Forward Emails to Your AI Librarian: Complete Setup Guide

Forwarding emails is the simplest way to capture knowledge. One click, and information flows from your inbox to a searchable, organized knowledge base. This guide walks you through setting up email forwarding with Lolodex and maximizing its effectiveness.

What Happens When You Forward an Email

The Processing Pipeline

1. Email received at your personal Lolodex address
2. Intent classified based on content analysis
3. Content extracted and structured
4. Note created with vector embeddings for semantic search
5. Response sent confirming the action or providing answers

This entire process takes seconds. By the time you switch to your next task, your email is already processed and searchable.

Setting Up Your Lolodex Email Address

Step 1: Create Your Account

Visit app.lolodex.com and sign up with your email. Verify your email address when prompted. The whole process takes under 2 minutes.

Step 2: Get Your Personal Address

Once logged in, you'll see your personal forwarding address in the format [email protected]. This is your unique address—all emails sent here become part of your knowledge base.

Step 3: Add to Contacts

Add your Lolodex address to your contacts as "Lolodex" or "Notes." This makes it appear at the top of your address suggestions when forwarding, reducing friction even further.

Step 4: Test It Out

Forward a test email to your address. Within seconds, you should receive a confirmation response and see the note appear in your Lolodex dashboard.

Forwarding from Different Email Clients

Gmail

• Desktop: Press "F" for forward, type your Lolodex address, send
• Mobile: Tap the three dots → Forward → Select Lolodex from contacts
• Keyboard shortcut: F, then Tab to recipient, type address, Ctrl+Enter to send

Outlook

• Desktop: Click Forward, add Lolodex address, send
• Web: Click Forward arrow, enter address, send
• Mobile: Tap Forward, select from contacts, send

Apple Mail

• macOS: Cmd+Shift+F for forward, enter address, send
• iOS: Tap Forward arrow, select from contacts, send

Other Clients

Any email client that supports forwarding works with Lolodex. The forwarding address accepts standard email, so there's no special configuration required beyond knowing where your forward button is.

What to Forward (Best Practices)

High-Value Content

• Newsletters with insights you want to reference
• Important reference emails containing decisions or context
• Research and articles shared via email
• Meeting summaries with action items
• Project updates and status reports

Subject Line Tips

You can add context when forwarding by modifying the subject line:

This extra context helps with later search and improves AI classification.

What to Skip

• Spam and promotional emails (unless genuinely valuable)
• Transactional emails you'll never reference
• Sensitive information you don't want stored externally

Advanced Forwarding Techniques

Bulk Forwarding

In Gmail, you can select multiple emails and forward them all at once. Each becomes a separate note in your knowledge base.

Automatic Forwarding Rules

Set up email rules to automatically forward certain emails:

1. In Gmail: Settings → Filters → Create filter
2. Set criteria (e.g., from:[email protected])
3. Action: Forward to your Lolodex address

This works well for newsletters and regular communications you always want captured.

Troubleshooting

• Email not appearing? Check your Lolodex spam folder. Some email systems delay forwarded messages.
• Attachments not processing? Check file size limits. Very large attachments may need to be uploaded directly.
• Slow processing? Large documents with OCR can take 30-60 seconds. Be patient.

Forwarding is the foundation of email-first knowledge management. Once the habit is established, you'll be surprised how quickly your knowledge base grows—and how often you find yourself retrieving information you would have lost otherwise.

For more on what you can do with your captured knowledge, read our guides on asking questions via email and how intent classification works.