Gmail

What is Gmail?

Gmail is where most people's email lives, and where a surprising amount of everything else ends up too: decisions made in a thread, an address someone sent you, the detail you agreed on months ago and never wrote down anywhere else. The trouble is that it's all sealed inside the inbox. To find something you have to be in Gmail, and you have to remember a word that was in the message. This connection brings your emails into Fabric so they turn up in the same search as the rest of what you've saved.

What you get when you connect Gmail

Connecting Gmail to Fabric means your email stops being a separate place you have to go and search on its own. Your messages become findable from your Fabric library, by subject, body, or sender, alongside your files, notes, and anything from your other connections. The thing you half-remember reading is one search away, whether it turned out to be in an email, a document, or a note you wrote.

One search across your email and everything else

The point of the connection is that you stop having to remember which silo something lived in. Was that figure in an email, a PDF, or a meeting note? Instead of checking each app in turn, you search once in Fabric and see results from across all of them, your Gmail messages included.

This is search and retrieval: Fabric finds your emails by their text, the subject, the body, the sender, and brings them together with the rest of your library. It's a lighter connection than ones like Google Drive or Notion, where Fabric reads deeply into the content and searches by meaning. With Gmail, the win is having your email in the same searchable place as everything else, rather than walled off on its own.

Reach your emails through the assistant

Because your messages sit in your Fabric library, you can reach them through the AI assistant as well: ask it to find an email or point you to the right one across your inbox and everything else you've saved. It works as a way into your email rather than a deep reader of it. Your mail stays in Gmail; the connection makes it findable from the same place as the rest of your work.

How people use it

Founders and operators keep half their decisions in email and connect Gmail so the thread where something was agreed turns up next to the doc and the notes it relates to, instead of being lost in the inbox.

Researchers and writers get sources, leads, and correspondence by email and bring it into Fabric so a message sits in the same search as their reading and notes. It fits a longer research workflow.

Freelancers and consultants keep client conversations in email and use Fabric to find what was said about a project without digging back through the inbox thread by thread.

Students get course logistics and feedback by email and connect Gmail so it's searchable alongside their notes and readings, as part of a wider study system.

Frequently asked questions

What does the Gmail connection do?

It brings your Gmail messages into Fabric so they're searchable alongside everything else you've saved. Instead of searching your inbox in one app and your files and notes in another, you find your emails in the same place as the rest of your library.

Can I search my emails from Fabric?

Yes. Once connected, your Gmail messages are findable in Fabric's search by subject, body, and sender, together with your files, notes, and other saved content.

Does Fabric read deeply into my email or understand it by meaning?

No. The Gmail connection is search and retrieval: it finds your messages by their text rather than reading deeply into them. The fuller content understanding and search-by-meaning apply to connections that index more deeply, like Google Drive and Notion.

Does connecting Gmail change anything in my inbox?

No. Your email stays in Gmail exactly as it is. The connection makes your messages findable from Fabric; it doesn't move, delete, or alter anything in your inbox.

Is my email data secure in Fabric?

Everything in Fabric is encrypted in transit and at rest, with AES-256 encryption on stored content. You can read the specifics in the privacy and security guide and Fabric's privacy commitment.

Can the AI assistant work with my emails?

The assistant can help you find your emails and point you to the right one, since they sit in your Fabric library. It's a way into your email rather than a deep reader of it; the fuller content understanding applies to connections that index more deeply.

How is this different from Gmail's own search?

Gmail's search looks only within Gmail, so you have to be in your inbox and remember a word from the message. Fabric searches your emails together with everything else you've saved, in one place, so a single search spans your mail, your files, and your notes at once.

What is the difference between the Gmail and Google Drive connections?

The Google Drive connection reads deeply into your files, indexing their contents and searching them by meaning, and lets you edit them from inside Fabric. The Gmail connection is lighter: search and retrieval, so your messages are findable by their text alongside the rest of your library. They work well together, since Gmail and Drive often hold two halves of the same project.

Does Fabric work with other tools alongside Gmail?

Yes. Gmail is one of many connections. You can also bring in Google Drive, Dropbox, and Notion, and search across all of them together.

Why connect Gmail to Fabric instead of just searching my inbox?

Because so much of what you look for isn't only in your inbox. The answer might be in an email, or it might be in a file or a note, and you don't always remember which. Connecting Gmail puts your email in the same search as everything else, so you look once instead of guessing which app to open.