Email and Inbox Management

Overview

Espa helps keep your inbox organized and manageable by automatically tagging incoming messages, drafting replies, and supporting custom email labeling rules through Memories.

These tools work together to help you stay on top of email with less manual sorting and less back-and-forth.

Incoming email tags

Espa tags incoming emails into the following categories:

  • Needs Reply (Orange): requires a response from you
  • Needs Action (Yellow): requires a task, follow-up, or real-world work before a reply can be completed
  • FYI (Green): informational only
  • Other (Grey): low-priority or uncategorized

Outgoing email tags

Espa also tags sent conversations so you can quickly see their status:

  • Awaiting Reply (Blue): you are waiting on a response
  • Handled (Purple): the conversation is complete

Drafting

Espa can draft emails on your behalf to help you respond more efficiently.

For Needs Reply emails, Espa automatically prepares a draft response. These drafts are written using your Email Playbook Memory, which helps Espa match your tone, style, and communication patterns.

When drafting, Espa can also:

  • write in your natural voice
  • review past emails with the same recipient for tone and context
  • reference similar emails on the same topic to improve consistency and accuracy

For emails outside the Needs Reply category, you can still ask Espa to draft a response for you manually.

Needs Action emails

Some emails require more than a written reply. For Needs Action emails, Espa may reach out to confirm when or how you want to handle the next step.

For example, Espa may help by:

  • reminding you to complete a task
  • blocking time on your calendar
  • helping you prepare the information needed before a draft is finalized

You can enable or disable proactive outreach for Needs Action emails in Settings > Notifications.

Custom email labeling rules

Espa also supports custom email organization through Email Labeling Rules in Memories.

Alongside its standard email tags, Espa can apply global labels and use your custom categories to organize messages in a way that matches your workflow.

To create or manage custom email labeling rules:

  1. Open Memories in the app
  2. Go to your saved memories
  3. Select Email labeling rules

In Email labeling rules, you’ll see a list of your custom categories along with the global label applied to each one.

For example, you might create categories such as:

  • vendor payments
  • contracts
  • marketing emails
  • high-priority creator partnerships

You can add new categories at any time and review which global label will be applied to emails that match that category.

Your labeling rules can also be updated at any time as your workflow changes.

Editing your drafts

You can edit drafts directly in Gmail or send Espa feedback to revise them for you.

For example, you might say:

  • “Make this more concise.”
  • “Make this friendlier.”
  • “Add a clearer next step.”

This allows you to quickly refine a draft without starting over.