Natural Language Email Search with AI

The Problem

You know an email exists somewhere in your inbox, but you can't remember the exact subject line, sender, or keywords. Traditional search requires precise terms, and you end up scrolling through hundreds of results or giving up entirely.

The Workflow

Step 1: Describe What You're Looking For

Instead of guessing keywords, describe the email in natural language.

Prompt to use:

Find the email where someone sent me the contract for the
office renovation project. I think it was sometime last month.

Step 2: Review Search Results

Claude will search your email using contextual understanding, not just keyword matching.

Example output:

Found 2 potential matches:

1. FROM: contractor@buildingco.com
   Subject: "Signed contract - Office renovation project"
   Date: December 15, 2025
   Preview: "Please find attached the signed contract for..."
   Attachment: renovation_contract.pdf

2. FROM: legal@company.com
   Subject: "FW: Contract review needed"
   Date: December 10, 2025
   Preview: "Here's the contract from the contractor that..."

Step 3: Get More Details

Once you find the right email, ask for specific information.

Prompt to use:

Show me the full content of the first email and tell me
what the key terms in the contract attachment are.

Step 4: Search by Context

You can also search based on what was discussed, not just when or who.

Prompt examples:

Find the email where we discussed the budget increase for Q3

Show me emails about the server outage from last Tuesday

Find the email with the flight confirmation for my trip to London

Where's the email with the login credentials for the new system?

Step 5: Narrow Down Results

If you get too many results, add context to refine.

Prompt to use:

The contract email I'm looking for specifically mentioned
a $50,000 budget and was from an external vendor, not internal.

Expected Result

Finding emails becomes as easy as asking a colleague. No more struggling with search operators or scrolling through irrelevant results. You describe what you need, and AI finds it.

Tools Used

This workflow uses the Mail toolbox:

Tool	Purpose
mail_search_messages	Find emails by criteria
mail_get_messages	Read full email content

Tips

• Include time context ("last week", "around Christmas") to narrow results
• Mention unique details you remember (amounts, names, specific phrases)
• If you remember the attachment type, mention it (PDF, spreadsheet, image)

Related Workflows

• Newsletter Summarization - Find and summarize specific newsletters
• Bulk Email Organization - Find and organize similar emails