Gmail is the go-to email service for so many people. You can turn Gmail into a powerful collaboration tool, make Gmail better with Chrome extensions, and use some great third-party Gmail tools.

Today, let's see how you can couple Gmail with IFTTT to automate tasks and make your life easier.

How to Connect Gmail With IFTTT

Open the IFTTT website and sign in or sign up. Next, navigate to the Gmail listing and click on Connect. Now, sign in with your Google account and click on Allow to grant permissions. Your Google account should now be connected. Alternatively, you can also download IFTTT's mobile app to accomplish the same thing.

Download: IFTTT for Android | iOS (Free)

1. Add Starred Emails as Todoist Tasks

ifttt gmail todoist tasks

A lot of Gmail users tend to star important emails, usually to take action on them later. If you take a break to marathon the best movies on Netflix, you might easily forget to take action on those emails. If you're an avid Gmail user and happen to use Todoist to jot reminders quickly, you're in for a treat.

You can automatically add a task to Todoist when you star an email in Gmail. This way, you'll never miss out on any of your starred emails.

To do so, just enable this applet and grant IFTTT the permission to access your Todoist account. You can also configure the applet to create a new task in the specified project and optionally set a priority for it.

IFTTT Recipe: Automatically add a task to Todoist when you star an email in Gmail

2. Ask Alexa to Email Your Shopping List

ifttt gmail alexa shopping list

Alexa is constantly updated with a lot of new skills. One such skill we all love is the ability to dictate our shopping list. Using an IFTTT applet, you can ask Alexa to email your shopping list. This might come in handy when you're running out the door for your shopping trip.

To do so, enable this IFTTT applet and grant IFTTT the permission to access the Amazon account associated with your Alexa. Now, you can simply ask Alexa, "What's on my shopping list" and it will email your entire list to up to four of your specified email addresses.

IFTTT Recipe: Tell Alexa to email your shopping list

3. Automatically Save Receipts to Evernote

ifttt gmail save receipts to evernote

If you receive most of your receipts on Gmail, it might be a good idea to organize them all in a single place. There are a lot of great apps to help you track and manage your receipts, but most of them require you to scan each receipt individually. Instead, you can assign a particular label to such emails in Gmail and then use IFTTT automation to save receipts to Evernote automatically.

First, open your Gmail account and click on the label icon > Create new.

ifttt gmail add new label

Let's say I've created a label titled "Tax Receipt." Next, select all the emails containing tax receipts and assign them this new label.

Now enable the IFTTT applet and grant permissions to your Evernote account. You can configure the label name ("Tax Receipt") in the applet settings and optionally choose tags and a title. Please note that the label name is case-sensitive, so make sure to enter the exact name.

Once you've enabled the applet, you can quickly label all your emails in Gmail containing receipts and have them saved to your Evernote automatically.

IFTTT Recipe: Automatically save receipts to Evernote

ifttt gmail blink smart lights

It's no secret that you can be endlessly creative with smart lighting solutions. Continuing the streak, let's see how you can make your smart lights blink when you get a new email.

To set it up, just enable the applet and connect your Philips Hue/LIFX account. Your smart bulb should now light up whenever you receive a new email. If you receive way too many emails, you can choose to blink the lights only when you receive an email from a particular address.

If you have another smart lighting solution, don't worry -- you should be able to find an IFTTT applet for it. In the rare case you can't find one, you can always create an IFTTT applet.

IFTTT Recipe: Blink Hue lights when you get an incoming Gmail

IFTTT Recipe: Blink Hue lights when you receive an email from a specific address

IFTTT Recipe: Blink your LIFX lights

ifttt gmail ebay search match

Sometimes, if a product is out of stock for a long time, its listing might be removed from eBay. Instead of having to frantically keep coming back to eBay to check whether a particular product is available, it might be a better option to have eBay alert you automatically when a product is found.

To do so, enable this IFTTT applet and connect your eBay account. You can configure the applet settings to specify the search term and optionally set a maximum price. Now, whenever a product that matches your search pops up, you should receive an email with the product details. Enjoy shopping on eBay like a boss!

IFTTT Recipe: Get an Email When a New Item Matches Your eBay Search

6. Add Starred Emails as Reminders in Google Calendar

ifttt gmail starred emails calendar reminders

If you swear by Google Calendar as your to-do list app, you can automatically have your starred emails added as reminders in Google Calendar. This way, you'll be always reminded of your important emails at a specified time.

To do so, enable the IFTTT applet and grant permissions to access your Google Calendar. The default reminder time is set to 10:00 AM on the following day, but you can change it to your liking. The reminders include the from address and email subject by default, and you can add other details like the email body in plain text.

IFTTT Recipe: Schedule reminders tomorrow for the emails you star in your inbox today

7. Find Your Lost Phone

ifttt gmail find lost phone

If you tend to misplace your phone a lot, this applet can help you locate it by calling your number. This functionality is limited to U.S.-based numbers only.

To get started, enable the IFTTT applet and connect your phone number. To locate your phone, just send an email to your Gmail address with "#lostphone" (without the quotes) in the subject field. IFTTT will then call your phone to help you track it down. Please note that this is a regular carrier call, and hence it would not work if the ringer on your phone is silent.

This may work great if your phone is lying around somewhere in the house. But, as we've said in the past, it's better to use a more robust tracking solution like the Android Device Manager.

IFTTT Recipe: Find your lost phone

8. Save New Email Attachments to Google Drive

ifttt gmail attachments to google drive

Some people like the idea of organizing their email attachments in one place for easy access later on. Using this applet, you can conveniently store all your new email attachments from Gmail to your Google Drive.

To get started, enable the IFTTT applet and grant access to your Google Drive. Now, whenever you receive a new email with an attachment, the attachment file should automatically be saved to a folder in Google Drive. The default storage location in Google Drive is IFTTT/Gmail Attachments, but you can change it easily by going to the applet's settings.

IFTTT Recipe: Save new email attachments from Gmail to Google Drive

9. Sync Receipts, Invoices & Orders to Google Sheets

ifttt gmail receipts invoices orders google spreadsheet

These days, emails include all sorts of important attachments -- including invoices, receipts, and much more. Self-employed people might know the importance of storing them in one place to avoid the hassle during the tax season. Organizing all such attachments manually might become a bit tedious. Thankfully, you can use this applet to automate the process.

To do so, enable the IFTTT applet and grant permission to access your Google Spreadsheet. Once you've enabled it, you can configure the applet setting to include the search query. By default, it's set to: "Subject: receipt OR Subject: order OR Subject: invoice". Whenever you receive a new email that matches the search query, IFTTT will sync all such emails with a Google Spreadsheet.

IFTTT Recipe: Sync Gmail Email with Receipts, Invoices, and Orders to a Google Spreadsheet

Explore More IFTTT Applets for Gmail

This, by no means, is an exhaustive list of IFTTT applets for Gmail. There are several other applets you can explore by visiting the IFTTT website. In the rare case that you cannot find what you're looking for, you can easily create your own.

Which IFTTT applets do you use to superpower your Gmail experience? Did we miss any important ones? We'd love to hear about them in the comments below.

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