How to turn emails into tasks.
Four ways to get the asks out of an email and into a task list, and what to check before you pick one.
An email that asks for something costs a few minutes whatever it says: you read it, decide who or what it is about, retype the asks as tasks, and copy the dates into a calendar. Do that thirty times a week and it is hours of your week.
There are four ways to cut that down. They differ in how much of the thinking they take over.
Four ways to do it
1. By hand
Read the email, then write the tasks and diary the dates yourself. It is exact and it is slow, and it is the step that gets skipped on a busy day.
2. Forward it to a task tool's address
Asana turns an email you forward to its address into a task assigned to you (for a new email you write, the subject is the name and the body the description). Trello turns it into a card on the board you sent it to, and with its AI switched on it can also pull out a due date and a checklist. In both, one email is one task or card.[1][2]
3. An add-on in your inbox
A Gmail or Outlook add-on can make a task from the email you have open, so you do not have to forward it. In Asana's, for one, you choose the assignee and due date yourself.[1]
4. A tool that reads the email
AI reads the email and drafts the work: which client or project, which tasks, which dates. It can be the fastest of the four, which makes it matter whether you can check the draft before it is saved.
What to check in any of them
Does one email give one task, or several?
Emails often hold several asks. One task per email means you split it yourself, or settle for a checklist inside one task.
Does it find the dates?
A deadline in the body should end up on a calendar, not stay buried in the text.
Does it know whose email it is?
The task should land on the right client or project, so the history stays in one place.
Can you review it before it is saved?
A wrong due date or the wrong client is worse than no task, so a draft you confirm beats one that appears on its own.
What happens to attachments?
A contract or a spreadsheet may hold something that should not be filed carelessly. Check whether it is scanned or just stored.
How it works in Cleo
- Get the email in. Paste it into Log intake, or forward it to your private Cleo address.
- Cleo reads it. With Cleo Pro, it drafts the client or project, a summary, an urgency, the tasks and the dates, and says how sure it is of each.
- You confirm. Edit anything, tick the tasks and dates you want, and confirm. No tasks or dates are saved before that.
- It lands where it belongs. The tasks go on your board, the dates on a calendar you can subscribe to from Google or Apple Calendar, and the email on the client or project's record.
Weighing Cleo against a task tool you already use? See Cleo vs Asana and Cleo vs Trello.
Emails into tasks: common questions
What is the fastest way to turn an email into a task?
Forwarding it to a task tool's address, or using an add-on in your inbox, is quick for a single task. A tool that reads the email is faster when one email holds several asks and dates, because it drafts all of them in one go.
Can AI create tasks from emails?
Yes. Cleo Pro reads an email and drafts the client or project, the tasks and the calendar entries for you to review. Some task tools have started to add AI for this too, so check what the tool you use does today.
Is it safe to let AI file my emails?
It is safer when you stay in the loop. In Cleo no tasks or dates are saved until you confirm the draft, every line can be edited, and Cleo shows how sure it is of the client match. Attachments are scanned, and anything sensitive is flagged before you file it (a Cleo Pro feature).
Do I need Cleo Pro to get emails into Cleo?
No. Forwarding an email works on the free plan, and each email arrives as a draft in your queue. Cleo Pro adds the reading: the client match, the tasks and the dates drafted for you. It is $15 a month for a solo workspace or $12 a seat a month for a team, with a 14-day trial.
Where this comes from
Everything said here about another product comes from the pages below, last read on 1 November 2026. Plans and prices change, so check the source before you decide. Cleo's side comes from Cleo itself. Asana and Trello are trademarks of their owners, and Cleo is not affiliated with either.
Try it on your next email.
The workspace is free, no card. Paste or forward an email and see what Cleo drafts: the drafting is Cleo Pro, free for 14 days with a card. No tasks or dates are saved until you confirm.