How to Forward Meeting Emails from Gmail to Slack with Zapier

Gmail > Settings > Labels > Create New Label

Create a Gmail label for meeting emails

Before building the Zap, set up a Gmail label you'll use as the trigger filter. Open Gmail, click the gear icon, go to 'See all settings', then the 'Labels' tab. Scroll down and click 'Create new label'. Name it something like 'Meeting Follow-up'. This label is what Zapier will watch — without it, Zapier has no reliable way to filter only meeting-related emails.

1. 1Open Gmail and click the gear icon in the top right
2. 2Click 'See all settings'
3. 3Click the 'Labels' tab
4. 4Scroll to the bottom and click 'Create new label'
5. 5Type 'Meeting Follow-up' and click 'Create'

Zapier Dashboard > Create Zap > Trigger > Gmail > New Labeled Email

Start a new Zap and connect Gmail

Go to zapier.com and click the orange 'Create Zap' button in the top left. In the trigger search box, type 'Gmail' and select it. Zapier will ask you to choose a trigger event — select 'New Labeled Email'. This fires every time an email gets the label you just created. Click 'Continue' to move to the account connection step.

1. 1Go to zapier.com and click 'Create Zap'
2. 2Type 'Gmail' in the trigger search box and select it
3. 3Under 'Event', choose 'New Labeled Email'
4. 4Click 'Continue'

Zapier > Gmail Trigger > Sign in to Gmail > Google OAuth

Connect and authorize your Gmail account

Click 'Sign in to Gmail'. A Google OAuth popup will appear. Select the Google account that receives the meeting emails and click 'Allow'. Zapier needs read access to your Gmail inbox to detect new labeled emails. After granting access, you'll return to the Zap builder and see your email address listed under the Gmail trigger.

1. 1Click 'Sign in to Gmail'
2. 2Select the correct Google account in the OAuth popup
3. 3Click 'Allow' to grant Zapier read access
4. 4Click 'Continue' back in the Zap builder

Zapier > Gmail Trigger > Configure > Label/Mailbox dropdown

Select the Meeting Follow-up label

In the trigger configuration panel, find the 'Label/Mailbox' dropdown. Click it and you'll see a list of all Gmail labels on your connected account. Select 'Meeting Follow-up' — the label you created in Step 1. This tells Zapier to only poll for emails carrying that specific label. Click 'Continue' when done.

1. 1Click the 'Label/Mailbox' dropdown in the trigger configuration panel
2. 2Scroll to find 'Meeting Follow-up' or type it in the search box
3. 3Select 'Meeting Follow-up'
4. 4Click 'Continue'

Zapier > Gmail Trigger > Test Trigger

Test the Gmail trigger with a real email

Click 'Test trigger'. Zapier will pull the three most recent emails with the 'Meeting Follow-up' label. You need at least one email with that label in Gmail for this to work — if you have none, go to Gmail, find a meeting-related email, and manually apply the label, then come back and test again. Look at the sample data Zapier returns: you should see fields like Subject, From Name, From Email, Body Plain, and Date.

1. 1Click 'Test trigger'
2. 2If no results appear, go to Gmail, apply the 'Meeting Follow-up' label to one email, and return
3. 3Click 'Test trigger' again
4. 4Review the returned fields — confirm Subject, From, and Body Plain are present
5. 5Click 'Continue with selected record'

Zapier > + Add Step > Formatter by Zapier > Text > Truncate

Add a Formatter step to truncate the email body

Click the '+' button below the Gmail trigger to add a new step. Search for 'Formatter by Zapier' and select it. Under 'Event', choose 'Text'. Under 'Transform', choose 'Truncate'. This step cuts the email body to a readable length before it hits Slack. Paste the 'Body Plain' field from the Gmail trigger into the 'Input' field, and set 'Max Length' to 500.

1. 1Click the '+' button below the Gmail trigger card
2. 2Search 'Formatter by Zapier' and select it
3. 3Under 'Event', select 'Text'
4. 4Under 'Transform', select 'Truncate'
5. 5In 'Input', map the Gmail 'Body Plain' field
6. 6Set 'Max Length' to 500 and click 'Continue'

📬 New entry: {{1.name}}
Email: {{1.email}}
Details: {{1.description}}

Zapier > + Add Step > Slack > Send Channel Message > Sign in to Slack

Add Slack as the action app

Click '+' below the Formatter step to add the Slack action. Search for 'Slack' and select it. Under 'Event', choose 'Send Channel Message'. Click 'Continue' and then 'Sign in to Slack'. An OAuth window will open asking you to authorize Zapier for your Slack workspace. Select the correct workspace and click 'Allow'.

