Gmail AI Triage with Google Gemini: Label & Log to Sheets

Automatically triage unread Gmail emails with Google Gemini—then label, log, and draft replies

This n8n workflow watches your Gmail inbox for new unread messages, uses Google Gemini to classify and score each email, applies the right Gmail label, logs the results to Google Sheets, and can optionally draft a response in the original thread.

What this workflow does

• Triggers every 5 minutes when a new unread email arrives in your Gmail inbox.
• Loads your existing triage log from Google Sheets and proceeds only when the incoming message includes a message ID.
• Sends the sender, subject, and body text to Google Gemini for classification and structured output (e.g., categories such as URGENT, CAN_WAIT, NEWSLETTER, SPAM, plus sentiment, priority score, and reply guidance).
• Maps the AI classification to a Gmail label ID and prepares a normalized triage record containing email metadata and the AI analysis.
• Applies the selected label to the Gmail message and appends the triage record to the configured Google Sheets sheet.
• If Gemini indicates a reply is needed, it drafts a reply using Google Gemini and creates a Gmail draft in the same thread.

Use cases

• Prevent important emails from getting buried by auto-labeling URGENT vs. CAN_WAIT.
• Track newsletter volume and sentiment trends by logging every NEWSLETTER message to Google Sheets.
• Reduce manual inbox work by drafting replies for messages flagged with “reply needed” guidance.
• Operational visibility for SaaS teams—maintain a lightweight AI triage history in Sheets.

Technical details

• n8n nodes/integrations: Gmail trigger, Gmail actions, Google Sheets (service account auth), Google Gemini (Google PaLM) with Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite, plus if, set, and supporting nodes (e.g., sticky note for workflow documentation).
• Authentication: Gmail OAuth2 with permissions to read messages, apply labels, and create drafts; Google service account for Sheets access.
• Requirements: Ensure your Google Sheet has columns matching the appended triage record fields.