How to Forward Emails to Airtable Automatically

Manually copying emails into Airtable is tedious. With auto-forwarding, you can send emails to Airtable without lifting a finger. Here's how to set it up.

What Is Email-to-Airtable Forwarding?

Email forwarding to Airtable works by giving you a unique email address tied to an Airtable table. Any email sent to that address gets parsed and saved as a new record in your base.

Quicktion provides this out of the box. When you create a destination, you get an address like abc123@in.quicktion.io. Forward an email there, and it appears in your Airtable table within seconds.

The system extracts the subject, sender, date, body, and attachments from the forwarded email, then maps each field to the Airtable field types you've configured. Everything is automatic once the initial setup is done. For a broader overview of what's possible, see our complete guide to saving emails to Airtable.

Setting Up Auto-Forwarding in Gmail

Gmail lets you create filters that automatically forward matching emails. This is the most powerful approach because the rules run server-side — no browser or device needs to be open.

1. Open Gmail Settings and go to Filters and Blocked Addresses
2. Click Create a new filter
3. Set your criteria (e.g., from a specific sender, with a specific subject, or containing certain keywords)
4. Click Create filter and check Forward it to
5. Enter your Quicktion forwarding address

From now on, any email matching your filter will be forwarded to Airtable automatically.

Examples of Useful Gmail Filters

Forward all receipts from Stripe:

• Filter: From contains billing@stripe.com
• Action: Forward to your Quicktion address

Forward all contact form submissions:

• Filter: Subject contains New Contact Form Submission
• Action: Forward to your Quicktion address

Forward all order confirmations:

• Filter: From contains orders@shopify.com OR from contains no-reply@amazon.com
• Action: Forward to your Quicktion address

Forward all emails with attachments from a specific client:

• Filter: From contains client@example.com AND has attachment
• Action: Forward to your Quicktion address

You can create as many filters as you need, each forwarding to a different Quicktion destination and therefore a different Airtable table. This lets you route receipts to one table, leads to another, and support tickets to a third.

Setting Up Auto-Forwarding in Outlook

Outlook supports rules-based forwarding too. The interface is slightly different from Gmail, but the concept is the same.

Outlook Web (outlook.com)

1. Go to Settings > Mail > Rules
2. Click Add new rule
3. Name your rule (e.g., "Forward receipts to Airtable")
4. Set your conditions (e.g., from a specific address, subject contains certain words)
5. Choose Forward to as the action
6. Enter your Quicktion forwarding address
7. Click Save

Outlook Desktop (Windows/Mac)

1. Go to File > Manage Rules & Alerts
2. Click New Rule
3. Select Apply rule on messages I receive and click Next
4. Choose your conditions (sender, subject, keywords, etc.)
5. Click Next and select forward it to people or public group
6. Click the underlined link to enter your Quicktion address
7. Complete the wizard and save the rule

Outlook rules also run server-side, so they work even when Outlook is closed or you're on vacation. Every matching email is forwarded and saved to your Airtable table automatically.

Setting Up Forwarding in Apple Mail

Apple Mail on macOS supports rules that can automatically forward emails to any address, including your Quicktion destination.

1. Open Mail and go to Settings (or Preferences on older macOS versions)
2. Click the Rules tab
3. Click Add Rule
4. Give your rule a name (e.g., "Forward invoices to Airtable")
5. Set your conditions — you can match by sender, subject, or other criteria. For example, set "From" contains "billing@" to catch receipts from multiple services
6. Under "Perform the following actions," select Forward Message and enter your Quicktion forwarding address
7. Click OK to save the rule

Important limitation: Apple Mail rules run on your Mac, so your computer needs to be on and Mail needs to be open for the rules to trigger. If you need forwarding to work 24/7 without keeping your Mac running, consider setting up rules in Gmail or Outlook's web interface instead — those run server-side.

You can create multiple rules for different types of emails, each forwarding to a different Quicktion destination. This lets you route newsletters to one Airtable table and support emails to another.

What Gets Saved to Airtable?

When an email is forwarded to Quicktion, it extracts and maps the following fields:

• Subject — saved to a Single line text field, typically used as the primary field
• Sender name — saved to a separate Single line text field
• Sender email — saved to an Email field
• Date — saved to a Date field, formatted to your account timezone
• Body — saved to a Long text field with rich text formatting preserved
• Attachments — uploaded directly to an Attachment field on the record

You control which fields get mapped and to which Airtable field types in your Quicktion destination settings. If your table has a field named "Source" or "Status," you can set a default value for it on every incoming record — useful for tagging forwarded emails as distinct from records created through other workflows.

For a detailed breakdown of field mapping options, see our guide on saving emails to Airtable.

Tips for Power Users

Use Multiple Destinations for Different Email Types

Each Quicktion destination has its own forwarding address and maps to a specific Airtable table. This means you can have completely separate workflows running in parallel.

Create one destination for vendor invoices linked to a Billing table, another for customer inquiries linked to a CRM table, and a third for team notifications linked to an Operations table. Set up one forwarding rule per destination and the sorting happens automatically.

Set Default Values for Tagging and Categorization

Quicktion lets you set default field values on each destination. This is useful when you want to distinguish forwarded emails from records created by other means.

For example, set a "Source" select field to "Email Forward" so you can filter those records in Airtable views. Or set a "Status" field to "New" so incoming emails automatically appear in your triage view without any manual input.

Combine Forwarding with the Gmail Add-on

Auto-forwarding handles emails that match a rule you've already set up. But sometimes you receive an email you want to save that doesn't match any filter — a one-off client email, an unusual invoice, or a message you want to act on immediately.

The Quicktion Gmail add-on gives you a "Save to Airtable" button directly inside Gmail. Click it, choose a destination, and the email is saved without leaving your inbox. The add-on and forwarding use the same destinations, so everything lands in the same Airtable tables.

Using both together means you never have to manually copy an email into Airtable regardless of how it arrives or whether you planned for it.

Test Before Going Live

Before setting up auto-forwarding rules, forward a few test emails manually to your Quicktion address. Verify the field mapping looks right, the date is formatted correctly, and attachments are showing up in the expected field. A few minutes of testing saves you from discovering a misconfigured column after a hundred emails have already been processed.

Use Airtable Views to Organize Incoming Emails

Once emails are flowing into Airtable automatically, use views to make the data useful. A filtered gallery view shows only emails with attachments. A grouped grid view organizes records by sender domain. A Kanban view using a Status field turns your email log into a lightweight pipeline.

Airtable automations can also trigger from new records — you can send a Slack notification, create a task in another app, or update a linked record every time a new email arrives.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I forward emails to Airtable automatically?

Yes. Create a Quicktion destination to get a forwarding address, then set up auto-forwarding rules in your email client. Gmail, Outlook, Apple Mail, and most email apps support rule-based forwarding.

Does email forwarding to Airtable work with Outlook?

Yes. Outlook supports rules-based forwarding. Create a rule that matches your criteria and set the action to forward emails to your Quicktion address.

What happens to attachments when I forward emails to Airtable?

Attachments are automatically uploaded to an Airtable attachment field on the record. You can access them directly from Airtable.

How fast are forwarded emails saved to Airtable?

Most emails appear in your Airtable table within 10-30 seconds of being forwarded. Processing time depends on email size and attachment count.

Can I forward different emails to different Airtable tables?

Yes. Create multiple Quicktion destinations, each linked to a different Airtable table. Then set up separate forwarding rules for each email type.

Get Started

Sign up for Quicktion and create your first forwarding destination. It takes less than two minutes.

For more on saving emails directly from Gmail without forwarding, see our Gmail to Airtable integration guide.