Setting Up an Email Trigger

Configure your workflow to start when a new email arrives in a monitored inbox.

Overview

An email trigger watches a Gmail or Outlook mailbox and starts your workflow whenever a new message arrives that matches your filters. Spojit polls the inbox on a configured interval, hands the message contents to the workflow, and optionally takes a follow-up action on the email (mark as read, move to a folder) so it is not processed twice.

Email triggers are useful for inbound work that lands as a message: support tickets emailed in by customers, automated reports from third-party systems, supplier invoices, order confirmations, anything where the inbox is the system of record for the event.

Before You Start

You need an OAuth connection to the mailbox provider (Gmail or Outlook). Create one in Connections if you do not have it yet.
Decide upfront how processed emails should be marked so they do not re-trigger the workflow.

Configuration

Click the Trigger node on your canvas.
Set the trigger type to Email.
Pick the email connection (Gmail or Outlook).
Set the polling interval - how often Spojit checks for new messages.
Optionally add filters (from address, subject pattern, folder or label).
Choose a post-processing action (mark as read, move, or leave alone).
Save the workflow and make sure it is enabled.

Filters

From address - Only trigger on emails from a specific sender (for example billing@vendor.com).
Subject pattern - Only trigger on emails whose subject matches the pattern.
Folder / Label - Watch a specific folder (Outlook) or label (Gmail) instead of the entire inbox.

Post-Processing

Mark as read - Prevents the same message triggering the workflow again. Recommended default.
Move to folder / label - Move processed messages out of the watched folder so the inbox stays clean.
No action - Leave the message exactly as it arrived. Only use this if your filters are tight enough that re-processing is impossible.

Available Data

The message is exposed downstream as {{ input }} with these fields:

{{ input.from }} - Sender address.
{{ input.subject }} - Subject line.
{{ input.body.text }} - Plain-text body.
{{ input.body.html }} - HTML body.
{{ input.attachments }} - Array of attachments (filename, content type, content).
{{ input.receivedAt }} - Timestamp.

Example: Customer Support Intake

Watch a shared support@ mailbox, filter on subject prefix [ticket], mark processed messages as read, and pipe {{ input.from }} and {{ input.body.text }} into a Connector node that creates a ticket in your helpdesk.

Tips

Use folders or labels rather than the inbox root. It is much easier to reason about which messages will trigger the workflow.
Always pick a post-processing action other than No action unless you have a very narrow filter. Otherwise the same message fires the workflow on every poll.
For high-volume inboxes, shorten the polling interval. For low-volume, lengthen it to reduce API quota usage on the email provider.
Test with a real email forwarded from a colleague before going live. Real messages reveal encoding and attachment quirks that synthetic tests miss.

Common Pitfalls

OAuth token expired - If the email connection's token lapses, polling stops silently. Spojit will surface this on the connection card; reconnect to restore the trigger.
Reprocessing loop - Choosing No action with a broad filter fires the workflow for the same message every poll cycle.
Wrong folder - If you point at a folder that the provider does not actually create messages in (for example trying to watch Outlook's Junk), you will see no triggers.
Polling delay - Email is not instant. Expect up to one polling interval of latency between arrival and trigger.

Learn More

Trigger node documentation