source → original sender; outbound source → original recipients; `replyAll=true` also adds the original CC list); pass `to`/`cc`/`bcc` to loop in people who were not on the thread (additive, not a replacement). Returns a `draftId`/`threadId`; send it later with email_send_draft.

Create Forward Draft

Compose a forward of an existing email to new recipients and save it unsent to Drafts for a human to review and send. Optionally add a message above the forwarded content. Returns a `draftId`/`threadId`; send it later with email_send_draft.

Send Draft

Send an existing draft by its `draftId` — one returned by a create-draft tool, or a draft a human composed manually in the mailbox. Returns the sent message's ID and thread ID. Sending a draft is a separate capability from creating one.

Modify Email

Modify email properties: mark as read/unread, or add/remove labels (Gmail) / categories (Outlook). Names are case-sensitive — Gmail user labels are distinct from system labels (e.g. user 'Important' ≠ system 'IMPORTANT'); discover valid names with email_list_labels (Gmail) or email_list_categories (Outlook).

Move Email

Move a message into a destination folder — a change of location, distinct from email_modify's additive labels/categories. `destinationFolderId` takes a well-known name (archive, inbox, junkemail, deleteditems, and on Outlook also sentitems, drafts) or, on Outlook (M365), a mail-folder ID. On Gmail (GOOGLE), which has no folders, a move is a label swap: the target is applied and INBOX is removed (archive removes INBOX only; junkemail → SPAM; deleteditems → TRASH; inbox re-adds INBOX; any other value is a target label). Note deleteditems/junkemail are valid destinations, so this can move mail to Trash — a recoverable soft-delete, the same end state as email_delete. On Outlook the message is re-homed under a NEW id, so the id you passed is no longer valid — re-fetch via email_search to get the new handle; Gmail keeps the same id.

Delete Email

Delete an email by moving it to Trash/Deleted Items. Not a permanent deletion — the message can be recovered for up to 30 days.