Triggers from Outlook

Overview

Outlook triggers allow you to connect your Microsoft Outlook 365 mailbox directly to Swiftask agents. When a new email matching your defined criteria arrives in your monitored folder, Swiftask automatically initiates your agent's automated workflow.

Instead of manually monitoring inboxes, sorting emails, and copying attachments, your agent acts autonomously 24/7. An Outlook trigger serves as an automated bridge between Microsoft 365 and Swiftask, passing message subjects, sender information, email bodies, and attachments directly into your agent for immediate processing.

When to use Outlook triggers

Outlook triggers are ideal for event-driven workflows centered around inbound communication, document reception, and operational email management.

Common scenarios for using Outlook triggers include:

• Customer support triage: Automatically analyze incoming customer queries, search internal knowledge bases, and draft or send answers.

• Job applicant screening: Capture incoming resumes sent to careers mailboxes, parse candidate details, and update tracking systems.

• Financial document ingestion: Monitor dedicated accounting folders for invoices or receipts, download attachments, and extract financial records.

• VIP sender prioritization: Detect messages from strategic clients or executives and trigger immediate alerts or priority escalations.

• Internal service desk requests: Process operational requests submitted to shared corporate mailboxes and execute corresponding agent tasks.

Prerequisites

Before setting up an Outlook trigger, ensure you have:

• A configured agent: An agent with defined instructions and necessary skills (e.g., sending emails, searching knowledge, updating databases).

• An active Outlook 365 account: A Microsoft 365 business or personal email account with access to the folders you plan to monitor.

• Workspace permissions: Sufficient rights to create and manage agent automations in your Swiftask workspace.

• Custom OAuth credentials (optional): Configured enterprise OAuth application credentials if your IT security policies require custom authentication.

Step-by-step guide

To begin configuring an Outlook trigger, access your agent's automation settings.

1. Click Agents in the left sidebar and select the agent you want to automate.

2. In the agent navigation panel on the left, locate the Automations section and click Triggers.

3. Click the + New Trigger button located in the top-right corner of the Triggers view.

Step 1: Select the trigger type

The Create New Trigger modal opens displaying the available trigger options.

1. Locate the Outlook 365 Email option ("Monitor your Outlook inbox for new emails using modern OAuth2 authentication").

2. Click the Outlook 365 Email card to select it.

Step 2: Connect your Outlook account via OAuth

The wizard advances to step 2 to configure account authentication.

1. In the Trigger Name field, enter a descriptive name that identifies this trigger's role (for example, "Test outlook trigger").

2. Click the red Connect your Outlook account button.

3. Authenticate with your Microsoft credentials in the authentication popup and approve the necessary mailbox access permissions.

Once authenticated, your connected Microsoft account appears selected under the Accounts section.

Custom OAuth settings (optional): If your organization requires dedicated enterprise OAuth credentials for compliance, IT administrators can configure them by clicking the settings gear icon in the Enhance Microsoft Outlook Security with Custom OAuth banner. Non-admin users can proceed with the default connection.

Click Next to proceed to the configuration step.

Step 3: Configure monitoring parameters

Customize how Swiftask monitors your Outlook mailbox and filters incoming emails.

Important note: This trigger only processes incoming emails received today (UTC). Older unread messages are ignored. Keeping "Mark as read" enabled avoids re-processing the same email.

Configure the following parameters according to your workflow needs:

• Email Folder: Enter or select the Outlook folder to monitor (defaults to Inbox).

• Email Filter: Enter an optional OData query filter to restrict which emails trigger the agent (for example, UNSEEN to only process unread messages).

• Mark as Read: Enable this toggle to have Swiftask automatically mark processed emails as read, preventing repeated executions.

• Download Attachments: Enable this toggle to include email attachments in the trigger payload, making them accessible to your agent.

• Authorized Domains: Enter a comma-separated list of allowed sender domains to restrict execution (supports wildcard patterns like *.domain.com).

• Authorized Email Addresses: Enter a comma-separated list of VIP email addresses that are always permitted to trigger the automation.

Click Next to proceed to the review screen.

Step 4: Review and create the trigger

Review the summary of your trigger configuration to confirm that all settings, filters, and mailbox parameters are correct.

1. Click the red Create Trigger button to finalize setup.

2. The dialog closes and you return to the agent Triggers list.

3. Your new Outlook trigger is immediately active and ready to process incoming emails.

Practical use cases

Use case 1: Customer support email triage

Setup: Connect your support inbox (e.g., support@company.com) with the UNSEEN filter enabled.

Agent action: When a new inquiry arrives, the agent reads the message, retrieves relevant help articles from the knowledge base, drafts a personalized reply, and logs the ticket.

Result: Response times are reduced from hours to seconds for routine inquiries.

Use case 2: Job application screening

Setup: Monitor the hiring inbox (e.g., jobs@company.com) with Download Attachments enabled.

Agent action: The agent extracts resume attachments, parses key applicant qualifications, scores them against job requirements, and files candidate summaries into a project workspace.

Result: Recruiting teams receive pre-screened candidate profiles automatically.

Use case 3: VIP client request routing

Setup: Restrict execution using Authorized Email Addresses with high-priority client addresses.

Agent action: Incoming emails from VIP clients trigger immediate priority workflows, notifying account executives and generating task briefs.

Result: High-value customer communications receive urgent, guaranteed attention.

Use case 4: Invoice and receipt ingestion

Setup: Monitor an accounting folder with Authorized Domains configured for approved vendor domains.

Agent action: When vendors send invoices, the agent downloads the PDF attachments, parses line items, and logs payments into accounting databases.

Result: Accounts payable workflows are fully automated without manual data entry.

Tips & best practices

Keep "Mark as Read" enabled: This ensures processed messages are not re-evaluated during subsequent polling cycles.

Use specific trigger names: Name your trigger according to its workflow (such as "Support Inbound Ticket Trigger") to make tracking easier across logs.

Restrict sender domains: Use the Authorized Domains field with wildcard syntax to ensure only trusted business partners can invoke the agent.

Test with a dedicated folder: When initially designing an automation, configure the trigger to watch a dedicated test folder before pointing it to your primary inbox.

Troubleshooting

Trigger does not activate on older emails: Outlook triggers only process emails received on the current calendar day (UTC). Earlier unread emails are deliberately ignored.

Trigger stopped receiving emails: Verify that your Microsoft account OAuth token has not expired or been revoked in your Microsoft security settings.

Attachments are missing from agent actions: Ensure the Download Attachments toggle was turned on during step 3 of configuration.

Unintended senders triggering automations: Add domain or address restrictions under Authorized Domains and Authorized Email Addresses to filter out unwanted senders.

Additional resources

• Triggers from webhook – Set up HTTP webhook endpoints to trigger agent automations from third-party applications.

• Integrate Swiftask webhook with Odoo CRM – Example end-to-end integration using webhook triggers.

• Workspace OAuth configuration – Manage custom OAuth credentials for Microsoft Outlook and other integrations.

• Agent skills & tools – Equip your agent with tools to send emails, manage databases, and query knowledge bases.