TL;DR
Settings → Integrations → Connect next to Gmail or Outlook → authorize access → choose which folders/labels to monitor. Emails matching your rules become tasks automatically, or convert them manually from your inbox.
Connect email to create tasks from it
The Gmail and Outlook integrations turn emails into Milestone tasksautomatically or on demand. Feature requests, bug reports, and client emails can become trackable work items without copy-pasting.
Prerequisites: A Gmail or Outlook (Office 365) account. Workspace admin or integration permission in Milestone.
Why connect email?
Most teams receive dozens of emails daily with action items buried in threads. A client email requesting a feature becomes a task only if someone remembers to create it manually. An important bug report might sit in an inbox until someone has time to copy-paste it into a project management tool. This manual process is slow, error-prone, and causes important items to be forgotten.
Email integration solves this by making email a first-class input for task creation. Important emails can become tasks automatically or with minimal effort. Email context is preserved, so you never lose the original conversation. Email threads stay linked to tasks, maintaining full context throughout the task lifecycle.
For teams managing client communications or support requests, email integration is especially valuable. Client emails become tracked tasks automatically. Support requests get proper project management treatment. Nothing falls through the cracks.
Setting Up Gmail Integration
Connecting Milestone to Gmail uses OAuth for secure authorization. You authorize Milestone to read your emails (it never sends emails without your permission), and the integration can monitor your inbox for emails that should become tasks.
During setup, you choose which email labels or folders to monitor. You might monitor your inbox for all emails, or you might create a specific label like "Action Items" and only monitor emails with that label. This filtering ensures only relevant emails become tasks.
You can configure importance filtering. Emails marked as Important in Gmail can automatically become tasks, while less important emails require manual conversion. This automatic filtering saves time while ensuring urgent items get immediate attention.
Setting Up Outlook Integration
Outlook integration works similarly to Gmail integration. OAuth authorization provides secure access to your Outlook mailbox, and the integration can monitor folders or apply filters to identify emails that should become tasks.
Outlook's folder structure can be used for filtering. You might monitor your Inbox for all emails, or you might monitor specific folders like "Action Items" or "Projects." This folder-based filtering helps organize which emails become tasks.
Outlook's importance flags work like Gmail's Important label. Emails marked as Important can automatically become tasks, while other emails require manual review. This importance-based filtering ensures urgent items get proper project management treatment.
Automatic Email-to-Task Conversion
With automatic conversion enabled, emails matching your criteria become tasks automatically. An email from a specific sender, with a specific subject pattern, or marked as Important can trigger automatic task creation.
Automatic conversion includes AI-powered extraction. The system analyzes email content to extract meaningful task titles and descriptions, not just copy-pasted email text. This intelligent extraction creates useful tasks, not just email dumps.
Email metadata is preserved. The task includes sender information, email date, thread context, and a link back to the original email. This metadata helps you understand task context and reference the original conversation when needed.
Manual Email-to-Task Conversion
Even with automatic conversion, you'll want manual control. When reviewing emails, you can select specific emails and convert them to tasks manually. This gives you control over which emails become tasks and how they're created.
Manual conversion lets you customize task creation. You can edit the task title, add to the description, set priority, assign to team members, and choose which board receives the task. This customization ensures tasks are created with the right information and in the right place.
Batch conversion lets you convert multiple emails at once. Select several related emails and convert them together. This is useful when a single thread contains multiple action items that should become separate tasks.
Email Context in Tasks
When an email becomes a task, the full email context is preserved. The task description includes the email content, sender information, and thread history. This context preservation ensures you never lose important details from the original email.
Email attachments become task attachments automatically. If an email includes screenshots, documents, or other files, these attachments are included in the task. This ensures all relevant information moves from email to task management.
Email threads stay linked. If someone replies to the original email, you can see those replies in the task context. This thread linking maintains conversation context even as work progresses in the project management tool.
Smart Email Filtering
Not every email should become a task. Email integration includes smart filtering to identify emails that are likely action items versus emails that are just informational.
AI-powered analysis examines email content to determine if it contains action items. Emails with clear requests, deadlines, or action-oriented language are flagged for task conversion. Informational emails or newsletters are filtered out automatically.
Sender-based filtering lets you prioritize emails from specific people. Emails from your manager or key clients might automatically become tasks, while emails from mailing lists require manual review. This sender-based prioritization ensures important communications get proper treatment.
Subject line patterns can trigger task creation. Emails with subjects like "Action Required" or "URGENT" might automatically become tasks. This pattern matching helps identify important emails even before reading content.
Email Integration and Workflow Automation
Email integration works with workflow automation to create sophisticated email-to-task workflows. An email from a specific sender can trigger a workflow that creates a task, assigns it to the right person, sets priority, and sends notifications.
Automation can route emails to different boards based on content. Support emails go to the support board. Feature requests go to the product board. Bug reports go to the engineering board. This intelligent routing ensures tasks end up in the right place automatically.
Priority can be set automatically based on email importance or sender. Important emails become high-priority tasks. Emails from key clients become high-priority tasks. This automatic prioritization ensures urgent items get appropriate attention.
Managing Email Integration
Email integration requires some management to work effectively. Understanding integration behavior helps you configure it appropriately.
Review automatic conversions regularly. Check that emails are being converted correctly and that important emails aren't being missed. Adjust filtering criteria based on what you observe.
Clean up failed conversions. Sometimes email conversion fails due to content issues or system errors. Review failed conversions and convert them manually if needed. Understanding failure reasons helps you improve conversion accuracy.
Monitor integration health. Email integrations can break if authorization expires or if email service changes. Regular health checks ensure the integration continues working correctly.
Privacy and Security
Email integration requires access to your email, which raises privacy and security considerations. Understanding these implications helps you use the integration safely.
The integration only reads emails you authorize. You control which email accounts are connected. You can revoke access at any time. This control ensures the integration only accesses emails you're comfortable sharing.
Email content is used only for task creation. Email data isn't used for other purposes or shared with third parties. Understanding data usage helps you make informed decisions about integration use.
OAuth provides secure authorization without password sharing. Your email password is never shared with Milestone. OAuth tokens can be revoked if needed. This secure authorization method protects your email account.
Encrypted email handling ensures email content is protected during processing. Email data is encrypted in transit and at rest, maintaining security throughout the integration process.
Best Practices for Email Integration
Effective email integration follows best practices that maximize benefits while minimizing issues.
Use filtering to reduce noise. Not every email should become a task. Configure filters to identify emails that are likely action items. This reduces task clutter while ensuring important items are captured.
Review automatic conversions. While automatic conversion saves time, review converted tasks to ensure they're created correctly. Adjust conversion criteria based on review results.
Preserve email context. When converting emails manually, include relevant context in task descriptions. This context helps team members understand tasks without referring back to email.
Use labels or folders for organization. If you use Gmail labels or Outlook folders to organize emails, use these for filtering task conversion. This organization helps route emails to the right boards automatically.
Troubleshooting
| Issue | What to try |
|---|---|
| Can't connect Gmail/Outlook | Check you're logged into the correct account. Try clearing cookies or a different browser. Re-authorize from Settings → Integrations. |
| Emails not becoming tasks | Verify automatic conversion rules. Check folder/label selection. Ensure emails match your criteria. |
| Wrong board or missing context | Adjust routing rules. For manual conversion, pick the board when creating the task. |
| Integration disconnected | Reconnect from Settings → Integrations. OAuth tokens can expirere-authorize when prompted. |
Next steps
Connect Slack for task notifications, or set up automations to route email-created tasks to the right assignees.