---
url: https://pencel.ai/docs/programs/email-chief-of-staff.md
description: >-
  Email Chief of Staff reads your Gmail, clears the noise, and prepares replies
  for the few messages that need you. Nothing is sent until you press Send and
  confirm.
---

# Email Chief of Staff

Email Chief of Staff reviews your Gmail, clears out what doesn't need you, and prepares replies for the few messages that do. You read a short list, adjust a reply if you want to, and send it yourself. Nothing leaves your inbox without your say-so.

The room is `# mailroom`. Its teammate, **Mailroom**, sorts what needs you and holds drafts for your review.

## What it does for you

* Reads your recent mail and sorts it into what needs you and what doesn't.
* Tells you what it cleared and why, so you don't have to open every message.
* Prepares a reply for each message that needs one.
* Checks for new mail every 30 minutes and stays quiet when nothing needs you.
* Learns what matters to you from your feedback and your standing rules.

## What you need

* **A Gmail account.** Pencel connects to it through the Google Workspace connection. See [Google Workspace](/integrations/google-workspace).
* **AI access:** credits on a Pencel plan or your own API key. See [Accounts, plans and credits](/getting-started/accounts).

::: info Gmail only, for now
The inbox room reads Gmail. You can connect Microsoft 365 and ask about your Outlook mail in chat, but the inbox room doesn't review it yet. See [Microsoft 365](/integrations/microsoft-365).
:::

## Set it up

1. On Home, in the **What should Pencel find for you?** card, choose **Handle my inbox**.
2. Click **Connect Gmail**. If Gmail is already connected, the button reads **Review my inbox**.
3. Sign in to Google in your browser and allow access.

Pencel checks that it can read your inbox, reviews up to 20 recent unread messages and opens `# mailroom` while it works.

You can also start from Home's **Connect your email** card (**Connect Google**), or install from **Programs ▸ + New program**, where this Program's button reads **Use this program**. If the room can't read Gmail yet, it asks you to connect it with a **Connect** button.

## How it sorts your mail

After each review, the room's wall lists what needs you as cards, in two groups:

* **Reply needed**: someone is waiting for an answer from you.
* **Decision or action**: something you need to decide or do.

Everything else is cleared into a short digest, grouped by why:

| Cleared as | What it means |
|---|---|
| **Already resolved** | The matter is already taken care of. |
| **Already answered** | The thread already has its reply. |
| **Duplicate** | Another message says the same thing. |
| **Worth knowing** | Useful to see, with nothing to do. |
| **Newsletters and promotions** | Marketing and subscriptions. |
| **Untrusted source instruction** | The message contains instructions aimed at Pencel. Pencel doesn't follow them. |
| **Routine mail** | Anything else that needs nothing from you. |

Pencel puts people who are waiting on you and real deadlines ahead of promotional urgency. It won't assume an invoice was paid just because its due date has passed.

## Reply to a message

1. Open a card under **Needs you**. If Pencel needs a fact from you first, it asks under **What I need from you**. Answer and click **Send answers**, and it rewrites the reply.
2. Read the **Prepared reply**. Edit it right in the box.
3. Click **Send email**.
4. Check the **Send this exact reply?** window. It shows who it's from and to, the subject and the exact text. It sends one plain-text reply, with no attachments.
5. Click **Send email & next**.

Pencel checks the thread again just before sending, sends from your Gmail, and then marks the original message read. The card then says **Sent and marked read in Gmail.** If Gmail can't confirm the delivery, the card tells you to check your Sent folder. It never sends the same reply twice.

## Other things you can do with a card

| Button | What it does |
|---|---|
| **Mark handled** | Records that you've dealt with it. |
| **Open in Gmail** | Opens the thread in your browser. |
| **Add to To-Do** | Adds it to your [To-dos](/concepts/todos). |
| **Later** | **Remind me tomorrow** adds a to-do due tomorrow. **Defer without a task** just sets it aside. |
| **Teach Pencel** | **This is important to me**, **This does not need me**, or **Save to Knowledge**. |

## Mark routine mail as read

Cleared messages come with a **Mark N read** button. Pencel always asks first and shows you the exact messages it will change.

* Marking read only removes Gmail's Unread label. Nothing is archived, deleted or sent.
* Messages you mark read won't come back in later unread scans.
* **Keep unread** leaves a message out.
* **Undo mark read** puts the Unread label back.

::: tip Don't see Mark read?
Google connections made before this feature need to be reconnected once. Go to **Settings ▸ Connections**, find Google Workspace and reconnect it.
:::

## Scan your inbox

Use the **Scan inbox** menu at the top of the room:

* **Scan new since last scan** reviews every inbox message newer than your last scan, read or unread, up to 200.
* **Run full inbox scan** works through your inbox from newest to oldest, read or unread, up to 500.
* **Resume saved scan** continues a scan that stopped partway. Progress is saved as it goes.

A scan never sends anything or changes your mailbox.

## Background checks

Once Gmail is connected and Pencel has confirmed it can read it, background checks turn on by themselves. Every 30 minutes, Pencel looks for new unread mail.

* **Nothing new?** It stays quiet. A check that finds no new mail uses no credits.
* **New mail?** It reviews it, posts what it found in the room, and finishes any reply drafts it started. It never sends.

To change this, open room settings (click the room's name) and go to **Schedule**. Under **Work in the background**, choose every 15 minutes, 30 minutes, hour or 4 hours, or once a day at a set time. **Check now** runs a check right away, and the switch turns checks off.

Background checks run only while Pencel is open and your computer is awake. See [Run work on a schedule](/guides/scheduling-automation).

## Teach it what matters

* **Use Teach Pencel** on a card to say whether that kind of message matters to you.
* **Give standing rules in the room.** For example "anything from my accountant always needs me" or "vendor newsletters are routine". The room confirms with "Saved as a standing rule" and follows it in every review. Click **Edit rules** to change them.
* **Write instructions.** In room settings, **About ▸ Instructions** takes one rule per line.

## What it never does

* **It never sends an email on its own.** A reply goes out only when you press **Send email** and confirm the exact text.
* **It never deletes or archives mail.** The only change it makes in Gmail is removing the Unread label, after a reply you sent or when you confirm **Mark read**.
* **It never follows instructions written inside an email.**
* **It never sends attachments.**

## Related

* [Ready-made Programs](/programs/)
* [Programs and rooms](/concepts/programs)
* [Google Workspace](/integrations/google-workspace)
* [Review and approve work](/guides/reviewing-and-approving)
* [To-dos](/concepts/todos)