How to Automate Your Email with AI: Step-by-Step Guide

Your inbox is lying to you. Not in a malicious way — it just shows you 50 unread messages and makes you think that is manageable. But you know the truth.

You spend 2-4 hours every day on email. Sorting, replying, following up, trying to figure out what actually matters. That is roughly 28% of your work week. Gone. On email.

The fix is not inbox zero. It is not a fancy morning routine. It is making a machine do the work for you. AI email automation — real automation, not just filters — takes about five minutes to set up and saves you 10+ hours every week. Here is exactly how to do it.

The Short Version

Five steps:

1. Get an AI email automation tool that connects to your inbox (Gmail or Outlook)
2. Set up smart sorting so AI categorizes every incoming email
3. Configure auto-responses for repetitive emails
4. Turn on follow-up tracking so nothing falls through the cracks
5. Let it learn for a week, correct the mistakes, then let it run

The tool I am using is Email Fortress from Claw Mart — a one-time $47 purchase that runs locally on your machine, uses OpenAI GPT models, and processes about 500 emails per hour.

Why Most Email Automation Does Not Work

Gmail filters have existed since 2004. They work — for maybe 20% of your email. The other 80% — vague subject lines, client threads that shift topics, cold outreach that looks identical to legitimate sales — filters cannot touch any of it.

AI email automation is different. Instead of matching keywords, it reads the email, understands context, considers sender history, and makes a judgment call. It is the difference between a spam filter and an actual assistant who has read every email you have ever sent.

The best AI email automation tools do three things traditional tools cannot:

• Contextual sorting: It knows that Q3 numbers from your CFO is urgent, but the same phrase from a newsletter is not
• Dynamic responses: It generates replies that sound like you, not a robot
• Intelligent follow-ups: It knows when someone has not replied and whether a nudge is appropriate

That is what we are setting up.

Step-by-Step: Setting Up AI Email Automation

Step 1: Get Email Fortress

Head to the Email Fortress listing on Claw Mart. It is $47 one-time with a 30-day money-back guarantee. No subscription. No upsell.

After checkout, you get an instant download — ZIP file with the app executable and setup PDF.

Step 2: Install the App

Unzip and run:

• Windows: Run EmailFortress.exe
• Mac: Open the .app file

The app requests email access via OAuth — the same secure popup you see when signing into any website with Google or Microsoft. No passwords stored. OAuth tokens only, revocable anytime from your account settings.

Step 3: Connect Your Email

Select Gmail or Outlook, authorize through your browser. Initial sync takes 5-10 minutes for ~1,000 emails while the app learns your patterns.

You will need your own OpenAI API key for AI features. Create one at platform.openai.com. The free tier gives ~3,500 tokens per day — fine for light use, but paid tier is pennies per email ($2-5 per month for most).

Step 4: Set Up Smart Sorting

Go to Dashboard → Sorting Rules.

Option A: Manual rules for specific cases — keywords, senders, domains that always go somewhere.

Option B: AI Mode — the app reads every email and categorizes based on content and your patterns. It gets smarter over time.

Start with manual rules for obvious stuff (newsletters → folder), then let AI handle the rest.

Step 5: Configure Auto-Responses

Go to Dashboard → Auto-Response.

Set up responses for common scenarios:

• "What are your rates?" → Send pricing template
• "Do you offer X?" → Send feature sheet
• Meeting request → Send calendar link

AI Mode generates context-aware responses instead of canned replies. Edit them to match your voice, then let the app send automatically.

Step 6: Follow-Up Tracking

Go to Dashboard → Follow-Up Settings.

Enable tracking for sent emails. The app monitors replies and reminds you when:

• Someone has not responded in X days
• A thread has been idle too long
• A follow-up is due

You can auto-send follow-ups or just get notifications — your choice.

Security Considerations

Legitimate concerns around giving an app email access. Here is how Email Fortress handles it:

• OAuth only: No passwords stored
• You provide your own OpenAI key: The app does not see your AI credentials
• Local processing: Data stays on your machine where possible
• Revocable: Remove access anytime from your Google/Microsoft account

That said — review the permissions OAuth grants. Understand what you are comfortable with. And keep an eye on your OpenAI API usage.

Common Pitfalls

• Do not set it and forget it: Check in daily the first week, correct misclassifications so the AI learns
• Start simple: Do not try to automate everything at once
• Keep AI Mode on: It outperforms manual rules for ambiguous emails
• Watch your OpenAI credits: Monitor usage in your OpenAI dashboard

What to Do Next

1. Get Email Fortress from Claw Mart
2. Connect your email account
3. Set up sorting and auto-responses for your top 3 time-wasters
4. Check back daily for a week, correct mistakes
5. Let it run and reclaim 10+ hours every week

Your inbox is not going to get smaller. The volume will only increase. Either drown in it or automate it.