# Gmail Filters, Labels and AI Draft Replies With a Human Check

> Auto-label every quote request with a Gmail filter, draft the reply with Help me write, and catch the AI's mistake before sending. Free interactive lesson.

Source: https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/gmail-filters-labels-ai-draft-replies · Updated 2026-10-10 · Free from Stepthrough (https://learn.ynteractive.com)

## Practice it step by step

[Start the free practice](https://learn.ynteractive.com/modules/gmail-filters-ai-drafts)

You do every step yourself in a practice copy of Gmail. It checks your work as you go, and “Do it for me” finishes any step you get stuck on. Free, about 8 minutes, and nothing touches your real accounts. [Open full screen](https://learn.ynteractive.com/modules/gmail-filters-ai-drafts)

Free · Live now · [Gemini for Google Workspace](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/course/gemini-for-google-workspace) · [Gmail](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/tool/gmail) · Gemini · ~8 min · 23 steps · Beginner

Updated October 10, 2026. Built against the tool’s current screens and checked step by step. [How we check this lesson](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/about#how-we-check)

Quote requests from your website get buried between supplier emails and newsletters. In this free, hands-on lesson you build a [Gmail](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/tool/gmail) filter that labels every request the moment it arrives, including the ones already in your inbox. Then you draft a reply with [Gemini](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/tool/gemini)'s Help me write, spot the price it made up, fix it, and send only after a quick human check.

## At a glance

| Question | Answer |
| --- | --- |
| What you build | Make Gmail label every website quote request automatically, draft the reply with Help me write, and catch the made-up price before it's sent. |
| Tools | Gmail |
| Time | About 8 minutes, 23 steps in 4 parts |
| Level | Beginner, no coding needed |
| Cost | Free |
| Ways to learn it | [Practice it step by step](https://learn.ynteractive.com/modules/gmail-filters-ai-drafts) |

### The 4 parts, in short

1. Make a filter: Select a quote request, Open More, Filter messages like these, Match the subject too, and 1 more step.
2. Label it automatically: Apply a label, Choose a label, Make a new label, Name the label, and 3 more steps.
3. Draft a reply with AI: Open the label, Open Priya's request, Reply, Open Help me write, and 2 more steps.
4. Check before you send: Spot the problem, Ask for a change, Remove the price, Apply the change, and 1 more step.

**Start here first:** [Gemini in Gmail: Summarize a Thread and Draft the Reply](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/gemini-in-gmail-summarize-and-reply) (module 1 of Gemini for Google Workspace)

**In the course:** [Part 5 · Gemini for Google Workspace](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/course/part-5-gemini-for-google-workspace) (Module 28 of the [full course](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/course))

**Part of:** [Email on Autopilot](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/paths/email-on-autopilot) (step 3 of 5). Next up: [Add AI to Make.com: ChatGPT Writes a Personal Reply, Gmail Sends It](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/make-com-chatgpt-gmail-personalized-reply)

## What you will build

The example business is Greenway Landscaping, a made-up local landscaper. Its website [contact form](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/glossary/web-form) sends every request from the same address with a subject that starts "New quote request". You turn that into a filter with a "Quote requests" label, so all three waiting requests, and every new one, are one click away.

Then you answer the newest request from Priya, who just moved in and wants a spring cleanup. You tell Help me write what the reply should say, it drafts it in the reply box, and you read it before sending. The draft is friendly and the days are right, but it quotes a price of about $450 that you never gave it. You ask for a change, check once more and send.

## Step 1: create the filter from an email

The quickest way to build a filter is from an email you already have. Tick the checkbox next to one quote request, click More (the three dots) in the toolbar and choose Filter messages like these. Gmail opens the search options with the sender filled in. Add the subject, "New quote request", so other emails from the same address don't match.

Click Create filter at the bottom of the search options. That doesn't save anything yet; it opens the list of actions: Skip the Inbox, Mark as read, Star it, Apply the label, Forward it, Delete it, Never send it to Spam, the importance options and Categorize as.

## Step 2: label it, including the old ones

Tick Apply the label, open Choose label and pick New label. Name it "Quote requests" and click Create. A label works like a folder that an email can be in while it also stays in your inbox, so nothing disappears.

