Automated Inbox Organization for Outlook using GPT-4.1 Agent

Auto-Categorize Outlook Emails with AI in n8n

How It Works

Trigger: The workflow starts with the Microsoft Outlook Trigger node, polling your inbox every minute for new emails. 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"}} (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: // Get the markdown content from the previous node const markdownContent = $input.item.json["Email Body Markdown"];

Setup AI tools Move message and Get Folders Outlook tools are required, get contacts is optional. Set each field in the tools to "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).