How to Automatically Forward Gmail Messages to Slack

To automatically forward Gmail messages to Slack, connect the Gmail account, connect Slack, then choose the channel that should receive the mail. Each matching message posts to that channel as it arrives, and the work happens in the thread.

That thread is a real one. The email arrived in the work inbox, InboxPilot posted it with a draft, and the replies in Slack did the rest: rewrite the draft to ask for an order number, send it after a yes, and add a pricing label.

The clicks below are the ones in InboxPilot (we make it). A Gmail filter that forwards to a Slack channel address is a different setup, covered in the Slack email integration guide. The Free plan includes 25 conversations a month, as of 2026-09-27. Pricing lists the rest.

Connect Gmail

Open Connect & settings in the sidebar.

The page says No accounts connected yet. Click Connect your first account, choose Gmail, and approve the access Google asks for. The address then shows on this page.

Give InboxPilot access to Slack

Open Integrations.

On the Slack card, click Connect and approve InboxPilot for the Slack workspace. That is the access grant. Slack asks you to allow the app, and after you do, the card shows a green dot and Manage, which is the state in the screenshot. If Manage is already there, access is already granted.

Private channels you belong to show in the channel list after you reconnect Slack. Invite @InboxPilot into a private channel, or email will not arrive there.

Choose the Slack channel

Open Automations and click Post email to a channel on the Slack card.

The dialog is titled Post email to Slack. It opens on a channel dropdown. Search it when the workspace has a long list.

Pick the channel. Save stays grey until one is selected. A private channel InboxPilot is not in yet is marked Invite @InboxPilot. Add another action when a different set of mail should go to a different channel.

One connected Gmail is the inbox this channel receives, so there is no inbox picker. With two or more inboxes, an Inboxes row appears here and you can limit which addresses post.

Choose which Gmail messages to forward

Pick the channel, then set the rule on the same dialog and click Save.

All new email posts the whole inbox. Only some is the other choice: type the rule in the box. A useful rule looks like "Refund requests, or anything from a VIP account." If the inbox has labels, a label list appears under the box.

Work the email from Slack, on by default, lets a reply in the Slack thread edit the draft, send it, forward it, archive it, or label it. Chat between teammates is ignored. Off, Slack only receives the post.

Keep track of who has it, also on by default, keeps each email open until someone reacts with 👀 to take it or ✅ to close it. Writing "on it" or "done" counts too.

Reminders and a summary is closed unless you open it. Inside it: remind the channel if nobody takes the email, and post a summary of what is still open. Leave both off when the only job is to forward the mail.

Click Save. An empty rule is refused, with the message "Choose all new email, or describe which emails to post."

Check that the Gmail message arrived in Slack

Send a new email that matches the rule to the connected Gmail, from an address other than that inbox. The thread at the top of this page is that test: a refund request sent from a personal Gmail to the work inbox.

The channel post names the sender and the subject, with Open email. The draft is the first reply. From there the thread is the control:

1. "ask them for their order number" rewrote the draft in place.
2. "ok send it" did not send yet. InboxPilot asked for a yes in the thread, and named the recipient and the inbox the reply would leave from. "yes" sent it.
3. "can you label that email pricing" added the label. The message already had a refund label, so both stayed on.

A message that was already in Gmail before you clicked Save is not the test. Send a fresh one.

When a Gmail filter is enough

Use a Gmail filter when the team only needs to see certain emails in Slack and will still answer them in Gmail. Slack can give a channel its own email address (Automations, Send emails to this channel, Get Email Address). You add that address under Gmail's Forwarding and POP/IMAP, confirm it from the message that lands in the channel, then create a filter with Forward it to. The steps, and the paid-Slack-plan requirement for that address, are in the Slack email integration guide.

Zapier, Make, and Power Automate can post a formatted message too. They bill by the run, and a reply from Slack needs a second automation that writes back into the Gmail thread. For the wider set of ways to automate the inbox itself, see how to automate Gmail.

Why the Gmail message never shows in Slack

The rule matches nothing. Only some is selected and the box is empty, or the words are narrower than the email you sent. Save is refused until you choose All new email or describe which emails. If it did save, send a message that obviously fits the sentence you typed.

You needed a second rule. Add another action. It can post to a different channel, or to the same channel with a different rule. An email that matches two actions for one channel is posted there once.

The channel is private and @InboxPilot is not in it. It can appear in the dropdown. Invite the app in Slack or the post will not arrive. If private channels are missing, reconnect Slack from Integrations.

Slack is disconnected. On Integrations, the card should show a green dot and Manage. If access was revoked, connect it again. Channel rules stay.

You tested with old mail. Send a new message to the connected Gmail after Save, from an account other than that inbox if the rule is about incoming customer mail.