Answer Client Emails in Half the Time using Lindy

Updated October 17, 2026. Built against the tool’s current screens and checked step by step. How we check this lesson

In a small accounting, law, consulting or agency office, client questions arrive by email all day: a due date, a missing document, an invoice. Each reply is short, but writing it from a blank screen takes five or six minutes, and forty of them a week is four hours. Lindy is an AI assistant that works inside your email. In this free business-case lesson you price that time, then set up a Lindy routine that drafts each reply in Gmail for you to check and send. You keep Lindy on Ask for approval, start with a narrow test rule, tell it to draft only, test it on one email, and widen it once the drafts look right.

Part of: AI for Accounting & Bookkeeping Firms (step 6 of 28)

Part of: Email on Autopilot (step 5 of 10)

Part of: AI Apps Worth Knowing (step 11 of 42)

The business case: what writing every reply from scratch costs

Picture Dana, who runs the office at Ortiz & Lane, a made-up four-person accounting firm. About 40 client questions arrive by email each week: can you resend last year's return, do I owe estimated tax this quarter, where do I upload my bank statements. None of them is hard. Each one still takes about six minutes, because every reply starts from a blank screen.

Here is the arithmetic, with example numbers you should replace with your own. Forty replies at six minutes is four hours a week. If a good draft is already waiting, checking it and sending it takes about three minutes, so the same forty replies take two hours. That is about 100 hours a year back, for one person, without changing a single answer the client gets.

The catch is trust. A tool that sends client email on its own can send a wrong date to a client. So the whole setup in this lesson is built around one rule: Lindy drafts, a person sends.

Who this is for, and what you need

Office managers, bookkeepers, accountants, paralegals and owners of small firms who answer the same kinds of client questions by email every week. You do not need any technical background.

To do this for real you need a Lindy account (it starts with a free trial) with your work Gmail connected under Integrations. Lindy is a paid product after the trial, so check its pricing page before you let the routine handle every client email. The practice copy in the lesson needs no account.

Why start with a test rule

A new routine with no rule runs on every email that arrives, including newsletters, receipts and personal mail. Starting with Subject, Starts with, and a phrase only you will use means the first runs only touch the test emails you send yourself. You see exactly what Lindy does before a real client email reaches it.

Once a few drafts look right, Lindy's Plain-language filter lets you describe the emails you want in ordinary words. Watch the first week of drafts closely, and tighten the description if Lindy picks up emails you did not mean.

What Lindy did in our real test

We sent one made-up client question to a connected Gmail inbox: did the client need to make a quarterly estimated tax payment, when was it due, and which form. The routine fired within a minute, opened a run marked Running, read the email, and wrote a short reply. It looked up the due date and the form itself, and it listed what it did not know, such as whether the client owed enough to need a payment.

The first time Lindy tried to save the reply as a Gmail draft, it stopped with Authorization required and More permissions needed, and an Authorize button. That is a one-time Google permission for drafts, and only the account owner can approve it, so we did not click it. The reply itself was written; saving it as a draft needs that one approval.

What this saves you

• Blank-screen time: a draft is waiting when you open the thread, so each reply takes about half as long. At the example numbers that is two hours a week.
• Risk: Guardrails on Ask for approval, and instructions that say drafts only, so nothing reaches a client until a person sends it.
• What it does not do: know your client. Every date, fee and form in a draft is yours to check before you send.

What we checked in a real Lindy workspace

We clicked through every screen in this lesson in a real Lindy trial workspace in October 2026: Integrations, the Gmail page and its Guardrails setting, Routines, + New, Advanced settings, the trigger list, the account picker, Add rule and its five options, the Subject and Starts with choices, Instructions, Create, the Routine added message, and a real run started by a test email. Two things were not run end to end: approving the one-time Authorize prompt (it needs the account owner's Google sign-in) and the widened plain-language filter on live mail (we kept the test inbox safe). The practice screens match what we saw.

Links

• Lindy (affiliate link): the AI assistant this lesson teaches. It starts with a free trial.
• IRS Form 1040-ES: the form in the lesson's example client question. Always check dates and forms for your own clients.

Disclosure: links marked "affiliate link" are partner links. If you sign up through one, Stepthrough may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. The lesson is free either way and does not depend on it.

