How to use the Zapier ChatGPT plugin to write and send emails

Some things never change, and connecting with people over email is one of them. Let’s face it—emails are practically a cornerstone of business communication.

But whether you’re emailing clients, collaborating with colleagues, or managing day-to-day correspondence at scale, it can get pretty time-consuming, particularly when you’re trying to tame an inbox that never quits. This is where AI—and specifically the Zapier ChatGPT plugin—can help lift the burden.  

You can use the plugin to connect thousands of apps (like Gmail) and automate tasks (like writing and sending emails) directly inside ChatGPT’s interface. Below we’ll guide you through this process step by step, so you can streamline your email-writing process and get back to your most important work. 

Before you get started

The plugin is compatible with all Zapier plans and is available to users with a ChatGPT Plus account.  

Once you have access, you’ll need to log into your ChatGPT account. Click on the GPT-4 tab and select Plugins. 

Once you’ve clicked on Plugins, you’ll see “No plugins enabled.”

Click on the dropdown menu and select Plugin store. 

Once you open your plugin, search for Zapier and click Install on the Zapier tile. 

You’ll be asked to provide OpenAI with access to your Zapier account. Click Allow. 

Set up your Gmail action

As soon as you’ve authorized OpenAI, the action settings pop-up window will appear. You’ll need to enable actions with your favorite apps so the plugin knows what to do. There are 30,000 actions (including search, update, and write) with Zapier’s 5,000+ supported apps. For example, you can send emails with Gmail, find leads in Pipedrive, or send direct messages with Slack. The possibilities are endless!

You don’t have to add all your actions now. You can also add new ones at any time by visiting the saved ChatGPT actions page. 

Once you’ve opened this page, click Add new action. You’ll see this window:

Type Gmail in the search bar and select Gmail: Send Email.  

Now it’s time to customize your Gmail action. The first three fields (Action, Zapier Account, and Gmail Account) will be auto-populated. You shouldn’t need to edit them, but you can connect a different Gmail account if you need to. 

For the To, Subject, and Body fields specifically, you can decide to either have ChatGPT guess a value (write the copy), exclude a value, or you can set a specific value for the field. 

In this case, I want to set a specific value in the To field. That essentially means I’m able to add an email address (or multiple email addresses) so the AI knows who to send the email to.

Once you click on this field, you’ll be able to manually type the email address in the text box below:

In my instance, I know who I’ll be sending an email to, so I’ll include that person’s email address in the Enter text field. For example: 

While including specific values does increase the likelihood of success, I’m going to let AI guess the subject line and body copy because I want ChatGPT to take that part off my plate.

When you’re happy with the setup, click Enable Action. Once you’ve enabled this action, you don’t have to add it again. From now on, you can just ask ChatGPT to write your email for you directly in the interface, and it will use this enabled action.  

If you’d rather just have AI write drafts for you within Gmail (instead of directly sending an email), just carry out the same process above but for the action: Gmail: Create Draft. 

Ask ChatGPT to write your email

Now that we’ve set up our Gmail action, we’re going to ask ChatGPT to write an email for us. 

You can just include a sentence or two in your prompt, but remember that the more context you give it, the better its output will be. 

For example, you can include a specific word count you want ChatGPT to adhere to, the tone it should adopt (like business formal or casual professional), and what you want the email to say. You can also call out the person you’re sending your email to by name, but you don’t have to. It’s also a good idea to include your own name as the sender so ChatGPT includes it in the sign-off. 

For example, my prompt is: Write an email letting Grace know that I (Elena) would love to chat more about AI and how teams at Zapier are using it across departments. It could perhaps be a blog post. Let her know I’m available on Thursday between 1 and 4 p.m., and propose a meeting as a next step. 

Once the plugin has finished generating a response (this can take a few seconds), click on the link it provides. This will take you to a separate page where you can review ChatGPT’s output, including the subject line, message, and recipient’s email address. 

If you want to change anything within the email, click Edit. That’ll give you the opportunity to tweak the subject line, email address, or body copy. (You can also go back to ChatGPT and tweak your prompt if you like.)

But remember, the plugin will always ask you to review the action before you run it, so you can edit it directly within the window. 

Once you’re happy with the way the email looks, click Run. This will automatically send your email from within your Gmail account. 

If you want to check out the details of the action it just performed, you can click on Show results details to see if it ran into any errors. 

Otherwise, check your sent folder within your Gmail account.  

If you chose the action Gmail: Create Draft, then check your drafts folder, and remember to hit send if it looks right!

And there you have it: That’s how to write and send an email using the Zapier ChatGPT plugin.  

Remember, there are so many different actions you can use within ChatGPT. Just visit your saved ChatGPT actions page to add more and experiment!

Use AI to write better—and more emails

No matter if you’re handling occasional queries or you’re trying to manage an overflowing inbox, the Zapier ChatGPT plugin can help you streamline your email process. 

With it, you can better put your thoughts into words in an actionable (and scalable) way and make it so that all you have to do is review—then hit send.