A filter normally acts only on emails that arrive after you create it. Tick "Also apply filter to matching conversations" so the requests already in your inbox get the label too. Then click Create filter. Filters and labels are free in every Gmail account and run around the clock without any extra tool.

## Step 3: draft the reply with Help me write

Open the label, open the request and click Reply. At the bottom of the reply box is Help me write, [Gemini](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/glossary/gemini)'s writing helper in Gmail. Click Describe your message and say what the reply should contain, not just "reply to this": thank her, offer a free site visit Thursday or Friday afternoon, and say the exact price comes after the visit. Click the arrow and the draft appears in the reply.

Help me write is included with Google plans that have Gemini in Gmail. If yours doesn't, you can paste the request into [ChatGPT](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/tool/chatgpt) or the Gemini app with the same instructions and paste the draft back into the reply.

## Step 4: the human check

AI drafts are fast and usually close, but they fill gaps with things that sound right. Here it adds a price, which is exactly the kind of promise a customer will hold you to. Read every draft for four things before you send: the right name, the right days and times, prices, and anything you would be promising.

To fix it, click Describe your change, write exactly what to change ("Remove the price line. We only give prices after the site visit."), and click the arrow. You can also simply edit the text yourself. Then read it once more and click Send.

## Where to go next

Once your requests are labeled automatically, you can go further: a [Zapier](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/glossary/zapier-zap), Make or [n8n](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/tool/n8n) workflow can watch the label, log each request in a Google Sheet and prepare a draft reply for you. Keep the same rule as in this lesson: the automation sorts, the AI drafts, and a person checks before anything goes to a customer.

## Try it yourself, free

Reading the steps is a start. Doing them is how it sticks. The interactive module walks you through every click in a practice copy of Gmail, checks each step, and never touches your real accounts.

[Start “Gmail Filters, Labels and AI Draft Replies With a Human Check”](https://learn.ynteractive.com/modules/gmail-filters-ai-drafts)

## Step by step: Gmail Filters, Labels and AI Draft Replies With a Human Check

All 23 steps of the interactive module, in order. In the module you watch each one, then do it yourself in a practice copy that checks your work.

### 1. Make a filter

1. **Select a quote request.** Tick the checkbox next to **New quote request: Priya Nair**.
   Chris runs Greenway Landscaping. Every quote request from the website lands in the inbox mixed in with everything else, and some sit for days. Let's make Gmail sort them automatically. Tick the box next to Priya's quote request.
2. **Open More.** In the toolbar above the list, click **More** (the three dots).
3. **Filter messages like these.** Click **Filter messages like these**.
   Gmail opens the search options and fills in the sender for you: the address the website form sends from.
4. **Match the subject too.** Paste in the subject to put **New quote request** in the **Subject** box.
   The website might send other emails from that address, so also match the subject. Every quote request starts with the same words.
5. **Go to the filter actions.** Click **Create filter** at the bottom of the search options.
   This doesn't save anything yet. It takes you to the list of things Gmail can do with every matching email.

### 2. Label it automatically

6. **Apply a label.** Tick **Apply the label:**.
   A label is like a folder that an email can be in, while it stays in your inbox too. Tick Apply the label.
7. **Choose a label.** Click the **Choose label...** menu.
   We don't have a label for quotes yet.
8. **Make a new label.** Click **New label...**.
9. **Name the label.** Paste in the name to name it **Quote requests**.
   Name it Quote requests.
10. **Create the label.** Click **Create**.
11. **Include the ones already here.** Tick **Also apply filter to 3 matching conversations.**
    A filter normally only acts on new emails. Tick Also apply filter to matching conversations, so the three quote requests already in your inbox get the label too.
12. **Save the filter.** Click **Create filter**.
    From now on, every quote request gets the label the moment it arrives, day or night. That's a simple automation, built right into Gmail.

