Flagged Outlook emails to Microsoft Planner tasks, every 15 minutes

Build an agent workflow that turns my newly flagged Outlook emails into Microsoft Planner tasks. Trigger: cron, every 15 minutes. Integrations: microsoft-outlook and microsoft-planner.

On each run, use Microsoft Outlook List Messages on my inbox to fetch messages where flag.flagStatus eq 'flagged'. Also constrain to messages I have flagged since the workflow last ran, using a persisted last-checked timestamp on flag.completedDateTime/startDateTime (or receivedDateTime as a fallback) so we only process new flags and never re-process the same email twice. Cap the page size with a sensible $top and use $select to keep the payload small.

For each newly flagged message, call Microsoft Outlook Get Message to load the subject and body. Then use the agent's reasoning to: (1) propose a concise task title (under ~80 chars) that names the actual ask, not just the email subject; (2) write a short task description that captures the ask, who sent it, and the key context; (3) infer a due date from any deadline language in the email ("by Friday", "end of next week", "before our 1:1", explicit dates, etc.) and default to two business days from now when nothing is stated. Skip messages that are pure FYIs, newsletters, or where the action is obviously trivial.

On the first run of each session, call Microsoft Planner List Buckets in Plan once for my designated plan and find the bucket named "From Inbox". Cache the bucket id for the rest of the run so we do not list buckets per message. Then for each surviving email call Microsoft Planner Create Task with the proposed title, the bucket id, the inferred dueDateTime, and write the description into the task notes via the standard Create Task flow.

At the end of the run, persist the new last-checked timestamp so the next run only picks up flags added after this one. Log a one-line summary per processed email (title, due date, decision: created or skipped-as-FYI) so I can audit what the agent did.

Configuration the user should be able to edit: the cron schedule (default every 15 minutes), the Planner plan id, the bucket name (default "From Inbox"), and the default due date offset (default two business days).

Additional information

What does this prompt do?

Watches your Outlook inbox every 15 minutes and only picks up emails you newly flagged.
Reads the subject and body and proposes a concise task title, a short description that captures the ask and the sender, and a due date inferred from any deadline language.
Defaults the due date to two business days from now when the email does not state one.
Drops the task into the From Inbox bucket of the Planner board you pick, so your action list lives next to the rest of your team's work.
Skips pure FYIs and emails where the action is too trivial to be worth a task.

What do I need to use this?

A Microsoft 365 account with Outlook access.
A Microsoft Planner plan you can write to, with a bucket called From Inbox already created.
A habit of flagging the emails you want turned into work.

How can I customize it?

Change how often it runs. Every 15 minutes is the default, but hourly or twice a day works just as well.
Point it at a different Planner board, or rename the target bucket to match how your team organizes work.
Tune the default due date. Two business days is the fallback, but you can ask for same-day, end-of-week, or whatever fits your workload.

Frequently asked questions

How does Geni know which emails to turn into tasks?

It only looks at emails you have flagged in Outlook, and it remembers which flagged emails it has already processed so the same email never becomes two tasks.

What if the email does not mention a deadline?

Geni defaults the due date to two business days from now. You can change that default to whatever cadence matches your work.

Where do the tasks end up in Planner?

They land in a bucket called From Inbox in the plan you choose. Create that bucket once in Planner, and Geni will keep dropping new tasks there.

Will it create tasks for newsletters and FYIs?

No. Geni reads each flagged email and skips messages that are clearly informational or where the action is too small to bother tracking.

Can I use this with a shared mailbox or a delegated account?

Yes, as long as the Microsoft account you connect can read the mailbox you want to monitor and write to the Planner board you want to file tasks in.