Automation guide
How to Automate Email Management with n8n
Triage inbox, draft replies, extract action items, and route messages to the right team member or system.
The problem
Knowledge workers spend 2.6 hours/day on email. Most of it is routing, reading, and drafting replies to predictable requests.
The outcome
Inbox zero maintained automatically. Important emails escalated with full context. Routine requests handled without reading.
The tool
n8n — Open-source workflow automation with a visual builder.
How it works — step by step
- 1
New email arrives in monitored inbox
- 2
AI classifies intent and urgency
- 3
Routine emails: auto-reply drafted and queued for approval
- 4
Complex emails: summarised and routed with full context to right team
About n8n
Open-source workflow automation with a visual builder. Self-hostable, 400+ integrations, and AI-native with LLM nodes.
Strengths
- ✓ Self-hostable
- ✓ 400+ integrations
- ✓ AI nodes built-in
- ✓ Code when needed
Ready-made n8n templates
Related guides
Want this in production?
Altor builds email management automation for US B2B companies.
We don't hand off code and disappear. We connect to your live systems, ship to production in 3 weeks, and stay until the system delivers measurable impact. Inbox zero maintained automatically. Important emails escalated with full context. Routine requests handled without reading.
Email us your workflow →