How to Send Outlook Email Alerts to Slack with Make

make.com > Scenarios > Create a new scenario

Create a new scenario in Make

Log in to Make at make.com and click the blue 'Create a new scenario' button in the top right of the Scenarios dashboard. You'll land on a blank canvas with a large circle in the center — this is where your trigger module goes. Make calls each automated workflow a 'scenario,' and every scenario starts with one trigger. Give your scenario a name immediately by clicking the default name at the top of the screen and typing something like 'Outlook → Slack Email Alerts'.

1. 1Log in at make.com
2. 2Click 'Create a new scenario' in the top right
3. 3Click the untitled name at the top and rename it to 'Outlook → Slack Email Alerts'
4. 4Click the large circle in the center of the canvas to open the module picker

Module picker > Microsoft Outlook > Watch Emails

Add the Outlook 'Watch Emails' trigger

In the module search dialog, type 'Outlook' and select 'Microsoft Outlook' from the results. Make will show you a list of available Outlook modules. Choose 'Watch Emails' — this is a polling trigger that checks your Outlook inbox on a schedule you define. You are not choosing 'Watch Emails (advanced)' for now; the standard Watch Emails trigger covers sender, subject, and folder filtering without extra configuration.

1. 1Type 'Outlook' in the module search bar
2. 2Click 'Microsoft Outlook' in the results
3. 3Scroll to find and click 'Watch Emails'
4. 4Click 'Add' to confirm the module selection

Outlook module panel > Connection > Add > Microsoft login pop-up

Connect your Microsoft account

Click 'Add' next to the Connection field in the Outlook module panel. Make will open a pop-up window asking you to sign in with your Microsoft account. Sign in with the account that receives the emails you want to monitor. After you authenticate, Microsoft will show a permissions consent screen — click Accept to grant Make read access to your mailbox. Once connected, you'll be returned to the Make configuration panel with your account name shown in the Connection field.

1. 1Click 'Add' next to the Connection field
2. 2Sign in with your Microsoft credentials in the pop-up
3. 3Click 'Accept' on the Microsoft permissions consent screen
4. 4Confirm the connection name appears in the Connection dropdown

Outlook module panel > Mail Folder / Filter / Mark as Read / Maximum Number of Results

Configure the email watch settings and filters

With the account connected, now configure what emails to watch. Set the 'Mail Folder' to 'Inbox' or a specific subfolder if you've set up Outlook rules that route client emails there. In the 'Filter' field, you can enter criteria like the sender email address (e.g., '@clientdomain.com') or a subject keyword. Set 'Mark as Read' to No if you want emails to retain their unread status after Make processes them. Set the 'Maximum Number of Results' to 5 — this controls how many emails Make fetches per polling cycle and prevents a backlog from flooding Slack if you set up the automation after emails have already arrived.

1. 1Click the 'Mail Folder' dropdown and select 'Inbox' or your target folder
2. 2Enter a sender filter in the 'Filter' field, e.g., 'from:[email protected]' or leave blank to watch all emails
3. 3Set 'Mark as Read' to 'No'
4. 4Set 'Maximum Number of Results' to 5
5. 5Click 'OK' to save the module configuration

Outlook module bubble > Clock icon > Scheduling settings

Set the polling schedule

Click the clock icon on the Outlook trigger module (bottom left of the module bubble) to open the scheduling settings. Make polls Outlook on a schedule — it does not receive emails in real time the way a webhook does. Set the interval to '5 minutes' for near-real-time alerting. If the emails are less time-sensitive, 15 minutes is a reasonable middle ground that saves operations. Click 'OK' to confirm.

1. 1Click the small clock icon at the bottom left of the Outlook module bubble
2. 2Select '5 minutes' from the interval dropdown
3. 3Click 'OK'

Outlook module > + handle > Router

Add a Router for conditional channel routing (optional but recommended)

If you want different email types to post to different Slack channels — for example, emails from one client going to #client-a and another to #client-b — add a Router module between Outlook and Slack. Click the small + handle on the right side of the Outlook module, then select 'Router' from the module list. The Router creates multiple paths from a single trigger. If you only need one Slack channel, skip this step and connect Slack directly.

1. 1Hover over the Outlook module to reveal the + handle on the right edge
2. 2Click the + handle
3. 3Search for 'Router' in the module picker
4. 4Click 'Router' to add it — it will appear as a circle with multiple output paths

Router path line > Filter > Condition builder

Set Router path filters

Click on the line (path) coming out of the Router to open the Filter settings for that path. Give the filter a label like 'Client A emails'. Set the condition to check the 'From' field from the Outlook trigger — click the field selector, choose 'From' from the Outlook module output, and set the operator to 'Contains' with the value '@clienta.com'. Add a second path for your next condition. If you skipped the Router in step 6, skip this step too.

