Help/Action Items, Highlights & FYIs/What Action Items are and how they're created

What Action Items are and how they're created

Short answer

Action Items are the tasks an email needs from you, like a contract to sign or a reply someone is waiting on. Your secretary reads each message as it is processed, writes the task in plain language, adds a due date and reminders when there is one, and can attach two or three suggested replies.

What an Action Item is

An Action Item is something an email actually needs from you. A contract waiting on a signature, a question a colleague needs answered, an invoice due before a date. Anything that sits in your inbox as a task is an Action Item, separate from the things you only need to know about.

Each one has a plain-language title and a short summary so you can tell what it wants without opening the original message. When the email mentions a deadline, the Action Item carries an optional due date and can remind you before it arrives. When a response is expected, your secretary attaches two or three suggested replies you can pick from and edit.

How they get created

You don't have to do anything to create Action Items. They appear on their own as your mail is processed.

1

A new email comes in. Once you've connected an inbox, MailOver picks up new mail in near real time on Gmail and on a short poll for Outlook and IMAP.

2

Your secretary reads it and decides what kind of message it is. If the email needs something from you, it becomes an Action Item. If it's just worth knowing, it becomes a Highlight or an FYI instead.

Action Items
Sign the renewal contract from Acme
They need the signed copy back before the quote expires.
Due Fri
3

It lands in your Action Items tab. New items are grouped by day, with any due date and suggested replies attached. Open one to read the summary, send a reply, or jump to the original email.

Suggested replies and reminders

When an Action Item needs an answer, your secretary drafts a few ready-to-send replies so you're not staring at a blank box. Each one has a short label and a full body, and they get closer to your own tone over time. You pick one, edit it if you want, then send it through your connected account. Reply drafts have a daily limit by plan, not a credit cost.

If the email mentions a deadline, the due date comes with a reminder so the task resurfaces before it's late. You can change or clear the due date any time, which is covered in Complete, snooze, or edit an Action Item.

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