How to give ChatGPT or Claude access to your emails

A lot of working knowledge arrives by email: a client’s approval of a quote, the terms a landlord agreed to, a supplier’s change to delivery times, a long thread that ended in a decision. When you want ChatGPT or Claude to help draft a reply or check what was agreed, the relevant emails are usually buried in an inbox that the AI tool can’t see, mixed in with newsletters and notifications.

This guide covers how people currently get emails into an AI chat, and two ways to make your emails available to ChatGPT or Claude through Fabric: forwarding the messages you want to keep, and connecting Gmail or Outlook.

How people usually get emails into ChatGPT or Claude

Copying and pasting is the default. You open the thread, select the text, paste it into a chat and ask for a summary or a reply. That’s quick for one thread. Long threads with quoted replies get messy, attachments have to be downloaded and uploaded separately, and the pasted text sits in that one conversation.

ChatGPT and Claude both offer ways to connect an email account directly so the model can search your inbox. For people whose important mail lives in one account, that can be enough. Those with a work account, a personal account and a shared inbox may find the answer depends on which one they connected, and the emails stay separate from the documents and notes they relate to.

Some people forward important emails to themselves or into a notes app to keep them handy. That collects them in one spot, and they’re still apart from the AI tool unless copied across again. How to stop emailing files to yourself looks at that habit.

Step 1: Forward the emails you want to keep

Fabric gives you an email address for saving to Fabric. Forward an email, an attachment or a note to it, and it’s saved in your library. It only accepts mail from your verified Fabric account address, and on a team you can approve extra sender addresses.

Forwarding works from any email client on any device, which makes it a good fit for the emails that carry decisions or agreements: a signed-off quote, a confirmation of terms, a thread you’ll need to refer back to. Add a comment or tags in Fabric afterward if the subject line doesn’t explain why it matters.

A light habit works well here. Forward the emails you’d want to find in six months: approvals, agreements, confirmations, and anything with an attachment you’ll need again. Newsletters and notifications can stay in the inbox.

Attachments can be forwarded the same way, so a PDF contract or a spreadsheet that arrives by email can sit in the same library as the thread it belongs to. How to save email bills and receipts automatically shows a routine for recurring mail.

Step 2: Connect Gmail or Outlook for wider search

For your whole inbox, connect Gmail or Outlook. Go to the Fabric marketplace, choose the app, click Install, sign in and grant permissions on the screen that appears, and Fabric confirms the connection when you’re sent back. Connections need a paid plan.

Once connected, Fabric’s own search and AI assistant can reach your mail. Click inside the knowledge search panel on the right of the search screen (or the bottom drawer on mobile) to search Fabric and your connected apps together, and ask follow-up questions there.

Step 3: Add Fabric to ChatGPT or Claude

The Fabric MCP server is at https://mcp.api.fabric.so/mcp. Signing in uses OAuth, and setting it up takes under a minute.

Claude: add Fabric from Claude’s official connector directory, or open Settings, then Connectors, in Claude Desktop, add a custom connector with a name and the server URL, and follow the sign-in prompts.

ChatGPT: open Settings, go to Connectors, choose Add Connector, enter the URL and a name, and save. Start a new conversation, click More, choose Add Connectors, select Fabric, and sign in.

If sign-in fails, remove the server from the AI tool and add it back.

Step 4: Ask about your emails alongside everything else

With Fabric connected, ChatGPT or Claude can search your Fabric library and read the emails you’ve forwarded there, along with the attachments and documents around them. Ask: “Search Fabric for the email where Harbor Design approved the revised quote and tell me what price they agreed to,” or “Find the emails I saved from our landlord this year and list every repair they committed to.”

Because emails sit in the same library as your files, questions can combine them. Ask the AI tool to compare what a client agreed in an email with the scope in the proposal document, then draft a follow-up.

The AI tool can also create notes and tasks in Fabric, so the commitments it finds in a thread can become tasks with the email close by. Items it creates count against your Fabric storage and AI usage. For finding mail later, see how to find an old email attachment fast.

Frequently asked questions

Can ChatGPT read my emails?

Through Fabric, ChatGPT can search and read emails you’ve saved to your Fabric library, once Fabric is added as a connector.

How do I save an email to Fabric?

Forward it to your Fabric email address from your verified account address. You can forward attachments and notes the same way.

Does Fabric connect to Gmail and Outlook?

Yes. Install the Gmail or Outlook connection from the Fabric marketplace. Connections need a paid plan.

Can my team forward emails to the same Fabric account?

Yes. You can approve extra sender addresses, so teammates can forward mail into Fabric too.

Can Claude draft a reply using emails saved in Fabric?

Yes. Ask Claude to read the saved thread from Fabric and draft a reply, then copy the draft into your email client to send it.

Can I search my inbox and my files at the same time?

Yes. With Gmail or Outlook connected, the knowledge search panel and the AI assistant in Fabric search Fabric and your connected apps together.

Do I need an API key to connect Fabric to Claude?

No. Fabric uses OAuth, so you approve access in the browser.

Which parts of this need a paid plan?

Gmail and Outlook connections need a paid plan, as do all connections to other apps; pricing lists what each plan includes.

Which other AI tools can use my saved emails?

Any MCP client that supports remote HTTP servers, including Claude Code, Codex, Cursor and VS Code with Copilot, using the same server URL.