Triage an overflowing inbox

This prompt helps you clear an overloaded inbox. You paste subject lines and first sentences, and it sorts the emails into four groups so you know what to answer first.

text-inbox-triage — chatgpt — 54 words

I have [NUMBER] unread emails. Here are the subject lines and first sentences:

[PASTE LIST]

Sort them into four groups: reply today, reply this week, delegate or forward, and archive or ignore. For each "reply today" email, give a one-line suggested response. End with a 20-minute plan for clearing the most important ones first.

Edit in the builder Copy & open ChatGPT ↗Copy & open Gemini ↗Copy & open Claude ↗

Paste only subject lines and the first sentence of each email to keep private details out of the chat.

Get a better result

What you will get

Your emails sorted into reply today, reply this week, delegate or forward, and archive or ignore, with a one-line suggested reply for each reply-today email and a 20-minute plan for clearing the most important ones.

Common mistake

A genuinely urgent email lands in the wrong group.

Fix: Put your top two priorities for the day above the list. The AI only knows what matters to you if you say so.

Also watch for

The suggested replies promise things you cannot do. Ask “suggested replies must not promise dates or decisions; use ‘I will check and reply by Friday’ instead”, and edit before sending.
Subject lines alone hide the real question. Add the first sentence for any that look unclear, as the tip says, and mark which ones come from your manager or a client. The sender affects priority.

Try a variation: weekly clear-out

On Friday, paste the leftover list and ask “which of these can I safely archive without reading, and why?”. A weekly sweep keeps the inbox small.

Still not right? Reply with this

Move anything from my manager or a client to reply today, make each suggested reply one line, and promise no dates.