I used Google Gemini to declutter my Gmail account — here's how you can do it too

1. Sign in to Gmail

If you’re a frequent Gmail user you’re probably already signed in. But if not, head to Gmail’s website and enter your email and password.

To ensure greater privacy while entering your credentials, you can turn on your VPN before logging in, but this step is optional.

2. Turn on Gemini

At the time of writing, using Gemini for Gmail is not free. You will either need to pay for an AI Premium Plan or take out the one-month free trial that Google offers.

How do you know if you already have access to Gemini? Clicking on Gemini’s star-shaped logo lets you immediately ask Gemini for help. Otherwise you will need to start a free trial or upgrade your account.

3. Summarize an email thread

If you’ve been away from your inbox for a while, what started as a simple request with a few people in copy may have snowballed into a long email thread. Here’s where Gemini can come in to help save the day. Instead of having to painstakingly go through each email that was sent, why not ask for a quick summary and a note about the current status of the discussion?

Simply click on the email thread you want to summarize and click on Ask Gemini. In the prompt box say something along the lines of:  Can you create a summary of this email thread please?

4. Show unread emails

As most Gmail users know, the number of unread emails in your inbox can easily add up. Using Gemini you can get help from AI to filter through unread emails. You can specify which label Gemini should look through or you can specify a topic.

5. Draft emails

Another way to take charge of your inbox is by sending and replying to emails as quickly as possible so that you can move on to other tasks on your to-do list.

To ask Gemini to draft your email,  either start composing a new one or click to reply to one you already received. A clickable message that reads “Help me write” should appear or alternatively you can use the keyboard shortcut Alt + h.

Both options will make Gemini’s prompt box appear. Here you can enter a prompt to give instructions about what you’d like your email to look like.

6. Find your next appointment

Did you receive an email with the details of an appointment that you forgot to add to your calendar? You can now ask Gemini to fish out the details for you.

For example, you can use the Gemini prompt:  Search through my emails, when is my next dental appointment?

Gemini will then look through your inbox and give you the answer.

7. Add events to your calendar

To avoid missing any invitations that come in the form of an email rather than a calendar invite, you can ask Gemini to log the invitation for you.

To do so, click on the email containing the invite and use a prompt similar to: Create an event in my calendar based on this email.