How to Broadcast Gmail Project Updates to Slack with Power Automate

make.powerautomate.com > My flows > + New flow > Automated cloud flow

Create a new Automated cloud flow

Go to make.powerautomate.com and sign in with your Microsoft 365 account. In the left sidebar click 'My flows', then click '+ New flow' at the top. Select 'Automated cloud flow' from the dropdown — this is what lets the flow fire the moment Gmail receives a matching email. Give the flow a name like 'Gmail Project Updates to Slack' so it's easy to find later.

1. 1Click 'My flows' in the left sidebar
2. 2Click '+ New flow' near the top of the page
3. 3Select 'Automated cloud flow'
4. 4Type a name in the 'Flow name' field
5. 5Click 'Skip' on the trigger picker — you'll add it manually next

Flow canvas > Add a trigger > Search: Gmail > When a new email arrives (V3)

Add the Gmail 'When a new email arrives' trigger

Click the empty trigger block on the canvas. In the search bar type 'Gmail' and select the Gmail connector from the results. Choose the trigger named 'When a new email arrives (V3)' — use V3 specifically, the older versions have fewer filter options. You'll be prompted to sign in to your Google account immediately.

1. 1Click 'Add a trigger' on the canvas
2. 2Type 'Gmail' in the connector search bar
3. 3Select the Gmail connector (Google icon)
4. 4Click 'When a new email arrives (V3)'

Flow canvas > Gmail trigger card > Label / Subject Filter / Include Attachments

Configure the Gmail trigger filters

Inside the trigger card, set the filters that isolate project-related emails. In the 'Label' dropdown choose the Gmail label you use for project emails (e.g., 'Project-Riverside'). If you filter by subject instead, leave Label blank and type your keyword in 'Subject Filter' (e.g., 'Project Update' or the vendor name). Set 'Include Attachments' to 'No' unless you plan to forward files — attachments bloat message payloads and can cause Slack post failures on large files.

1. 1Click the 'Label' dropdown and select your project label
2. 2Or type a keyword in the 'Subject Filter' field
3. 3Set 'Include Attachments' to 'No'
4. 4Leave 'To' and 'From' blank unless you want sender-specific filtering

Flow canvas > Gmail trigger card > Sign in

Connect your Gmail account

After saving the trigger configuration, Power Automate will prompt you to authenticate. Click 'Sign in' and complete the Google OAuth flow in the popup window. Make sure you sign in with the Gmail account that actually receives the project emails — not a personal account. Once authenticated, the connection name appears in the trigger card header.

1. 1Click 'Sign in' inside the Gmail trigger card
2. 2Select the correct Google account in the popup
3. 3Click 'Allow' to grant Power Automate read access
4. 4Confirm the connection name shown matches your project inbox

Flow canvas > + New step > Control > Condition

Add a Condition to filter by sender domain or keyword

Click '+ New step' below the trigger. Search for 'Condition' and select the built-in Control action called 'Condition'. This step lets you route only genuine external stakeholder emails and skip internal noise. In the left value field, insert the dynamic value 'From' from the Gmail trigger. Set the operator to 'contains'. In the right field, type your vendor domain or keyword (e.g., '@acmecorp.com' or 'project update'). The 'Yes' branch proceeds to Slack; the 'No' branch terminates.

1. 1Click '+ New step'
2. 2Search for 'Condition' and select it under Control
3. 3Click the left value field and pick 'From' from the Gmail dynamic content panel
4. 4Set the dropdown operator to 'contains'
5. 5Type your filter value in the right field (e.g., '@vendordomain.com')

Flow canvas > Condition > No branch > + Add an action > Control > Terminate

Add 'Terminate' action to the No branch

Inside the 'No' branch click '+ Add an action'. Search for 'Terminate' and select the Control action. Set Status to 'Succeeded'. This cleanly ends the run for emails that don't match rather than letting them error out — a failed termination inflates your error count and triggers alert emails from Power Automate.

1. 1Click '+ Add an action' inside the 'No' branch
2. 2Search 'Terminate' and select it under Control
3. 3Set the 'Status' field to 'Succeeded'

Flow canvas > Condition > Yes branch > + Add an action > Data Operation > Parse JSON

Parse email body with Parse JSON (optional but recommended)

Inside the 'Yes' branch, click '+ Add an action'. Search 'Parse JSON' and select the Data Operation action. In the 'Content' field insert the 'Body' dynamic value from the Gmail trigger. In the Schema field, click 'Generate from sample' and paste a representative email body. This breaks the raw HTML body into clean text fields you can reference downstream. Skip this step only if you plan to post the raw body directly — raw Gmail HTML looks ugly in Slack.

