Create an automation
Build an automation as cards: what starts it, its conditions, then its actions. Once activated, it runs on its own.
Updated November 4, 2026
On this page
What you'll need
- An InboxBriefs account.
- In a team space: be an admin, or have the Manage rules right.
Create the automation
- In the side menu, open Automations.
- Click Create an automation.
- Under What starts it?, pick what triggers it, for example New email.
- To keep only some cases, click Add a condition: Only continue if the email subject contains “invoice”, for instance.
- Click Add an action, then pick it: Create a task, with its project, owner and due date.
- Read the In plain words sentence above the cards, then click Activate.
Add an “Otherwise” branch
A condition splits the automation in two: when it's true, the actions under Then; when it isn't, the ones under Otherwise. By default it's Otherwise, do nothing.; click Do something else to add actions there. With several criteria, pick All criteria or At least one.
When it acts
- On an email: the assistant applies it to every email received, every 15 minutes on paid plans, otherwise when the summary is made.
- On a task: as soon as it happens, once the Undo window has passed.
- On a date: at the set time, in the space's time zone.
- On the chat: the assistant reads the conversation and suggests; nothing is created without a click.
Every trigger and action in detail: Triggers, conditions and AI steps.
Faster: describe it to the assistant
At the top of the My automations tab, write what you want in Describe an automation to the assistant…, then click Create with the assistant: the assistant builds the cards for you. See Templates and automations written by the assistant.
In a team space, only admins and members with the Manage rules right change automations; everyone else sees them read-only.
Instructions in one sentence
In the Instructions tab, click Add an instruction: give it a Name, then fill in If… and Then… (optional); they write the instruction, which you can still edit. The assistant applies it to your emails; in a team space, an “If… then…” instruction also applies to the chat.
An automation on a single mailbox is created in the Integrations tab: Add an automation on that mailbox's card. It stays filed under its mailbox. Above it, the Built in automations are already on: the morning summary, sorting by priority, tasks and appointments in the calendar, follow-ups; switch off the ones you don't want.
Related articles
- Triggers, conditions and AI stepsWhat can start an automation, what it can check, what it can do, and how the AI works inside it.
- Templates and automations written by the assistantStart from a ready-made template, or describe the automation in one sentence: the assistant builds the cards and asks what's missing.
- Run history, pause and “Undo”See what each automation did, pause it in one click, and take back a move before it acts.
- AI creditsWhat uses a credit, what never does, how many each plan gives and when they come back.
Didn't find your answer?
Write to us: we answer by email.