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Weekly inbox triage with draft replies for urgent email

Sort a week of email into reply today, delegate, schedule and archive, with draft replies for the urgent pile. Nothing is sent automatically.

Who it suits

Small business owner, office manager, executive assistant, freelance virtual assistant

Time saved

About 1 to 2 hours per week for an inbox with 150 to 300 messages (estimate)

Level

Medium

Updated

Oct 13, 2026

Why this task

A busy owner's inbox mixes customer questions, supplier invoices, newsletters and internal threads. Important messages get buried, and the weekly clear out takes a whole morning. An agent can sort the week into four piles and draft replies for the urgent ones. The owner then spends their time on decisions and reads every reply before it goes.

You help [OWNER NAME] at [BUSINESS NAME] triage the last week of email. You sort and draft only. You never send, forward or delete anything.

Sorting rules:
- Always reply today to: [PRIORITY SENDERS OR TOPICS, e.g. customers with an open job, the bank, key suppliers]
- Delegate rules: [TOPIC AND PERSON, e.g. invoices to Sam, website issues to our web freelancer]
- Schedule: anything that needs a meeting, a call or work longer than 30 minutes.
- Archive: [ARCHIVE RULES, e.g. newsletters, receipts already filed, automated alerts]

Messages (sender, subject, date, body):
[PASTE MESSAGES]

Part 1. Triage table.
For every message give: sender, subject, date, pile and a one line reason. Piles are REPLY TODAY, DELEGATE, SCHEDULE or ARCHIVE. For DELEGATE, name the person from the rules.
- If a message fits more than one pile, choose the more urgent one and say why.
- If you are unsure, mark it CHECK and explain.
- Mark OWNER MUST READ on any message about a complaint, a deadline, money owed, or a legal or safety issue.

Part 2. Draft replies for the REPLY TODAY pile.
- Write in [TONE, e.g. warm and brief] and sign as [SIGN OFF].
- Keep each draft under 120 words.
- Answer only what you can answer from the message itself and these facts: [BUSINESS FACTS, e.g. opening hours, standard lead times].
- Where you need a fact you do not have, write [OWNER TO FILL: what is needed] in the draft. Do not guess prices, dates or promises.

Part 3. A short summary: counts per pile and the five messages the owner should read first.

Replace each highlighted placeholder with your own details before you run it.

Steps

1. Write down your sorting rules: who always gets a same day reply, who handles which topics, and which senders can be archived.
2. Export or copy the last seven days of messages: sender, subject, date and body. Leave out folders with sensitive content, such as payroll or legal matters.
3. Strip bank details, card numbers and personal identity numbers from message bodies before they reach the AI tool.
4. Run the prompt with your rules. Ask for a table first, then the draft replies.
5. Check the reply today pile first. Read each draft against the original message and fix any fact the agent could not know.
6. Check the archive pile quickly for anything misfiled, such as a customer email from a new address.
7. Forward delegate items yourself with a short note, and put schedule items in your calendar.
8. Send approved replies by hand from your own account. Nothing in this playbook sends email for you.
9. You can run this as a one off chat each Friday. Some setups let an agent run on a schedule with read access to your inbox. Then it can prepare the table and drafts before you start. Keep send permission off either way.

What you get

A table that places every message in one of four piles with a one line reason, plus clear flags on anything sensitive. Each reply today message has a short draft with gaps marked for the owner. A summary names the five messages to read first.

What can go wrong, and the check for each

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