Daily Email Summary

1. Overview

The Daily Email Summary process creates a concise, easy‑to‑read digest of a user’s exported emails. It separates the most time‑critical messages from routine information, so the busy professional can quickly see what needs immediate attention and what can be read later.

2. Business Value

Time Savings: Provides a quick snapshot of urgent items, reducing the time spent scanning a full inbox.
Prioritization: Highlights actions that require immediate response, helping prevent missed deadlines.
Clarity: Gives a clear separation between urgent and informational content, improving daily workflow for busy executives.

3. Operational Context

When to run: At the end of each workday (or whenever the user finishes reviewing their email export).
Who uses it: Busy professionals, executives, or anyone who receives a high volume of daily email.
How often: Typically once per day, but can be run more frequently if needed.

4. Inputs

4.1 Exported Email List

A list of email messages from the user’s email client (e.g., Outlook, Gmail). Each email in the list must contain the following fields:

Field	Type	Details
Subject	Text	The subject line of the email.
Received Date	Date‑time	The date and time the email was received, in the format `YYYY‑MM‑DD HH:MM` (24‑hour clock).
Sender	Text	The email address or name of the sender.
Recipients	Text	A semicolon‑separated list of recipient email addresses or names.
Body	Text	The full text of the email message (plain‑text or HTML).

Note: The list must contain all emails the user wants to be summarized for that specific day.

4.2 Optional Custom Keywords (Optional)

A list of keywords that the user wants to treat as “urgent” in addition to the default list. (If not provided, the process uses its built‑in list.)

Keyword	Type	Details
Keyword	Text	A word or phrase that, if present in the subject or body, flags the email as urgent (e.g., “Action required”, “ASAP”).

5. Outputs

5.1 Email Summary Digest

A structured text document containing two sections: Urgent and Informational. Each section lists email summaries and a total count.

5.1.1 Contents of the Digest

Section	Type	Details
Section Title	Text	Either “Urgent” or “Informational”.
Item Count	Number	Total number of emails in that section.
Email Summaries	List	Each entry contains:
• Subject	Text	Email subject.
• Sender	Text	Sender name or address.
• Received Date	Date‑time	When the email arrived.
• Summary	Text	First 200 characters of the body, trimmed at word boundaries, followed by “…” if truncated.

5.2 Formatting Rules

The document starts with “Urgent” section, followed by “Informational”.
Each section begins with the section title on its own line, then “Total: X”, where X is the number of emails in that section.
Each email summary is listed as a bullet point (-) with the format:

- [Received Date] – [Sender] – Subject: “<subject>” – Summary: “<first‑200‑char‑preview>”
No new IDs or system-generated codes are introduced.

5.3 Example of Output (plain text)

Urgent
Total: 2
- 2025‑08‑10 09:15 – Jane Doe <jane@company.com> – Subject: “Project Deadline Approaching” – Summary: “Please review the final draft of the project proposal and provide feedback by 2 PM today. …”
- 2025‑08‑10 14:40 – HR Team <hr@company.com> – Subject: “Action Required: Benefits Enrollment” – Summary: “The deadline for this year’s health insurance enrollment is tomorrow at 5 PM. Please …”

Informational
Total: 1
- 2025‑08‑10 07:30 – Newsletter <news@newsletter.com> – Subject: “Weekly Update” – Summary: “Here’s what happened this week in the market: …”

6. Detailed Plan & Execution Steps

Collect Email List
- Ensure the list contains the required fields (Subject, Received Date, Sender, Recipients, Body).
Validate Required Fields
- Confirm each email has a non‑empty Subject, Received Date, and Sender.
- Flag any email missing these fields for manual review.
Prepare Keyword List
- Use the default list of urgent keywords (see Appendix C).
- If the user provided a custom list, merge it with the default list, eliminating duplicates.
Determine Urgency
- For each email, check if the Subject or Body contains any keyword from the combined list (case‑insensitive).
- If a keyword is found, label the email as Urgent; otherwise, label it Informational.
Create Summaries
- For each email, extract the first 200 characters of the Body (or the entire body if shorter).
- Trim the text at the nearest word boundary; if the original text exceeds 200 characters, add an ellipsis (“…”) at the end.
Sort Emails
- Within each section, sort emails by Received Date in descending order (most recent first).
Assemble Section Content
- For each section, write the section title (“Urgent” or “Informational”).
- Write “Total: X” where X is the count of emails in that section.
- For each email, write a bullet point using the format from Section 5.2.
Combine Sections
- Place the Urgent section first, followed by a blank line, then the Informational section.
Produce Output
- Compile the full text document as described in the “Outputs” section.
Final Review
- Scan the output for formatting consistency (e.g., correct bullet symbols, proper spacing).