1. 1Click '+' below the Formatter step
2. 2Search 'Slack' and select it
3. 3Under 'Event', choose 'Send Channel Message'
4. 4Click 'Continue', then 'Sign in to Slack'
5. 5Select your workspace in the OAuth window and click 'Allow'

Zapier > Slack Action > Configure > Channel + Message Text

Configure the Slack message content

In the Slack action configuration, set the 'Channel' dropdown to the target channel (e.g. #team-meetings or #external-commitments). For 'Message Text', build a structured message using the Gmail fields. Use this format: '*New Meeting Email* :calendar:\n*From:* [From Name] <[From Email]>\n*Subject:* [Subject]\n*Received:* [Date]\n\n[Truncated Body from Formatter]'. Map each bracket item to the corresponding Zapier field from the Gmail trigger or Formatter output.

1. 1Click the 'Channel' dropdown and select your target Slack channel
2. 2Click into the 'Message Text' field
3. 3Type '*New Meeting Email* :calendar:' then press Enter
4. 4Add '*From:* ' then map 'From Name' and 'From Email' from the Gmail trigger
5. 5Add '*Subject:* ' then map 'Subject' from Gmail
6. 6Add a blank line then map the 'Output' field from the Formatter step
7. 7Click 'Continue'

📬 New entry: {{1.name}}
Email: {{1.email}}
Details: {{1.description}}

Zapier > Slack Action > Test Action

Test the Slack action

Click 'Test action'. Zapier will post a real message to the Slack channel you selected using the sample Gmail data from Step 5. Go to Slack immediately and look for the test message in the channel. Confirm the formatting looks correct — bold labels, readable body, no garbled characters. If the message looks wrong, go back and edit the Message Text field.

1. 1Click 'Test action'
2. 2Open Slack and navigate to the target channel
3. 3Find the test message posted by Zapier
4. 4Confirm sender, subject, and body all appear correctly
5. 5Return to Zapier and click 'Continue' if the message looks correct

Zapier > Zap Title > Publish Zap

Name and publish the Zap

Click 'Publish Zap' in the top right. Before confirming, give the Zap a descriptive name — click the title at the top and type something like 'Gmail Meeting Emails → #team-meetings Slack'. This matters when you have multiple Zaps and need to find and edit this one later. Once published, Zapier will poll your Gmail account every 1-15 minutes depending on your plan tier.

1. 1Click the default Zap title at the top of the builder
2. 2Type a descriptive name like 'Gmail Meeting Emails → #team-meetings Slack'
3. 3Click 'Publish Zap' in the top right corner
4. 4Confirm the publication in the dialog that appears

This Code by Zapier step replaces the Formatter truncate step and adds smarter parsing: it extracts action items (lines starting with numbers or dashes), detects a meeting date if one appears in the body, and returns a clean structured summary. Paste this into a 'Code by Zapier' step (JavaScript) placed between the Gmail trigger and the Slack action. Map inputData.body to the Gmail 'Body Plain' field and inputData.subject to the Gmail 'Subject' field.

const body = inputData.body || '';
const subject = inputData.subject || '(No Subject)';
const fromName = inputData.fromName || '';

const body = inputData.body || '';
const subject = inputData.subject || '(No Subject)';
const fromName = inputData.fromName || '';
const fromEmail = inputData.fromEmail || '';

// Extract lines that look like action items (numbered or bulleted)
const lines = body.split('\n').map(l => l.trim()).filter(Boolean);
const actionItems = lines.filter(line =>
  /^(\d+[.)\s]|-|•|\*)/.test(line)
);

// Try to detect a meeting date in the body
const datePattern = /(Jan|Feb|Mar|Apr|May|Jun|Jul|Aug|Sep|Oct|Nov|Dec)[a-z]* \d{1,2}(,? \d{4})?( at \d{1,2}(:\d{2})? ?(am|pm|ET|PT|CT|MT|UTC)?)?/gi;
const detectedDates = body.match(datePattern) || [];

// Truncate full body to 400 chars
const truncatedBody = body.length > 400
  ? body.substring(0, 400) + '...'
  : body;

// Build structured Slack message
let message = `*New Meeting Email* :calendar:\n`;
message += `*From:* ${fromName} <${fromEmail}>\n`;
message += `*Subject:* ${subject}\n`;

if (detectedDates.length > 0) {
  message += `*Meeting Date Detected:* ${detectedDates[0]}\n`;
}

message += `\n${truncatedBody}`;

if (actionItems.length > 0) {
  message += `\n\n*Action Items Found:*\n` + actionItems.slice(0, 5).join('\n');
}

return { slackMessage: message, actionItemCount: actionItems.length, detectedDate: detectedDates[0] || 'None' };