Google Docs
Google Docs email integration
An email can become a Google Doc by forwarding it to ForwardThis, body and all, filed into the Drive folder from your instructions. It can also add to a doc, answer a comment thread, or swap one exact phrase for another.
Setup in 30 seconds.
How it works
Connect Google Docs
Create a free account and connect Google Docs. It takes about 30 seconds, and you only do it once.
Forward an email
Forward any email to your ForwardThis address along with your instructions. One email can ask for several things at once.
Done.
ForwardThis replies when it's done, with a short summary and links to what it made, and an undo button if something doesn't look right.
Just forward it
to do@forwardthis.io
Fwd: Notes from the Northgate kickoff
Turn this into a doc called Northgate kickoff notes, and add the same summary to the end of our Weekly Client Log.
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Hi both - quick write-up from this morning. They want the new site live by 1 November, Priya is our day to day contact, and budget sign-off comes from the trustees in September.
Created Northgate kickoff notes
Site live 1 Nov · contact Priya · sign-off September
Added to Weekly Client Log
25 Aug · Northgate kickoff
Undo available for 24 hours if something does not look right.
Some other examples
- “Save this thread as a doc called Acme - contract discussion.”
- “Add these notes to the bottom of the Q3 retro doc.”
- “Rename the proposal doc to Proposal v2 and share it with tom@fieldandco.co.uk.”
Everything ForwardThis can do in Google Docs
Create document
Turn an email into a doc
Add note
Append to a doc, comment, or answer a comment
Read a record
Read a doc, and what's open on it
Edit document
Edit a doc
Move file
Move a doc into a folder
Restore file from trash
Restore a doc from trash
Remove access
Remove someone's access to a doc
Check who has access
Check who can see a doc
Copy file
Copy a doc
Rename file
Rename a doc
Move file to trash
Move a doc to trash
Share file
Share a doc with someone
Find files
Find a doc
Try it with a real email.
Forward any email to the address below to see what ForwardThis can do. No signup required.
Occasional product emails may follow.
Why you need ForwardThis
Email is messy, every message asking for something different. It means constantly leaving your inbox and juggling tabs. ForwardThis skips all of that: forward an email along with some simple instructions, and it’s handled. Compatible with every email provider, and it works across the apps you’re already using.
Questions
- How does the Google Docs email integration work?
- In Google Docs the email becomes a new doc with the headings and the detail kept, or goes onto the end of a doc from your instructions, and ForwardThis only sees the docs it created for you plus any you send it a link to, never the rest of your Google account. Forward the email to your ForwardThis address with a simple instruction, like "turn this into a doc called Northgate kickoff notes". ForwardThis writes the doc and replies to confirm with a link. The first time, you'll need a free account with Google Docs connected, which takes about 30 seconds, and that's the entire Google Docs email integration. Saving an email to Google Docs has a page of its own.
- Can it add an email to a doc I already have instead of making a new one?
- Yes. Say which doc and it appends to the end of that one, so a running log of client calls or weekly notes keeps growing without you opening it. It can also leave a comment on a doc if you'd rather flag something than add to the body.
- Can it edit a doc rather than just add to it?
- Yes. You can ask it to change wording, fix a name throughout, or replace a section, and every edit it makes can be put back. It cannot leave an edit as a suggestion for you to accept later, because Google Docs offers no way to create one.
- Which docs can ForwardThis see?
- The ones it created for you, plus any doc you send it a link to. It does not read through the rest of your Google account, which is why the doc is named in the instruction rather than expected to go looking.
- What if the doc comes out wrong?
- The confirmation email includes an undo that works for 24 hours, and it checks nobody else has edited the doc since before putting anything back. You can also just reply with what should change.