7. Validation & Quality Checks

Field Presence – Ensure every email entry includes Subject, Received Date, and Sender. Missing fields cause the entry to be flagged for manual review.
Keyword Matching – Verify that keyword search is case‑insensitive and matches whole words only (e.g., “asap” matches “ASAP” but not “pasap”).
Summary Length – Confirm that each summary does not exceed 200 characters, including the ellipsis when applicable.
Sorting Order – Verify that within each section, emails are ordered from newest to oldest.
Section Totals – The “Total” count must match the number of bullet points under the section.
Formatting – Verify the presence of the section titles, “Total: X” lines, bullet format, and correct line breaks.

If any check fails, generate a Failure Notice (see section 8) and halt the process.

8. Special Rules / Edge Cases

No Urgent Emails: If no email meets the urgency criteria, the Urgent section should still appear with “Total: 0” and no bullet entries.
Empty Body: If an email’s Body is empty, set the Summary to “(No content)”.
Missing Date: If the Received Date is missing, flag the email for manual review and do not include it in either section.
Custom Keywords Overlap: If a custom keyword duplicates a default keyword, treat it as a single entry (no duplication).
Multiple Keywords in One Email: An email that matches multiple urgent keywords is still listed only once in the Urgent section.
Unicode or Special Characters: Preserve them in the output; do not replace or remove them.

Failure Scenario

Missing Required Field (Subject, Received Date, or Sender):
- Action: Stop processing, generate a “Error – Incomplete Email Data” notice listing the affected email(s).
- Outcome: No summary output is generated.
Empty Input List:
- Action: Return a “No Emails Provided” message.
- Outcome: No sections are generated.

9. Example

Input

Exported Email List (2 emails)

Subject	Received Date	Sender	Recipients	Body
“Project Deadline – Immediate Action Needed”	2025‑08‑10 09:15	Jane Doe jane@company.com	John Smith john@company.com	“Please review the final draft of the project proposal and provide feedback by 2 PM today. Let’s ensure all sections are complete.”
“Weekly Update”	2025‑08‑10 07:30	Newsletter news@newsletter.com	All Employees	“Here’s what happened this week in the market: ...”

Custom Keywords (optional)

Keyword
“review”
“immediate”

Output

Urgent
Total: 1
- 2025‑08‑10 09:15 – Jane Doe <jane@company.com> – Subject: “Project Deadline – Immediate Action Needed” – Summary: “Please review the final draft of the project proposal and provide feedback by 2 PM today. …”

Informational
Total: 1
- 2025‑08-10 07:30 – Newsletter <news@newsletter.com> – Subject: “Weekly Update” – Summary: “Here’s what happened this week in the market: ...”

Appendix A – FAQ

Q1: What types of emails should be considered urgent? A1: An email is considered urgent if its subject or body contains any of the following default keywords: “urgent”, “action required”, “immediate”, “as soon as possible”, “deadline”, “review”. Additional custom keywords can be supplied.

Q2: What if an email contains multiple urgent keywords? A2: The email will still appear only once in the “Urgent” section. The presence of any one keyword is sufficient.

Q3: How is the summary of an email generated? A3: The summary is the first 200 characters of the email’s body, trimmed at the nearest word boundary. If the body is longer than 200 characters, an ellipsis (“…”) is added.

Q4: What if an email has no body? A4: The summary will read “(No content)”.

Q5: Can I change the order of sections? A5: The process always outputs “Urgent” first, followed by “Informational”. This order cannot be changed within the SOP.

Q6: How are dates displayed? A6: Dates are displayed in the format “YYYY‑MM‑DD HH:MM” (24‑hour clock). The time reflects the email’s received time.

