Microsoft Outlook AI Email Assistant

Prerequisites

1. Microsoft 365 Login Credentials

• Provide your Office 365 credentials to connect Outlook.

2. Monday.com

• Generate an API token and have a board with your contact details.

3. Airtable

• Obtain an API key (or personal access token) and set up a base to store:
  • Contacts (populated by the Monday.com sync).
  • Rules & Categories (used by the AI ​​Email Assistant).
• Use this Airtable base as the template: Airtable AI Email Assistant Template . Define your own rules, categories, and delete rules.

4. OpenAI API Key

• Sign up for OpenAI if you don't already have an account.
• Generate a new API key at OpenAI API Keys .

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What the System Does

1. Daily Contact Sync ( Monday.com → Airtable)

• Runs once a day to pull the latest contacts from Monday.com and store or update them in Airtable.

2. AI Email Categorization & Prioritization

• Fetches Outlook emails with filters.
• Cleans and processes email content.
• Matches emails with known contacts from Airtable.
• Uses an AI agent to classify, categorize, and prioritize emails.
• Updates Outlook categories and importance based on AI results.
• Runs in parallel with Airtable rules & categories retrieval for real-time decision-making.

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Workflow 1: Daily Contact Sync ( Monday.com → Airtable)

Purpose

Keep Airtable's Contacts table up to date by pulling new or updated contact data from Monday.com daily .

Steps

1. Schedule Trigger

   • Runs at a set interval (daily) to initiate contact syncing.

2. Monday.com : Get Contacts

   • Read the specified board/columns from Monday.com where you store contact details.

3. Airtable - Contacts

   • Upserts (adds or updates) the fetched Monday.com data into Airtable's Contacts table.
   • Ensures daily updates reflect changes from Monday.com .

Result

A consolidated contact list in Airtable, ready for AI email categorisation.

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Workflow 2: Categorize & Prioritize Outlook Emails

Purpose

Fetches Outlook emails , cleans and processes their content, matches senders with known contacts, and uses AI to categorize and prioritize them.

Steps

1. Get Outlook Emails with Filters

• Trigger : Either scheduled ( Check Mail Schedule Trigger ) or manual ( Test Workflow ).
• Outlook Filters :
  • Not flagged ( flag/flagStatus == 'notFlagged' ).
  • Not categorized ( not categories/any() ).

🔹 Result : A batch of fresh, unprocessed emails ready for processing.

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2. Sanitise Email

• Convert to Markdown : Strips HTML tags and normalizes formatting.
• Email Messages Processing : Allows manual removal of signatures, disclaimers, or extra content .

🔹 Result : A clean, AI-friendly email for categorisation.

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3. Match Contact

• Loop Over Emails : Iterates over each email.
• Contact Lookup : Checks Airtable's Contacts table (updated daily).
• Merge Data : Enriches emails with known client, supplier, or internal team info.

🔹 Result : Enhanced email context for AI processing .

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4. AI Agent to Categorize & Prioritize

• Retrieve Rules & Categories
  • Reads Rules, Categories, and Delete Rules from Airtable in parallel.
• AI: Analyze Email (Tools Agent)
  • Uses email text, sender info, and rules to build a structured AI prompt .
• OpenAI Chat Model
  • Processes the AI ​​prompt and outputs:
    • Category
    • Subcategory (optional)
    • Priority level
    • Short rationale
• Structured Output Parser
  • Ensures AI response is valid JSON format .

🔹 Result :
Each email is labeled, categorized, and prioritized with AI-driven logic.

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5. Set Outlook Category & Importance

• Set Category : Updates Outlook with the assigned category .
• Check Priority Conditions ( If Node):
  • If Action Required or from a VIP, mark as High Priority .
• Set Importance : Updates the email's importance flag in Outlook.

🔹 Result :
Outlook is updated with categories & importance based on AI recommendations.

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Parallel Processing: Retrieve Rules & Categories

• Runs alongside the email categorization workflow.
• Ensures Airtable-based rules are available before AI processing.

Steps

1. Airtable: Get Rules & Categories
   • Fetches Rules, Categories, and Delete Rules from Airtable.
2. Delete Rules (Optional)
   • If a delete rule matches, the email is removed.

🔹 Result :
A dynamic, updateable rule system ensuring emails are handled properly.

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Final Outcome

• Daily Contact Sync keeps contacts up to date.
• AI-driven email workflow ensures smart categorisation.
• Outlook automatically updated with AI-generated categories and importance.

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This automated system saves time, ensures efficient inbox management , and allows for customizable rules via Airtable.