The Outlook connector lets your AI work directly in your Outlook mailbox and calendar from chat. It can find and read emails, check calendars and free time, prepare drafts, replies and forwards, and file emails into folders. It can also send email, but only when you tell it to.
It's built on MCP (Model Context Protocol), the same framework behind our other connectors. For the bigger picture, see What Are Connectors?
How to connect Outlook
- In a chat, go to Tools > Connectors, or open your TextCortex settings and go to Integrations permissions.
- Select Microsoft Outlook and sign in with your Microsoft account.
- Once the connector shows Connected, switch on Use in this chat to use it in your current conversation.
The Accounts tab shows which Microsoft account the connector uses. The AI acts as that account, so it only sees the mailboxes and calendars that account can already open.
What the connector can read
These 6 tools only look things up. They never change anything in Outlook, so they run without asking.
- Search Emails: find emails by keyword, sender or time frame, from the last few hours to a specific month. You can narrow a search to Inbox, Drafts, Archive or Sent Items, to sent or received mail, to Outlook categories or to unread mail. Results can be sorted newest or oldest first.
- Get Email: open one email and read its full content, including which attachments it has.
- Find Availability: find free time slots for a meeting of a given length, across several attendees, within a time range you choose.
- List Mail Folders: see the folders in your mailbox, including subfolders you created.
- List Calendars: see calendars that are shared with you or delegated to you, or all your calendars if you ask.
- Search Calendar Events: find events by keyword. By default it looks 7 days back and 30 days ahead. It can also search a shared or delegated calendar.
What the connector can change
These 9 tools make changes in your mailbox:
- Download PDF Attachment: saves a PDF attached to an email as a file in TextCortex, so the AI can summarize, analyze or compare it. Only PDF attachments are supported.
- Draft Email: writes a new email and saves it to your Drafts folder without sending it.
- Edit Draft: changes an unsent draft in place (subject, text or recipients), so you don't end up with 2 versions.
- Delete Draft: deletes an unsent draft, which Outlook moves to Deleted Items. It won't delete emails you've sent or received.
- Draft Reply: saves a reply or reply-all in the original thread, with the original message quoted below.
- Draft Forward: saves a forward that includes the original message and its attachments, plus an optional note from you.
- Send Email: sends a new email right away and saves a copy in Sent Items. Sending can't be undone.
- Move Email: moves an email to another folder, such as Archive, Deleted Items or one of your own folders (including subfolders).
- Mark Email Read or Unread: changes whether an email shows as read.
Drafts, replies, forwards and sent emails include your Outlook signature by default. Ask the AI to leave it out if you don't want it.
The AI drafts first and sends only when you say so
When you ask the AI to write or prepare an email, it saves a draft for you to review. It only uses Send Email when you clearly tell it to send, for example "send it" or "send it now." If you say "write the email but don't send it yet," it saves a draft.
Replies and forwards stay as drafts. Send Email can only send a new email. It can't send an existing draft, reply or forward, so you send those yourself from Outlook after checking them.
You decide what the AI is allowed to do
Open the connector and go to the Tools tab to control each tool on its own:
[Screenshot: Outlook connector, Tools tab]
- Turn tools on or off: use the switch next to a tool. The AI can't use a tool that's off. For example, switch off Send Email if you only ever want drafts.
- Ask First: for tools that make changes, the AI shows you what it's about to do and waits for your approval.
- Instant: the AI runs that tool without asking.
- Use in this chat: switch the whole connector on or off for the current conversation.
Our recommendation: keep Ask First on for Send Email, Move Email and Delete Draft. The drafting tools (Draft Email, Edit Draft, Draft Reply, Draft Forward) only save drafts you can still review, so they're good candidates for Instant.
Example requests
- "Summarize the unread emails I got in the last 3 hours."
- "Find the last email from the Acme team about the contract and draft a reply confirming Thursday."
- "Forward the invoice email from accounting to finance@example.com with a short note."
- "Download the PDF attached to the latest email from our supplier and pull out the payment terms."
- "Find a free 45-minute slot next week for me, anna@example.com and tom@example.com."
- "Move all newsletters from this week into my Reading folder and mark them as read."
- "Send Lisa an email saying the report is ready." (This one sends, because you said "send.")
Good to know
- Shared mailboxes: searching, reading, drafting, moving and marking emails also work in shared mailboxes your account has access to. Name the mailbox in your request.
- Calendar: the Outlook connector can read calendars and find free time, but it can't create or change events. To schedule a meeting, use the Microsoft Teams connector's Create Event tool.
- No permanent deletion: the connector can only delete drafts, and those go to Deleted Items. It can't permanently delete emails.
- Attachments: only PDF attachments can be downloaded into TextCortex.
- Drafts need write access: if saving, editing or moving emails fails, reconnect Outlook and make sure the Mail.ReadWrite permission is granted. In some organizations, a Microsoft admin has to approve it first.
- Connection expired: if the connection runs out, you'll see a reconnect prompt. Sign in again and the connector starts working again.