Step by step: Answer Client Emails in Half the Time using Lindy

All 33 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. The cost of answering every email from scratch

1. Count the time. Dana Ortiz runs the office at Ortiz & Lane, a four-person accounting firm. About 40 client questions arrive by email each week, and each reply takes about 6 minutes from a blank screen. Click the row that shows 4 hours a week.

   Dana runs the office at a four person accounting firm. About forty client questions arrive by email every week. Each reply takes about six minutes, starting from a blank screen. That is four hours a week.

2. Price the fix. If a draft reply is already waiting, Dana only reads it, fixes it and sends it: about 3 minutes each. That halves the time to 2 hours a week, about 100 hours a year. These are example numbers, so use your own. Click the time saved.

   Now say a draft is already waiting. Dana just reads it, fixes it, and sends it. About three minutes each. That halves the time, to two hours a week. Around a hundred hours a year. These are example numbers, so use your own.

3. Meet Lindy. Lindy is an AI assistant that works inside your email. You give it a routine: when a certain email arrives, do this. Here it will draft replies, and you still send them. To follow along for real you need a Lindy account (it starts with a free trial) with your Gmail connected. Click the Lindy card.

   Lindy is an A I assistant that works inside your email. You give it a routine. When a certain email arrives, do this. Here, it drafts the replies, and you still send them. To do this for real, you need a Lindy account, with your Gmail connected. It starts with a free trial.

2. Keep Lindy on drafts

4. Open Integrations. This is Lindy’s home screen. Before Lindy touches client email, check what it is allowed to do. Click Integrations in the left menu.

   This is the Lindy home screen. Before Lindy touches client email, check what it is allowed to do.

5. Open Gmail. Under Your integrations, click Gmail. If it is not there yet, use + Add at the top right to connect your Google account first.

   Under Your integrations, click Gmail. If it is not there yet, use the Add button to connect your Google account first.

6. Open Guardrails. Make sure your work address is the selected account at the top. Guardrails sets what happens when Lindy tries an action that changes data, like sending. Click the Guardrails box.

   Make sure your work address is selected at the top. Guardrails decides what happens when Lindy tries to change something, like sending an email.

7. Choose Ask for approval. Pick Ask for approval. Now anything that changes data waits for your OK. Reading never asks. Lindy can still draft, but it cannot quietly send on your behalf.

   Pick Ask for approval. Now anything that changes data waits for your OK. Lindy can still draft, but it cannot quietly send for you.

3. Build the drafting routine

8. Open Routines. Click Routines in the left menu. This is everything Lindy runs on its own.

   This is everything Lindy runs on its own.

9. Start a new routine. You will see built-in routines here too. Leave them alone for now. Click + New at the top right.

   You will see some built in routines here too. Leave them alone for now.

10. Open Advanced settings. A panel opens on the right. You could describe the routine in one sentence, but you want exact control over which emails it touches. Click Advanced settings.

    A panel opens on the right. You could describe the routine in one sentence. But you want exact control over which emails it touches.

11. Pick a trigger. A trigger is the event that starts the routine. Click Select trigger that runs your routine.

    A trigger is the event that starts the routine.

12. When I get an email. Under Messages, click When I get an email. It runs when a matching Gmail message arrives.
13. Choose the inbox. Click Choose account under Account.
14. Pick your work inbox. Pick dana@ortizlane.example.

    Pick your work inbox.

15. Add a rule. Right now every email that arrives would run this routine. Start narrow. Click + Add rule beside Rules.

    Right now, every email would run this routine. Start narrow.

16. Match a field. Click Only when a field matches.
17. Choose the field. Click Property to filter on.
18. Subject. Pick Subject.
19. Change Contains. The middle box says Contains. Click it.

    The middle box says Contains.

20. Starts with. Pick Starts with.
21. Type the test phrase. In Text to match, type Test - client question. For now, only emails whose subject starts with this run the routine, so you can test it on your own message without touching client mail.

    In Text to match, type, Test, dash, client question. For now, only emails whose subject starts with this will run the routine. So you can test it on your own message, without touching client mail.

22. Tell Lindy what to do. Scroll to Instructions and paste the instructions in. The key line: drafts only, never send, archive, delete, forward or label. And when it lacks a fact, it writes [CHECK] instead of guessing.

    The key line is drafts only. Never send, archive, delete, forward or label. And when it is missing a fact, it writes check, instead of guessing.