1. 1Click directly on the path line between the Router and the next module
2. 2Click 'Add a filter' in the panel that opens
3. 3Enter a label like 'Client A'
4. 4Click the field selector and expand the Outlook module output, then select 'From'
5. 5Set operator to 'Contains' and value to '@clienta.com'
6. 6Click 'OK'

Router/Outlook module > + handle > Slack > Create a Message

Add the Slack 'Create a Message' module

Click the + handle on the Router output (or directly on the Outlook module if you skipped the Router) and search for 'Slack'. Select 'Slack' and then choose 'Create a Message'. This module posts a message to a channel. You'll need to connect your Slack workspace before you can configure the message content — Make will prompt you to do this now.

1. 1Click the + handle on the Router or Outlook module
2. 2Search for 'Slack' in the module picker
3. 3Click 'Slack'
4. 4Select 'Create a Message'
5. 5Click 'Add' to add the module to the canvas

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

Slack module panel > Connection > Add > Slack OAuth pop-up

Connect your Slack workspace

Click 'Add' next to the Connection field in the Slack module panel. Make will open a Slack OAuth pop-up. Select the Slack workspace you want to post to and click 'Allow'. Make requires the 'chat:write' and 'channels:read' scopes — these are granted automatically during the OAuth flow for most workspaces. Once connected, your workspace name appears in the Connection field and the Channel dropdown becomes active.

1. 1Click 'Add' next to the Connection field in the Slack module
2. 2Select your workspace in the Slack OAuth pop-up
3. 3Click 'Allow' to grant Make access
4. 4Confirm your workspace name appears in the Connection dropdown

Slack module panel > Channel > Text

Configure the Slack message content

Select your target channel from the Channel dropdown — type the channel name to filter. Then build your message in the 'Text' field using data from the Outlook trigger. Click inside the Text field, then click the variable picker icon (looks like a plug) to insert dynamic values. A good starting message format is: '📧 New email from {{From}} | Subject: {{Subject}} | Received: {{ReceivedDateTime}}'. You can add the email body preview by inserting {{BodyPreview}}, which Outlook provides as the first 255 characters of the message body.

1. 1Click the Channel dropdown and select your target Slack channel (e.g., #client-emails)
2. 2Click inside the Text field
3. 3Type '📧 New email from ' then click the variable picker and select 'From' from the Outlook module
4. 4Continue building the message: ' | Subject: ' then insert 'Subject'
5. 5Add ' | ' then insert 'ReceivedDateTime'
6. 6On a new line, insert 'BodyPreview' for a content preview
7. 7Click 'OK' to save

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

Canvas > Run once > Check Slack > Activate toggle

Test the scenario and activate it

Click 'Run once' at the bottom left of the Make canvas. Make will check your Outlook inbox for emails matching your filter and, if found, post a test message to Slack. Check the Slack channel to verify the message looks correct. Check the execution log in Make (the green bubble showing operation counts on each module) to confirm data flowed through cleanly. Once the test passes, click the toggle switch in the bottom left — it changes from gray to blue — to activate the scenario so it runs automatically on your polling schedule.

1. 1Click 'Run once' at the bottom left of the canvas
2. 2Watch the green execution counters appear on each module
3. 3Check your Slack channel for the test message
4. 4Review the Make execution log by clicking the green bubble on the Outlook module to verify the fields mapped correctly
5. 5Click the activation toggle in the bottom left to switch from Off to On

Paste this into a Make 'Set Variable' module placed between the Outlook trigger and the Slack module. It builds a formatted Slack message with conditional priority labeling, attachment flagging, and a cleaned sender name extracted from the full 'From' string. In Make, add a Tools > Set Variable module, name the variable 'slackMessage', and paste the formula into the Value field.

if(
  {{1.importance}} = "High",
  "🔴 *HIGH PRIORITY* | ",

if(
  {{1.importance}} = "High",
  "🔴 *HIGH PRIORITY* | ",
  ""
)
& "📧 New email from *"
& trim(replaceAll({{1.from}}, "/^.*<|>.*$/", ""))
& "*\n*Subject:* "
& {{1.subject}}
& "\n*Received:* "
& formatDate({{1.receivedDateTime}}, "MMM D, YYYY h:mm A")
& if(
  {{1.hasAttachments}} = true,
  "\n📎 _This email has attachments_",
  ""
)
& "\n\n"
& left({{1.bodyPreview}}, 200)
& if(
  length({{1.bodyPreview}}) > 200,
  "...",
  ""
)