Turn school email into a 2-minute daily digest

Step 1: put all school email in one place (10 min)

If the assistant has to dig through your whole inbox, it will miss things and pull in junk.

Gmail: click Show search options in the search box, enter the senders, click Create filter, then pick Apply the label and make a new label called School. Filters only work on mail that arrives from then on.^[2] You can paste a search like this into the “Has the words” box and swap in your own addresses:

from:(@[yourdistrict].org OR @[yourschool].org OR [[email protected]] OR [[email protected]] OR [[email protected]]) OR subject:("[school name]" OR "permission slip" OR "early release" OR "picture day")

My advice: don’t pick “Skip the Inbox” for the first couple of weeks. Let the label and your inbox overlap until you trust the digest.

Outlook: use a rule to move messages from the school’s senders into a folder called School.^[3] Microsoft notes that the new Outlook for Windows can’t run rules on Gmail, Yahoo or iCloud accounts. Set those up in that email service instead.^[3]

Step 2: pick who reads it (5 min)

Nothing connected? Any free assistant can still do it by hand: open the School label, copy the day’s emails and paste them in with the prompt below. It’s slower, but you still end up with one list.

Step 3: the digest prompt (5 min)

Every weekday at 6:30 am, read only my school emails from the last 24 hours (the ones labeled "School" in Gmail, or in my "School" folder in Outlook).
Give me a digest I can read in 2 minutes:
1. ACTION NEEDED: anything to sign, pay, send in, RSVP or reply to, with the deadline. Most urgent first.
2. DATES: new events, early releases, days off, picture day, practice or game changes, with day and time.
3. BRING / WEAR: anything a kid needs to bring or wear, and which day.
4. FYI: one line each for everything else. Skip newsletters with nothing new.
Kids: [Kid 1, grade, teacher] and [Kid 2, grade, teacher]. Put each item under the right kid's name.
If a date, time or amount is unclear, write "check the email" instead of guessing. Don't reply to anyone or add anything to my calendar without asking me.

• Gemini: paste it at gemini.google.com. If Google Workspace isn’t connected yet, you’ll be offered the option to connect it.^[13] Gemini prepares scheduled answers in the hour before delivery, which suits overnight email.^[4]
• ChatGPT Plus: paste it in a chat. It becomes a task on the Scheduled page, and paid plans can run at an exact time.^[8]
• Copilot: ask it to run this as a scheduled task and manage it from Tasks. It asks before sending messages or changing accounts.^[9]

Step 4: clear the list in 2 minutes

1. Dates go on the calendar. On Gemini, ask it to add the DATES items to your Family calendar. It can create events on shared calendars, but uses your default calendar unless you name one.^[13]
Copy calendar follow-up

Add the DATES items from today's digest to our Family calendar. Put the kid's name first in each title, and add a reminder 2 days before anything that needs money, a form or supplies. Show me the list before you add them.

2. Forms and replies get drafted, not sent. Ask for a draft reply to the teacher, read it, and send it yourself.
3. Flyers and PDFs: for a paper flyer or a PDF attachment, use the flyer-to-calendar prompt.

Make it better in week two

Here's what the digest got wrong this week: [missed the field trip form / listed the PTA newsletter as urgent / mixed up the kids].
Update your instructions so it doesn't happen again, and show me the new version of the prompt.

Then paste the improved prompt over the old one. Plan on a couple of rounds before it fits your school.