1. 1Click '+ Add an action' inside the 'Yes' branch
2. 2Search 'Parse JSON' and select it under Data Operation
3. 3Click inside 'Content' and select 'Body' from the Gmail dynamic content panel
4. 4Click 'Generate from sample' and paste a sample email body
5. 5Click 'Done' to generate the schema

Flow canvas > Yes branch > + Add an action > Slack > Post message (V2)

Connect your Slack account

Click '+ Add an action' below Parse JSON. Search 'Slack' and select the Slack connector. Choose the action 'Post message (V2)'. Click 'Sign in' to authenticate. Use a Slack bot token or your personal Slack account — bot tokens are preferred in production because they don't break if an employee leaves. After signing in, the connection name appears at the top of the Slack action card.

1. 1Click '+ Add an action' in the Yes branch
2. 2Type 'Slack' in the search bar
3. 3Select the Slack connector
4. 4Click 'Post message (V2)'
5. 5Click 'Sign in' and complete the Slack OAuth flow

Flow canvas > Slack action card > Channel Name + Message Text

Configure the Slack message fields

In the Slack 'Post message (V2)' card, select the destination channel from the 'Channel Name' dropdown (e.g., #project-riverside). In the 'Message Text' field build your message using dynamic values from Gmail: start with a header like '📧 New project email:' then insert 'Subject', 'From', 'To', and 'Body Preview' on separate lines. Keep the message under 3,000 characters — Slack truncates longer text without warning.

1. 1Click the 'Channel Name' dropdown and select your project channel
2. 2Click inside 'Message Text'
3. 3Type '📧 New project email:' as a header
4. 4Insert 'Subject' dynamic value from Gmail on a new line
5. 5Insert 'From' and 'Body Preview' dynamic values on separate lines

Flow canvas > Save > Test > Manually > Trigger now

Test the flow with a real email

Click 'Save' in the top right, then click 'Test' and select 'Manually'. Send a real email to your Gmail inbox that matches your trigger filters. Wait up to 3 minutes for the poll cycle. In the test panel you'll see each step turn green as it executes. Check the Slack channel for the posted message. If the Condition step took the No branch unexpectedly, click that step to inspect the 'From' value that was evaluated.

1. 1Click 'Save' in the top right
2. 2Click 'Test' then choose 'Manually'
3. 3Click 'Trigger now' — do NOT send a test email yet
4. 4Send a matching email to your Gmail inbox
5. 5Watch the flow canvas highlight each step as it runs

My flows > [Your Flow] > ... > Settings > Send email on failure

Enable the flow and set run history alerts

After a successful test, click 'Turn on' to activate the flow. Go to My flows, find your flow, and click the three-dot menu > 'Edit'. Under Settings (gear icon on the trigger card) enable 'Send me an email when this flow fails' — this catches token expiry and connector outages before your team notices emails are missing. Check the Run history tab after 24 hours to confirm consistent green runs.

1. 1Click 'Turn on' after a successful test
2. 2Navigate to My flows and find your flow
3. 3Click the three-dot menu and select 'Edit'
4. 4Click the gear icon on the trigger card to open Settings
5. 5Enable 'Send me an email when this flow fails'

Paste this expression into a Compose action placed between the Gmail trigger and the Slack step. It strips HTML tags from the email body and truncates to 500 characters, giving you a clean Slack preview without the Parse JSON setup. Reference the Compose output ('Outputs') in your Slack message field instead of 'Body Preview'.

// Add a Compose action before the Slack step
// Name it: CleanBodyPreview
// Paste this into the Compose 'Inputs' field:

// Add a Compose action before the Slack step
// Name it: CleanBodyPreview
// Paste this into the Compose 'Inputs' field:

substring(
  replace(
    replace(
      replace(
        replace(
          triggerOutputs()?['body/body'],
          '<br>', ' '
        ),
        '<br/>', ' '
      ),
      '<[^>]+>', ''
    ),
    '&nbsp;', ' '
  ),
  0,
  500
)

// Then in your Slack 'Message Text' field, reference:
// outputs('CleanBodyPreview')
// instead of the raw Gmail 'Body' dynamic value