Gmail to Linear: The Complete Integration Guide (2026)

Gmail and Linear are two tools that most dev teams use every day, but there is no native connection between them. Linear has no built-in Gmail integration. Gmail has no way to send emails directly into Linear as issues. You need a third-party method to bridge the gap — and it matters which one you pick.

The good news is that four solid methods exist, each suited to different workflows and team sizes. This guide covers all of them so you can pick the right one.

Here is what we will compare:

1. Gmail add-on (manual, one-click saving from Gmail sidebar)
2. Email forwarding (automatic, rule-based issue creation)
3. Zapier (general automation platform)
4. Make (flexible automation, more modules, more complexity)

Why There Is No Native Gmail-to-Linear Integration

Linear is built around structured project management. Its API is powerful, but Linear has deliberately kept its integration surface focused on developer workflows — GitHub, GitLab, Slack, Figma, and similar tools. Email is not a first-class citizen in Linear's integration roadmap.

Gmail is Google's email product. Google Workspace has integrations for its own productivity suite (Sheets, Drive, Calendar) but no tooling that pushes emails into third-party project management platforms like Linear.

This gap is exactly the problem Quicktion was built to solve. A tool purpose-built for turning emails into structured records in project management and data tools — including Linear.

Method 1: Gmail Add-on (Quicktion)

A Gmail add-on is the most direct way to save an email to Linear. You are already in Gmail reading the email. You click a button. The issue appears in your Linear team. No copy-pasting, no switching tabs, no manual issue creation.

Quicktion's Gmail add-on works as a sidebar panel inside Gmail. When you open any email, you click the Quicktion icon in the right sidebar, select your destination Linear team, and hit save.

How to Set It Up

Step 1: Install the add-on. Open the Google Workspace Marketplace, search for "Quicktion," and click Install. Grant the requested permissions to read email and display the sidebar.

Step 2: Connect Linear. Open Gmail, click the Quicktion icon in the sidebar, and sign in with your Google account. Then connect your Linear workspace by authorizing Quicktion via Linear's OAuth flow.

Step 3: Create a destination. In the Quicktion dashboard, create a destination linked to a Linear team. Configure default values for project, status, priority, assignee, and labels — these will be pre-applied to every issue created through this destination.

Step 4: Save an email. Open any email in Gmail, click the Quicktion icon, review the issue data, and click Save to Linear. The issue appears in your team within seconds.

Edit Before Saving

One feature that sets the Gmail add-on apart from automated methods is the ability to review and edit issue data before saving. Before you confirm the save, you can see exactly how the issue will look in Linear and modify any field. This is useful when you want to change the priority, assign the issue to a specific person, or add a label that the email does not contain.

What Gets Saved

• Subject saved as the issue title
• Body converted to markdown and saved as the issue description
• Sender name and email included at the top of the description
• Date received recorded as part of the issue metadata
• Attachments uploaded and linked in the issue description
• Default fields applied: project, status, priority, assignee, labels

Pros

• One-click saving from inside Gmail
• Preview and edit issue fields before it hits Linear
• Full email body preserved as readable markdown
• Attachments handled automatically
• No forwarding rules to configure
• Works for any email you choose to save

Cons

• Manual — requires you to open and act on each email
• Only works in Gmail (not other email clients)

When to Use It

The Gmail add-on is best for selective saving. You read an email, decide it belongs in Linear as an issue, and save it on the spot. It is ideal for client requests you want to track, one-off bug reports that come in via email, escalations from your sales team, or any email that does not follow a predictable pattern you could automate.

For a full walkthrough of the Linear save flow, see our guide to saving emails to Linear.

Method 2: Email Forwarding (Quicktion)

Email forwarding is the hands-off approach to Gmail-to-Linear integration. Instead of manually saving each email, you forward it to a unique address and it automatically appears as a new issue in your Linear team.

How It Works

Step 1: Create a destination. In the Quicktion dashboard, create a destination linked to your Linear team. Configure default fields — project, status, priority, assignee, and labels. Quicktion generates a unique forwarding address like abc123@in.quicktion.io.

Step 2: Forward emails. You can forward emails manually by sending them to your Quicktion address, or — more powerfully — set up automatic forwarding with Gmail filters.

Step 3: Issues appear automatically. Every email forwarded to your Quicktion address is processed and saved to Linear within seconds. No manual action required.

Setting Up Auto-Forwarding in Gmail

This is where email forwarding becomes truly automatic. Gmail's filter system lets you forward matching emails to your Quicktion address without any ongoing effort.

1. In Gmail, open the search bar dropdown and define your filter criteria — for example, emails from a specific sender, containing certain words, or from a specific domain
2. Click Create filter
3. Check Forward it to and select your Quicktion forwarding address
4. Optionally check Also apply filter to matching conversations to process existing emails retroactively

From that point on, every matching email is automatically saved to Linear as a new issue. You do not need to be at your computer, open Gmail, or click anything.

For the complete setup walkthrough, see our forward emails to Linear guide.

Pros

• Fully automatic once configured
• Works with any email client, not just Gmail
• Rule-based — only save emails that match your criteria
• Handles high volumes without manual effort
• No per-email action required

Cons

• No preview or editing before the issue is created
• Requires setting up Gmail filter rules for automatic behavior

When to Use It

Email forwarding works best for high-volume, predictable workflows. Support emails from a shared inbox. Bug reports arriving from an error monitoring service. Client requests from a known domain. Any workflow where you can say "all emails from X become Linear issues in team Y" is a good candidate for forwarding.

Many teams combine both Quicktion methods: forwarding handles automated, recurring emails while the add-on handles one-off, selective saves.

