Connecting Gmail Beginner
Connect Gmail so your bot can work in it for you. This guide explains what that means, how to connect it in a few clicks, and practical things to try.
What you'll learn
- What connecting Gmail lets your bot do
- How to connect it step by step
- How to stay in control and disconnect
Before you start
- The Grok Bot app, installed and signed in. New? See where to download it and installing and signing in.
- A Gmail account you can sign in to.
1. What Gmail is and why connect it
Gmail is Google's email service. A connector is a link that lets your bot work inside an app for you, instead of you clicking around yourself. Once Gmail is connected, you can just ask in plain words and your bot does the work in Gmail. New to connectors? Read What is a connector first.
2. Connect Gmail
- Open Grok Bot and click Connect apps in the sidebar. (Or just type "Connect Gmail" to your bot; it can show a Connect card right in the chat.)
- Find Gmail in the list. If you can't find it, ask your bot; which connectors appear can depend on your account.
- Click to connect. Your web browser opens Gmail's own sign-in page.
- Sign in there and read what access it asks for, then approve. Your password goes to Gmail, never into the chat.
- Come back to Grok Bot and test it with a simple request, like one of the ideas below.
3. What your bot can do with it
- You can ask it to search and read your mail.
- You can ask it to sort mail and apply labels.
- You can ask it to draft replies for you to review before anything is sent.
Exactly which actions are available depends on the connector's current tools. If you're not sure, ask: "What can you do with Gmail?"
4. Staying in control
A connected app is available to every bot on your account. Bots draft messages and changes for your approval, and risky actions are checked by Auto-review (see Safety and approvals). To cut access later, remove the connection on the Gmail side (Google: manage third-party connections) or ask your bot how to disconnect it.
Ideas to try
- Side hustle: you sell crafts and lose track of buyer questions.
Find every email from the last week that asks a question about an order, and list who asked what.
- Home: bills arrive by email and you miss due dates.
Search my Gmail for bills received this month and list the sender, amount and due date.
- Small business: a customer needs a polite reply.
Draft a reply to the latest email from Jamie thanking them and saying the order ships Friday. Don't send it.
- Inbox cleanup.
Label all newsletters from the last 30 days as 'Read later'.
Tips
- Start with read-only requests (search, list, summarize) before asking for changes.
- If you have more than one account, tell the bot which one to use.
- If Gmail stops responding, ask your bot to check the connection. You may just need to sign in again.
Facts about the Grok Bot app come from Cursor's official Grok Bot documentation. Gmail details: Google: manage third-party connections. Menus and services change; if something looks different, check the official docs or ask your bot.