### 3. Draft a reply with AI

13. **Open the label.** In the left menu, under **Labels**, click **Quote requests**.
    There's the new label on the left, with all three requests in it.
14. **Open Priya's request.** Click **Priya Nair's** quote request.
    Now answer the newest one.
15. **Reply.** Click **Reply**.
    The form puts Priya's details in the email.
16. **Open Help me write.** Click **Describe your message** at the bottom of the reply.
    At the bottom of the reply is Help me write, Gemini's writing helper in Gmail. It needs a Google plan that includes Gemini.
17. **Say what the reply should say.** Paste in the prompt.
    Tell it what to say, not just "reply to this". Here: thank her, offer a free site visit Thursday or Friday afternoon, and say the exact price comes after the visit.
    ```text
    Thank Priya and say we'd love to help. Offer a free site visit this Thursday or Friday afternoon and ask which works. Say we'll give her an exact price after the visit.
    ```
18. **Create the draft.** Click the **arrow** to create the draft.

### 4. Check before you send

19. **Spot the problem.** Read the draft. Click the line with the **price**. (Real Gemini may get a different detail wrong, so read every line.)
    Now the most important step: read it before you send it. It's friendly and the dates are right, but it made up a price, about four hundred and fifty dollars, which you never gave it.
20. **Ask for a change.** Click **Describe your change**.
    You could delete the line yourself, or ask Gemini.
21. **Remove the price.** Paste in the change.
    Tell it exactly what to fix.
22. **Apply the change.** Click the **arrow**.
    The price is gone, and the reply now says she'll get an exact price after the visit.
23. **Check once more, then send.** Check the name, the days and that there is no price. Then click **Send**.
    One last read: right name, Thursday or Friday afternoon, no price. Now send it. The filter sorts, the AI drafts, and you check. That's email on autopilot, with a person still in charge.

## Frequently asked questions

**How do I automatically label emails in Gmail?**

Tick an example email, click More (three dots), choose Filter messages like these, adjust the criteria, click Create filter, tick Apply the label, choose or create a label and click Create filter again.

**Will a new Gmail filter label emails I already have?**

Only if you tick "Also apply filter to matching conversations" before you click Create filter. Otherwise it only acts on new emails.

**Do Gmail labels move emails out of the inbox?**

No. A label just tags the email. It stays in your inbox unless the filter also uses Skip the Inbox (Archive it).

**Is Help me write free in Gmail?**

Help me write is part of Gemini in Gmail and needs a Google plan that includes it. Filters and labels are free in every Gmail account.

**Should I let AI send customer emails automatically?**

Not without a check. Let AI draft, then read every reply for names, dates, prices and promises before you send it. In this lesson the draft invents a price, which is a common mistake.

[Start this module free](https://learn.ynteractive.com/modules/gmail-filters-ai-drafts)

- Previous in Gemini for Google Workspace: [Gemini in Gmail: Summarize a Thread and Draft the Reply](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/gemini-in-gmail-summarize-and-reply)
- Next in Gemini for Google Workspace: [NotebookLM (Now Gemini Notebook): Cited Answers and a Briefing from Your Docs](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/notebooklm-gemini-notebook-cited-answers-briefing-doc)

## More in Gemini for Google Workspace

- [NotebookLM: Turn Your Documents into a Podcast (Audio Overview)](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/notebooklm-audio-overview-podcast-from-your-documents): Paste a new hire handbook and meeting notes into a notebook, customize an Audio Overview for two new accountants, listen, join the conversation with Interactive mode…
- [ChatGPT Projects vs Gemini Gems vs Gemini Notebook: Which to Use](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/chatgpt-projects-vs-gemini-gems-vs-notebooklm): Load an auto shop's price list, warranty and FAQ into a ChatGPT Project, a Gemini Gem and Gemini Notebook, ask each the same question, and see which fits which job.

[All 5 modules in Gemini for Google Workspace](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/course/gemini-for-google-workspace)

## Terms in this lesson

Plain-English definitions, each with an example from a free lesson.

[Gemini](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/glossary/gemini) · [Web form](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/glossary/web-form) · [Zap (Zapier)](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/glossary/zapier-zap) · [Workflow](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/glossary/workflow) · [Automation](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/glossary/automation) · [Prompt](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/glossary/prompt)

[The full AI glossary](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/glossary)

## Browse related tutorials

[Gemini for Google Workspace (5)](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/course/gemini-for-google-workspace) · [Gmail tutorials (2)](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/tool/gmail)