    Read the client's email and work out what they are asking. Write a short, friendly reply that answers it in plain words, and save it as a Gmail draft reply in the same thread. Drafts only: never send, archive, delete, forward or label any email. If the answer needs a fact you don't have, such as a date or a fee, put [CHECK] in the draft instead of guessing.

23. Name the routine. Click New routine at the top of the panel and type Client email drafts.

    Give it a name.

24. Create it. Click Create at the bottom right. Lindy shows Routine added, writes a one-line description for you, and the switch at the top is on.

    Lindy says Routine added. It writes a short description for you, and the switch at the top is on.

4. Test it with one email

25. Send yourself a test. From another email address you own, send one test email to your work inbox. The subject must start with Test - client question. Here it is a made-up client question about quarterly taxes. Click Send.

    Now test it. From another email address you own, send one test email to your work inbox. The subject must start with, Test, dash, client question. Here it is a made up client question about quarterly taxes.

26. Open the run. Back in Lindy, open your routine and scroll to Previous runs. Within a minute a new run appears, marked Running. Click it.

    Back in Lindy, open your routine and scroll down to Previous runs. Within a minute, a new run appears.

27. Approve drafts, once. Lindy read the email and wrote a reply. The first time it saves a Gmail draft, it shows Authorization required and More permissions needed. Click Authorize and approve it in Google’s window. This happens once per inbox.

    Lindy read the email and wrote a reply. The first time it saves a Gmail draft, it asks for one more permission. This happens once per inbox.

28. Read the draft. Here is the reply Lindy drafted. It looked up the due date and the form itself, and it says what it did not know. Every fact in a client reply is yours to check. Click the draft.

    Here is the reply Lindy drafted. It looked up the due date and the form by itself. And it tells you what it did not know. Every fact in a client reply is yours to check.

29. Back to Routines. The reply is saved as a draft in the same Gmail thread. Nothing was sent. You open it in Gmail, fix anything marked [CHECK], and send it yourself. Click Routines.

    The reply is saved as a draft, in the same Gmail thread. Nothing was sent. You open it in Gmail, fix anything that needs checking, and send it yourself.

5. Widen it, safely

30. Remove the test rule. Once a few test drafts look right, let real client questions in. Click the X beside Only run when to remove the test rule.

    Once a few test drafts look right, let real client questions in.

31. Describe which emails count. In Plain-language filter, describe the emails you want, in your own words: Emails from clients asking a question about their account, taxes or invoices. Newsletters and receipts are left alone. Watch the first week of drafts closely.

    In the plain language filter, describe the emails you want, in your own words. Emails from clients asking a question about their account, taxes or invoices. Newsletters and receipts are left alone. Watch the first week of drafts closely.

6. What this saves you

32. Close the panel. Lindy saves changes as you go, so the bottom of the panel says Saved. To pause the routine any time, turn off the switch at the top. Click the X at the top left of the panel.

    Lindy saves as you go. The bottom of the panel says Saved. To pause the routine any time, turn off the switch at the top. Now close the panel, with the X at the top left.

33. What this saves you. Click What this saves you.

    Here is what it saves.

Frequently asked questions

What is Lindy?

Lindy is an AI assistant that works in your email, calendar and meetings. You set up routines, such as when a certain email arrives, draft a reply, and Lindy runs them on its own within the limits you set.

Will Lindy send emails to my clients without asking?

Not if you set it up as this lesson does. Set the Gmail Guardrails to Ask for approval, so any action that changes data waits for your OK, and tell the routine to save drafts only and never send. You then read each draft in Gmail and send it yourself.

Why does Lindy say More permissions needed?

The first time a routine saves a Gmail draft, Lindy asks for an extra Google permission for that inbox. Click Authorize and approve it in Google's window. It happens once per inbox.

How do I stop the routine from touching personal or unrelated email?

Add a rule under Rules. Start with Only when a field matches, Subject, Starts with, and a test phrase, then switch to a Plain-language filter that describes the client emails you want. You can turn the routine off any time with its switch.

Is Lindy free?

Lindy starts with a free trial and is a paid product after that. Check Lindy's pricing page for the current plans before you rely on it for every client email.

Is this lesson free, and has it been tested in the real Lindy app?

The lesson is free and the practice copy needs no account. Every screen was checked in a real Lindy workspace in October 2026, including a real run started by a test email. Lindy is a third-party product and screens change, so yours may differ slightly.

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

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