Gmail to Trello: The Complete Integration Guide

Gmail and Trello are both tools millions of people use daily, but there is no native Gmail-to-Trello connection that does everything you need. Trello has its own email-to-board feature, but it's limited. Gmail doesn't send emails to Trello on its own. You need a method to bridge the gap.

The good news is that four solid methods exist, each suited to different workflows. 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 saving)
3. Trello email-to-board (built-in, basic)
4. Zapier (general automation platform)

Method 1: Gmail Add-on (Quicktion)

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

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 Trello board and list, 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 Trello. Open Gmail, click the Quicktion icon in the sidebar, and sign in with your Google account. Then connect your Trello workspace by authorizing Quicktion via the OAuth flow.

Step 3: Create a destination. In the Quicktion dashboard, create a destination linked to a Trello board and list. Configure which labels and members to pre-assign, and choose whether cards go to the top or bottom of the list.

Step 4: Save an email. Open any email in Gmail, click the Quicktion icon, and click Save. The card appears on your board within seconds.

What Gets Saved

• Subject saved as card name
• Email body converted to markdown and saved as card description
• Sender info and date included as metadata footer (optional)
• Attachments uploaded directly to the Trello card

Pros

• One-click saving from inside Gmail
• Full email body preserved as clean markdown
• Attachments uploaded directly to Trello cards
• Default labels and members pre-assigned 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 on your Trello board, and save it on the spot. It is ideal for logging important client communications, one-off bug reports, or any email that does not follow a predictable pattern you could automate.

Method 2: Email Forwarding (Quicktion)

Email forwarding is the hands-off approach to Gmail-to-Trello integration. Instead of manually saving each email, you forward it to a unique address and it automatically appears as a new card on your Trello board.

How It Works

Step 1: Create a destination. In the Quicktion dashboard, create a destination linked to your Trello board and list. Configure defaults the same way as the add-on. 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: Cards appear automatically. Every email forwarded to your Quicktion address is processed and saved to Trello 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 with attachments
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 Trello. You do not need to be at your computer, open Gmail, or click anything.

For the complete setup walkthrough, see our forward emails to Trello 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

Cons

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

When to Use It

Email forwarding works best for high-volume, predictable workflows. Bug reports from a support tool. Client requests from a contact form. Project updates from specific senders. Any workflow where you can say "all emails from X go to Trello board Y" is a good candidate for forwarding.

Method 3: Trello Email-to-Board

Trello has a built-in feature that lets you email cards to a board. Each Trello board has a unique email address that you can find in the board's settings.

How It Works

1. Open your Trello board and go to Settings > Email-to-board
2. Copy the board's unique email address
3. Forward any email to that address
4. A new card appears in the designated list

What You Get

• Subject becomes the card title
• Body becomes the card description (as plain text)
• Attachments are included on the card

Limitations

• No markdown conversion -- the email body is saved as-is, often as messy plain text or raw HTML
• No field mapping -- you can't control which labels, members, or list the card lands in per email
• One address per board -- you can't route different emails to different lists without manual intervention
• No metadata -- sender name, email, and date are not extracted into structured fields
• No Gmail add-on -- you must forward every email manually or set up forwarding rules yourself

When to Use It

Trello email-to-board works for casual, low-volume use when you don't need clean formatting, labels, or member assignment. It's a reasonable fallback if you want a quick way to get an email onto a board without installing anything. For anything beyond basic use, the limitations become frustrating.

Method 4: Zapier

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

How It Works

Trigger: New email in Gmail (with optional filters)

Action: Create card in Trello

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

Limitations

Polling delays. Zapier checks Gmail every 5-15 minutes depending on your plan. An email sent at 10:00 AM might not appear as a card until 10:15 AM.

Plain text body. The email body arrives as plain text or raw HTML. Zapier does not convert the body to clean markdown.

No native attachment handling. Zapier provides attachment URLs from Gmail's servers, but it does not download or upload files to Trello. Getting attachments onto cards requires extra steps and additional task usage.

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 -- and fewer if you add extra steps.

When to Use Zapier

Zapier is a reasonable choice when you need complex multi-step automation or when you already use Zapier for other workflows and want to add email-to-Trello within that setup.

Gmail to Trello: Method Comparison

Which Method Should You Choose?

Choose the Gmail add-on if you want to save specific emails as you read them. You're in Gmail, you see an email worth turning into a card, and you want it on your board with one click.

Choose email forwarding if you want hands-off automation. You have a class of emails -- client requests, bug reports, project briefs -- that should always become Trello cards. 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.

Use Trello email-to-board for casual, low-volume use when you don't need clean formatting or defaults.

Choose Zapier if you need to connect email saving to a broader multi-step workflow across multiple apps.

For most individuals and small 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 Trello cards with attachments handled automatically.

Get Started

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

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

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