/email - Email Capture and Draft Skill

Purpose

Capture emails into the vault as structured Email notes, linking them to projects, people, tasks, systems, and data assets. Also supports drafting outbound emails with context from the vault.

Usage

/email                          # Process email from clipboard/pasted content
/email draft <topic>            # Draft a new email using vault context
/email capture                  # Manually capture and process an email
/email thread <subject>         # Find all emails in a conversation thread

Email Direction Types

Email Purpose Categories (GTD-inspired)

Capture Mode (/email or /email capture)

When user pastes email content:

1. •

   Extract metadata automatically:

   • •Subject line
   • •From (sender email/name)
   • •To (recipient list)
   • •CC (if present)
   • •Date and time
   • •Thread references (Re:, Fwd:)
2. •

   Identify relationships:

   • •Search vault for matching Person notes by email address or name
   • •Identify project context from keywords or explicit mentions
   • •Detect related systems or data assets mentioned
   • •Check for existing thread (matching subject line with Re:/Fwd:)
3. •

   Classify the email:

   • •Determine direction: inbound or outbound
   • •Assess purpose: action-required, waiting, fyi, reference, decision
   • •Set priority based on urgency indicators
4. •

   Extract actionable items:

   • •Identify any tasks or action items mentioned
   • •Offer to create Task notes linked to this email
   • •Note any deadlines mentioned
5. •

   Create the Email note:

   • •Filename: Email - <from/to> - <subject>.md (truncate if too long)
   • •Location: Root directory
   • •Populate frontmatter with extracted metadata
   • •Fill Content section with email body
   • •Add Key Points summary
   • •Link to identified Person, Project, System, DataAsset notes

Example Frontmatter Output

type: Email
title: "Project Alpha Data Access Request"
created: 2026-01-26
modified: 2026-01-26
tags: [project/alpha, domain/data, activity/communication]

# Email Metadata
subject: "Re: Project Alpha Data Access Request"
from: "[[John Smith]]"
to: ["user@example.com"]
cc: ["[[Jane Doe]]"]
date: 2026-01-24
time: "14:32"

# Direction & Purpose
direction: inbound
purpose: action-required
originalEmailId: null

# Relationships
project: "[[Project - Alpha]]"
person: "[[John Smith]]"
relatedTo: ["[[ADR - Data Integration]]"]
thread: "[[Email - Alex Thompson - Project Alpha Data Access Request]]"
createdTasks: ["[[Task - Respond to data access request]]"]
relatedSystems: ["[[System - Data Platform]]", "[[System - ERP]]"]
relatedDataAssets: []

# Status
status: processed
priority: high

# Quality
summary: "Request for data access credentials to Data Platform staging environment for testing"
keywords: [data-access, staging, credentials]

Draft Mode (/email draft <topic>)

Purpose

Generate draft email content using context from the vault.

Process

1. •

   Gather context:

   • •Search vault for notes related to the topic
   • •Find relevant ADRs, decisions, project status
   • •Identify key stakeholders from Person notes
   • •Check recent meetings on the topic
2. •

   Generate draft:

   • •Create appropriate greeting
   • •Structure email with clear purpose statement
   • •Include relevant facts from vault context
   • •Add clear call-to-action or next steps
   • •Professional closing
3. •

   Create Email note with status: draft:

   • •Pre-populate frontmatter
   • •Include generated content in Content section
   • •Mark any facts that need verification
4. •

   Present to user for review:

   • •Show the draft
   • •Highlight sources used
   • •Ask for any modifications

Example Draft Command

/email draft Project Alpha status update to Sarah Chen

Would:

1. •Search for Project - Alpha notes
2. •Find recent meetings and decisions
3. •Look up Sarah Chen in People
4. •Generate professional status update email
5. •Create Email - Alex Thompson - Project Alpha Status Update.md

Thread Mode (/email thread <subject>)

Purpose

Find and display all emails in a conversation thread.

Process

1. •Search for Email notes matching subject (with/without Re:/Fwd: prefix)
2. •Order chronologically
3. •Display thread summary with key points from each
4. •Offer to create a Page summarising the thread

File Naming Convention

If subject is too long, truncate to 50 characters.

Tags to Apply

Always include:

• •At least one project/ or domain/ tag
• •activity/communication

Optional:

• •status/action-required (if urgent)
• •audience/executive (if to senior leadership)

Integration with Outlook MCP

If Outlook MCP is available, the skill can:

• •Read emails directly from inbox
• •Send drafted emails after user approval
• •Search for related emails in Outlook

Using Outlook MCP

// Read recent unread emails
mcp__outlook - mcp__outlook_mail({ operation: "unread", limit: 10 });

// Search for emails about a topic
mcp__outlook - mcp__outlook_mail({ operation: "search", searchTerm: "Alpha" });

// Send after approval
mcp__outlook -
  mcp__outlook_mail({
    operation: "send",
    to: "recipient@example.com",
    subject: "Subject",
    body: "Email content",
  });

Two-Minute Rule Implementation

When processing emails:

1. •

   Can it be handled in < 2 minutes?

   • •YES: Handle immediately, archive email
   • •NO: Create Task note linked to email
2. •

   Is it waiting for someone else?

   • •YES: Set purpose to waiting, create follow-up Task with due date
   • •NO: Continue processing
3. •

   Is it just for reference?

   • •YES: Set purpose to reference, ensure good keywords for search
   • •NO: Determine specific action required

Archive Pattern

When archiving processed emails:

archived: true
archivedDate: 2026-01-26
archivedReason: "Processed and no longer active"

Move to: Archive/Emails/ (create folder if needed)

Example Workflow

User pastes:

From: john.smith@example.com
To: user@example.com
Date: 24 Jan 2026 14:32
Subject: Re: Project Alpha Data Access Request

Hi,

Following our meeting yesterday, I need access to the Data Platform staging environment to begin testing the data integration. Could you raise a request with the data platform team?

The specific datasets we need are:
- Maintenance history (last 12 months)
- Parts inventory current state

Timeline: We need this by end of next week for sprint planning.

Thanks,
John

Claude processes and creates:

File: Email - John Smith - Project Alpha Data Access Request.md

Actions offered:

1. •Create Task: "Raise Data Platform staging access request for Alpha"
2. •Link to existing: [[Project - Alpha]], [[John Smith]], [[System - Data Platform]]
3. •Set priority: high (due to deadline)
4. •Add to thread if previous email exists

Quality Checklist

Before completing email capture:

• • Subject extracted correctly
• • Sender linked to Person note (or created)
• • Project identified and linked
• • Purpose category assigned
• • Action items extracted
• • Keywords populated for search
• • Summary written

Error Handling

• •No sender found: Prompt for name, offer to create Person note
• •No project match: Ask user to specify or leave null
• •Ambiguous thread: Present options to user
• •Long email: Summarise key points, store full text in Content

Related Skills

• •/meeting - For meeting notes (emails may reference meetings)
• •/task - For creating tasks from email action items
• •/person - For creating person notes from new contacts