Method 3: Zapier

Zapier is a general-purpose automation platform that connects thousands of apps through trigger-action workflows called Zaps. For Gmail to Linear, you create a Zap with a Gmail trigger and a Linear action.

How It Works

Trigger: New email in Gmail (with optional filters like labels, sender, or search terms)

Action: Create an issue in Linear

You authorize Zapier to access your Gmail and Linear accounts, configure the trigger conditions, map email fields to Linear fields, and activate the Zap.

What You Get (and Do Not Get) with Zapier

Zapier moves email data into Linear. But there are meaningful limitations:

Polling delays. Zapier checks Gmail every 5-15 minutes depending on your plan. An email sent at 10:00 AM might not appear in Linear until 10:15 AM. This is not real-time.

Plain text or raw HTML body. The email body arrives as plain text or raw HTML. Zapier does not convert the body to clean markdown. Linear's issue description will contain either stripped-down plain text or a block of HTML tags — neither is readable.

No attachment handling. Zapier does not download or upload email attachments to Linear. Files mentioned in emails do not transfer. You need to handle attachments manually.

Task-based billing. Every email saved counts as one task. On Zapier's free plan (100 tasks/month), you can save roughly 100 emails per month.

Manual field mapping. You manually map each email field to each Linear field. If you change your Linear workflow or project structure, you may need to update the Zap. There is no automatic detection.

Pros

• Works across thousands of apps — useful if you need to create a Linear issue AND send a Slack message AND log to a spreadsheet from one trigger
• Conditional logic — route different emails to different Linear teams based on rules
• Familiar interface for teams already using Zapier

Cons

• 5-15 minute polling delays (not instant)
• Email body saved as plain text or raw HTML — not markdown
• Attachments not handled
• $19.99+/month for regular use (free tier is 100 tasks/month)
• Manual field mapping that requires maintenance
• No Gmail add-on for manual, selective saving
• Setup takes 15-20 minutes vs 2-3 minutes for Quicktion

When to Use Zapier

Zapier is a reasonable choice when you need complex multi-step automation — when an email arrives, create a Linear issue AND post in Slack AND log to a Google Sheet. Zapier handles that orchestration well.

But if your goal is getting emails into Linear cleanly — with proper markdown descriptions and attachments — Zapier requires more setup, costs more, and delivers a worse result than a purpose-built tool.

Method 4: Make (Integromat)

Make (formerly Integromat) is another general-purpose automation platform. It uses a visual drag-and-drop interface with modules rather than Zapier's linear trigger-action flow. Make is more flexible for complex scenarios, but that flexibility comes at the cost of simplicity.

How It Works

In Make, you build a Scenario that contains:

1. A Gmail module to watch for new emails (or emails matching a search filter)
2. A Linear module to create a new issue

You connect the modules, map fields between them, and schedule the scenario to run on a set interval.

Make checks Gmail on a schedule — every 15 minutes on the free plan, more frequently on paid plans. Like Zapier, it is polling-based, not real-time.

What Make Does Differently Than Zapier

Make's module system gives you more control over data transformation between steps. You can use built-in functions to parse strings, format dates, or extract content from the email body before it reaches Linear. This is more powerful than Zapier's formatter steps.

Make is also generally cheaper than Zapier for equivalent functionality.

However, the interface is more complex. If you are not already familiar with Make, the learning curve is steeper than Zapier's more intuitive setup flow. For a simple Gmail-to-Linear workflow, that complexity is not worth the trade-off.

Pros

• More flexible data transformation between steps
• Generally cheaper than Zapier at equivalent volumes
• Powerful for complex, multi-branch automation flows
• Good for teams already invested in the Make platform

Cons

• Steeper learning curve than Zapier
• Still polling-based (not real-time)
• Email body handling is still plain text without custom parsing logic
• No attachment handling for Linear out of the box
• Overkill for a simple email-to-Linear workflow
• No Gmail add-on for manual saving

When to Use Make

Make makes sense for teams that are already using it for other automation and want to add an email-to-Linear workflow within their existing setup. It also works well when you need sophisticated conditional logic or data transformation that simple tools do not support.

For straightforward email saving, Make introduces more complexity than the workflow warrants.

Gmail to Linear: Method Comparison

Here is how all four methods compare across the factors that matter most:

Which Method Should You Choose?

Choose the Gmail add-on if you want to save specific emails as you read them. You are in Gmail, you see an email worth logging as a Linear issue, and you want it done with one click. The preview-before-saving feature is particularly useful when you want to adjust priority, assign the issue, or add labels that are not implicit in the email.

Choose email forwarding if you want hands-off automation. You have a class of emails — support requests, error alerts, client feedback from a specific domain — that should always become Linear issues. Set up a Gmail filter once and never think about it again.

Use both Quicktion methods together for complete coverage. Forwarding handles the predictable, recurring emails automatically. The add-on handles the one-off emails you decide to save manually. This combination covers every scenario without any gaps.

Choose Zapier or Make if you need to connect email saving to a broader multi-step workflow. If an incoming email needs to trigger actions across three or four different apps simultaneously, general automation platforms are the right fit. But if the destination is just Linear, the added complexity and cost are not justified.

For most dev teams, Quicktion is the right answer. The Gmail add-on takes two minutes to set up. Email forwarding takes five. And both produce clean, well-formatted Linear issues with attachments handled automatically — something neither Zapier nor Make delivers out of the box.

Get Started

Install Quicktion from the Google Workspace Marketplace, connect your Linear workspace, and create your first destination. The free plan includes 25 emails per month — enough to test the workflow and see how your Linear issues look before committing to a paid plan.

For a complete step-by-step walkthrough, read our guide to saving emails to Linear.

To set up automatic forwarding, see our forward emails to Linear guide.