Email Workflows / Connecting Gmail or Outlook to your bot

Connecting Gmail or Outlook to your bot Beginner

If you want your bot to help with your existing mailbox, you connect it. Gmail and Outlook both use a sign-in (OAuth) where you approve what the bot may do.

What you'll learn

  • How connecting works for Gmail and Outlook
  • Choosing small permissions
  • How to disconnect

Before you start

1. What happens when you connect

Gmail is reached through the Gmail API and Outlook through Microsoft Graph, which are the official ways programs talk to them (see What is an API?). You sign in on Google's or Microsoft's own page and approve access. That approval is OAuth (explained here).

2. Connect it

  1. Click Connect apps in the Grok Bot sidebar, or type "Connect my Gmail" (or Outlook).
  2. Pick Gmail or Outlook.
  3. Sign in on the provider's page and read the permissions.
  4. Approve and return to Grok Bot.
  5. Test: "Summarize my five newest emails."
Screenshot: Google or Microsoft permission screen during connection.

3. Smallest permissions first

If the connect screen lets you choose, start with reading only. Add sending later if you need it. Either way, ask your bot to draft rather than send.

4. Disconnect anytime

Remove access on the provider side: Google: third-party connections or Microsoft: apps with access (personal accounts). Detailed guides: Connecting Gmail, Connecting Outlook.

Ideas to try

  • Busy parent.
    Summarize today's school emails and list anything I need to sign or pay.
  • Freelancer.
    Find unanswered client emails older than 3 days.
  • Job hunt.
    List replies from employers this week.
  • Travel.
    Find my flight confirmation and tell me the departure time.

Tips

  • A connected app is available to every bot on your account.
  • Use a separate work and personal connection, and tell the bot which is which.
  • If it stops working, sign in again.

Facts about the Grok Bot app come from Cursor's official Grok Bot documentation. Provider docs: Gmail API, Microsoft Graph mail. Menus and services change; if something looks different, check the official docs or ask your bot.