Automated Inbox Organization for Outlook Using GPT-4.1 Agent

# Auto-Categorize Outlook Emails with AI in n8n ## **How It Works** 1. **Trigger:** The workflow starts with the **Microsoft Outlook Trigger** node, polling your inbox every minute for new emails. 2. **Extract & Clean Email Content:** The email's key fields (from, subject, isRead, body) are extracted. The body is converted from HTML to Markdown, then sanitized to plain text for reliable AI processing. **Node Setup Details:** - **Microsoft Outlook Trigger** - **Resource:** Message - **Operation:** Trigger on new email - **Fields to Output:** from, subject, isRead(optional), body - **Folders to Include:** (Set to your Inbox or specific folder IDs) - **Markdown Node** - **Input:** `{{$json[body][content]}}` (HTML email body) - **Output Key:** `Email Body Markdown` - **Purpose:** Converts HTML to Markdown for easier downstream processing. - **Sanitize Node (Code Node)** - **Input:** `Email Body Markdown` from previous node - **Purpose:** Cleans up Markdown, strips images, links, HTML tags, table formatting, and truncates to 4000 characters. - **Sample JS Code:** ```javascript // Get the markdown content from the previous node const markdownContent = $input.item.json['Email Body Markdown']; 3. **Setup AI tools** - Move message and Get Folders Outlook tools are required, get contacts is optional. - Set each field in the tools to be defined automatically by the model and describe each field so the model understands how to use it. - OpenRouter or other LLM models tool: You can use any client for this, but make sure to use a model that does well with tool calls (Claude, GPT-4.1, Gemini 2.5 Pro, etc.). --- ## **Best Practices & Notes** - **AI Prompt Engineering:** The AI is instructed to be conservative—never move emails from real people or saved contacts, and always explain its reasoning if it doesn't move a message. - This automation only works for **NEW** incoming messages. - **Inbox Zero:** This system is designed to help you achieve and maintain Inbox Zero by keeping only actionable items in your main inbox. - **Customization:** You can adjust the folder logic, add more categories, or tweak the AI prompt for your specific needs. - **Privacy:** All processing happens within your n8n instance; no email data is stored outside your environment except for the AI call (which only receives sanitized, minimal content).