How to Save Emails to Linear (3 Methods Compared)

If your team runs on Linear, you've probably noticed that a lot of work starts as an email — a client request, a bug report from a user, an internal escalation. Good news: there are several ways to turn those emails into Linear issues without copying and pasting. In this guide, we'll compare three methods so you can pick the one that fits your workflow.

Method 1: Email Forwarding

The simplest approach is email forwarding. Services like Quicktion give you a unique email address tied to a Linear team. Forward any email to that address and it becomes a Linear issue automatically.

How it works:

1. Sign up and connect Linear. Create a Quicktion account and authorize access to your Linear workspace. This takes about 30 seconds — you click through Linear's OAuth prompt to grant Quicktion access to your teams.
2. Create a destination. A destination is a link between a forwarding address and a Linear team. Pick which team should receive your emails as issues. Optionally set a default project, status, priority, assignee, and labels.
3. Configure your defaults. Choose what each incoming issue should look like before your team touches it. For example, set priority to "Medium" and status to "Triage" so every forwarded email lands in the right place automatically.
4. Forward emails. Send any email to your unique Quicktion address. Within 10-30 seconds, a new issue appears in your Linear team with the subject as the title and the body as the description.

This method works with any email client — Gmail, Outlook, Apple Mail, Yahoo Mail, Thunderbird, or anything else that can forward messages. You can even set up auto-forwarding rules so specific emails go to Linear without any manual effort.

Auto-forwarding is where this method really shines. In Gmail, you create a filter (e.g., "from:support@yourapp.com") and set it to forward matching emails to your Quicktion address. From that point on, every matching email becomes a Linear issue on its own. You never have to think about it.

The same works in Outlook and most other email clients. Set up the rule once and your emails flow into Linear on autopilot.

Method 2: Gmail Add-on

If you live in Gmail, a workspace add-on might be more convenient. With Quicktion's Gmail add-on, you can save emails to Linear without leaving your inbox.

How it works:

1. Install the add-on. Find Quicktion in the Google Workspace Marketplace and install it. It appears as a sidebar icon in Gmail.
2. Connect your Linear account. On first use, the add-on walks you through connecting your Linear workspace — the same OAuth flow as the web dashboard.
3. Open any email and click save. When you open an email, click the Quicktion icon in Gmail's right sidebar. You'll see your configured destinations. Pick one and hit save.
4. Edit before saving (optional). Before saving, you can review and edit the data that will be written to your Linear issue. Adjust the title, trim the description, change the priority, or update any field before it lands in Linear. This is useful when emails need light cleanup before they're worth logging as issues.

The advantage here is speed — you don't need to compose a forward. Just click and save. The add-on also shows you a confirmation once the issue is saved, so you know it worked.

For a deeper walkthrough, see our complete Gmail to Linear integration guide.

Method 3: Manual Copy-Paste

The old-fashioned way is to open the email, copy the subject, switch to Linear, create a new issue, paste the subject as the title, go back to the email, copy the body, paste it into the description, and repeat for every relevant email.

Why this falls short:

• Time cost adds up. Each manual save takes 2-3 minutes. Across a team of five people doing this a dozen times a week, that's hours of work every month that adds no value.
• Formatting is lost. When you paste an email body into Linear, you lose most of the formatting. Links become plain text, lists collapse, and the structure of the original email gets stripped out.
• Attachments need manual handling. Files attached to the email don't move over automatically. You have to download them, then upload them to the Linear issue separately.
• Context is missing. The sender's name, email address, and exact send date don't get captured unless you manually type them into the issue description.
• Nothing is automatic. Every single email requires deliberate action. There is no way to build a workflow where emails become issues without someone doing it manually each time.

Manual copy-paste works occasionally for a one-off urgent issue. As a regular workflow for a team, it is too slow and too error-prone to rely on.

Which Method Should You Choose?

For most dev teams, email forwarding is the easiest starting point. Once auto-forwarding is configured, zero effort is required per email, and it works regardless of which email client you use. If you use Gmail exclusively and want to save individual emails selectively — with the option to review and adjust issue fields before saving — the Gmail add-on is ideal. Manual copy-paste is a last resort for one-off situations only.

What Gets Saved to Linear

When you save an email to Linear, each part of the email maps to a field on the issue. Here's exactly what happens:

Subject becomes the issue title. The email's subject line is saved as the title. Your team can see at a glance what each issue is about without opening it.

Body becomes the issue description. Quicktion converts the HTML email body into markdown. Links, headings, bold text, and lists are preserved. Linear renders markdown natively in issue descriptions, so the content looks clean and readable.

Sender is captured in the description. The sender's name and email address are included at the top of the issue description. This gives your team context about who raised the issue.

Date is recorded. The email's send date is captured as part of the issue metadata, so you know exactly when the original message came in.

Attachments are uploaded and linked. Files attached to the email are uploaded and linked directly in the issue description. Your team can access them without leaving Linear.

Default fields are applied automatically. Every destination you create in Quicktion can have default values for Linear-specific fields: project, cycle, status, priority, assignee, and labels. Configure them once and every incoming email issue is pre-categorized correctly.

Save Emails to Linear by Use Case

Different workflows call for different setups. Here are four common use cases where saving emails to Linear adds real value for dev teams:

Support Emails as Bug Reports

Customer support emails often describe bugs. Forward your support inbox to a Linear destination configured for your Bug Reports project. Set priority to "Medium" and status to "Triage" by default. Every customer complaint lands as a properly categorized issue, ready for your engineering team to triage.

This is one of the most common use cases for teams that handle support themselves. Instead of someone manually creating a ticket for every bug report that comes in via email, the process is entirely automatic.

Client Requests as Feature Issues

Agency teams and dev shops frequently receive feature requests from clients via email. Set up a Gmail filter for each client's domain and auto-forward to a destination linked to their project in Linear. The feature request becomes an issue immediately, with the client's exact words preserved in the description. No translation or summarization required.

Internal Escalations as Tasks

When your ops team, sales team, or leadership emails engineering asking for something to be fixed or built, those emails often fall through the cracks. Use the Gmail add-on to save escalation emails directly as Linear issues the moment you read them. Set the priority based on urgency before saving — high priority issues get flagged immediately.

Vendor and Partner Notifications

Third-party services send notifications when something breaks: failed payments, API errors, integration issues. Auto-forward those notification emails to a Linear team configured for infrastructure or ops. Your team sees them as issues with full context, not as buried inbox messages that might be missed.

Save Emails to Linear for Free

You don't need to pay anything to get started. Quicktion's free plan includes:

• 25 emails per month — enough for occasional forwarding or testing your workflow
• 1 destination — one Linear team linked to one forwarding address
• Gmail add-on access — save emails manually from Gmail at no cost
• Email forwarding — works with any email client
• Attachment uploads — files uploaded and linked in the issue description
• Default field values — set project, status, priority, assignee, and labels per destination
• No credit card required — sign up and start saving immediately

For higher volume or multiple destinations, the Pro plan is $8/month. Pro gives you unlimited emails, unlimited destinations, and priority processing. Most teams start on the free plan to test their workflow and upgrade when they need more capacity.

Getting Started

The fastest way to try email-to-Linear is to sign up for Quicktion. You get both forwarding and the Gmail add-on in one platform, so you can use whichever method fits each situation.

For a detailed walkthrough of the Gmail add-on, check out our Gmail to Linear integration guide.

Get started with Quicktion — it takes less than two minutes to connect your first Linear team.