Analyzing replies with Pam

Pam is your inbox agent. She can scan your replies, summarize what's happening, and even tidy things up for you — so instead of clicking through every thread, you can just ask. Pam lives right on the Inbox page and is part of the unified reply inbox on every live plan.

Opening Pam

Goal: start a conversation with your inbox agent.

1. Open Inbox. On desktop, look for Pam's avatar in the top right with the prompt Chat with me about your inbox.
2. Click the avatar to open the Pam panel (labeled Inbox Agent). On mobile, tap the Chat with Pam about your inbox row below the header.
3. Type your question in the Ask Pam about your inbox... box and send.

What to ask

When you open a fresh chat, Pam offers a few starting points you can click:

• "What needs my attention?" — surfaces the replies worth acting on.
• "Archive all out-of-office replies" — cleans up auto-replies in one go.
• "Who should I follow up with?" — finds threads that have gone quiet.

You can also ask in your own words — Pam helps you triage, organize, and manage your inbox replies.

Watching Pam work

As Pam answers, you'll see small status pills showing what she's doing — for example Checking inbox, Finding threads, Reading thread, Finding follow-ups, Updating labels, or Updating threads. When she opens a conversation for you, the thread comes up in the main view automatically; when she changes labels or archives things, the list refreshes on its own.

To start over, click the refresh icon in the panel header for a New conversation, or close the panel with the X.

Suggested reply drafts

Separately from Pam, Penny can write a suggested reply for a thread. When one is ready, a card inside the thread says I wrote a draft for you. It opens collapsed, so the conversation stays easy to read:

• Preview — expands the card so you can read the draft. Hide collapses it again.
• Apply (or Apply Draft when the card is expanded) — drops the draft into the composer, where you can edit it before sending.
• The X (or Dismiss) — skips the draft.

While a draft is waiting, the reply box shows as a single line that says Write a reply…. Click it, or press r, to open the full composer. Hide in the composer collapses it again.

Asking for a draft yourself

On any thread that has a reply and no draft card showing, the composer has a Draft with Penny button that writes one on demand. After you apply or dismiss a draft, the same button reads Redraft with Penny and writes a fresh one.

Turning automatic drafts off

Automatic drafts are on by default. To stop them, expand a draft card and click Turn off auto-drafts (an Undo appears right after), or go to Settings → AI → Inbox and switch off Draft replies automatically. With it off, Penny only writes a draft when you ask with Draft with Penny.

Tip: applying a draft only fills the composer — nothing sends until you send it yourself, with the usual undo window.