Q7: What if the email list is empty? A7: The process will output the message “No Emails Provided” and will not create a summary.

Q8: What if the input includes an email that lacks a subject? A8: The email is flagged for manual review and is excluded from the summary. The failure notice will list the email’s sender and date.

Q9: Can the process handle HTML emails? A9: The body text is taken as plain text. If the body includes HTML tags, they are stripped; only the visible text is used.

Q10: How often should the summary be generated? A10: The SOP suggests a daily run, but the process can be run any number of times per day as needed.

Appendix B – Glossary

Term	Definition
Urgent	An email flagged as requiring immediate attention or action.
Informational	An email that provides information but does not require immediate action.
Summary	A brief excerpt (first 200 characters) of an email’s body.
Keyword	A word or phrase that triggers an email to be marked as “Urgent”.
Recipient	The person or group to which the email is addressed.
Sentiment	Not used in this SOP.
Bullet point	A line that starts with a dash (`-`) used to list items in the output.
Date‑time	The format `YYYY‑MM‑DD HH:MM`, using a 24‑hour clock.

Appendix C – Reference Material

C.1 Default Urgent Keyword List

Keyword
urgent
urgency
immediate
"as soon as possible"
asap
deadline
"action required"
important
“please review”
“need your response”
“time‑sensitive”
"requires your attention"
"critical"
"important notice"
"mandatory"
"required"

Notes on Keywords

The list is case‑insensitive.
Phrases are matched exactly as shown (including spaces).
The search checks both the subject and body of each email.

C.2 Style Guide for Summary Output

Capitalization – Preserve the original capitalization of the email’s subject and sender.
Punctuation – Use an en dash (–) to separate date and sender; use a hyphen (-) for bullet points.
Ellipsis – Use a single ellipsis character (…) when truncating. Do not add spaces before or after it.
Quotation Marks – Enclose the subject and summary in “double smart quotes”.
Line Breaks – Insert a blank line between the “Urgent” and “Informational” sections.

C.3 Formatting Checklist

Section Title – Must be the exact word “Urgent” or “Informational”.
Total Line – Format: Total: X (where X is a numeric count).
Bullet Format – - [Date] – [Sender] – Subject: “<subject>” – Summary: “<summary>”.

C.4 Prohibited Content

The process must not generate or include any of the following:

Prohibited Content	Reason
Personal Identifiers (e.g., Social Security numbers)	Privacy and data protection.
Sensitive Financial Data	Confidentiality.
Unverified Claims	Risk of misinformation.
Non‑English characters in the summary (if the user’s language is English)	Consistency with language expectations.

C.5 Example Email Formatting (for reference)

Urgent
Total: 2
- 2025-08-10 09:15 – Jane Doe <jane@company.com> – Subject: “Project Deadline Approaching” – Summary: “Please review the final draft of the project proposal and provide feedback by 2 PM today. Let’s ensure all sections are complete.”
- 2025-08-10 14:40 – HR Team <hr@company.com> – Subject: “Action Required: Benefits Enrollment” – Summary: “The deadline for this year’s health insurance enrollment is tomorrow at 5 PM. Please submit your selections before the cutoff.”

Informational
Total: 1
- 2025-08-10 07:30 – Newsletter <news@newsletter.com> – Subject: “Weekly Update” – Summary: “Here’s what happened this week in the market: …”

C.6 Quality Assurance Checklist

All email entries have Subject, Received Date, Sender, and Body fields.
Keywords are applied case‑insensitively.
Summaries are ≤ 200 characters (including ellipsis).
“Total” values match the number of bullet points.
Output contains exactly two sections in correct order.
No prohibited content is present.
Formatting follows the style guide (en dash, bullet, quotes, ellipsis).

Additional Notes

If the user wants to modify the default keyword list, they can provide a custom list at each run; the system will merge it with the default list.
The process does not send emails or any other communication; it simply produces the summary document for the user’s review.
This SOP is written for non‑technical users, so all steps are described in plain, everyday language.

Section	Purpose	What you see
Urgent	Highlights time‑critical messages that need a response	Sender, received date, subject, and a 200‑character preview
Informational	Keeps you informed of routine updates without clutter	Same format, but no immediate action required

Daily Email Summary for Busy Professionals