Real Agent Cases

Sort 204 unread emails into action labels with ChatGPT, approving every change first

Posted
by Ary Aranguiz (LinkedIn)
Last checked
Method:
How we verify

Evidence: Described by posterThe person describes what happened in words, without screenshots or video.

Outcome

Ary Aranguiz connected ChatGPT to Gmail and asked it to create four labels: ACTION/Reply, ACTION/Decision, ACTION/Review and STATUS/Waiting. ChatGPT then reviewed 204 unread emails from the past seven days and proposed which belonged under each label, separating people waiting for a reply, invitations needing a decision, information to review and routine mail needing no action. It noticed the original label set was incomplete and recommended adding ACTION/Review. Aranguiz approved the proposals, and only then did it create the label and apply the labels. It didn't send, delete, archive, forward or mark anything as read.

Agent

ChatGPT

Prompt Recreated prompt

The source didn't share its exact prompt, so we wrote this from what it describes.

Run this task now, exactly as written below. Everything you need is here, so start straight away and only stop if something required is missing or a rule below tells you to.

Goal: Review my recent unread email and propose which action label each message belongs under, without changing anything until I approve.

Fill in before running:
- How far back to look: [TIME RANGE]
- The labels I want to use: [LABELS]

Rules:
- Propose first: list each email with the label you'd give it and why, grouped by label.
- Tell me if my labels miss a kind of email that matters, and suggest an extra one.
- Only create labels or apply them after I reply with which proposals I approve.
- Never send, delete, archive, forward or mark anything as read.
- Check facts that can change (prices, opening hours, dates, availability, rules) against the official source, and tell me anything you couldn't verify.

Output: A proposal grouped by label, then a short report of what you applied.

You'll know it worked when: every unread email has the right action label and nothing else has changed.

Try this in:

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Optional stronger version

Our rewrite with extra checks. The poster didn't test it.

Run this task now, exactly as written below. Everything you need is here, so start straight away and only stop if something required is missing or a rule below tells you to.

Goal: Review my recent unread email and propose which action label each message belongs under, without changing anything until I approve.

Fill in before running:
- How far back to look: [TIME RANGE]
- The labels I want to use: [LABELS]

Rules:
- Propose first: list each email with the label you'd give it and why, grouped by label.
- Tell me if my labels miss a kind of email that matters, and suggest an extra one.
- Only create labels or apply them after I reply with which proposals I approve.
- Never send, delete, archive, forward or mark anything as read.
- Check facts that can change (prices, opening hours, dates, availability, rules) against the official source, and tell me anything you couldn't verify.
- Start with a small batch so I can check you're sorting the way I would.

Output: A proposal grouped by label, then a short report of what you applied.

You'll know it worked when: every unread email has the right action label and nothing else has changed.

Before you finish: re-read my goal and constraints, check your answer against each one, and list anything you assumed or couldn't confirm.

Source

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/aryaranguiz_i-just-gave-chatgpt-access-to-my-gmail-activity-7501654785218129920-xvrY

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