#What is Email AI Smart Capture?
Email AI Smart Capture is SimpliHome's email intelligence system. When you forward a relevant email — an appointment confirmation, prescription notification, booking reference, utility welcome email — SimpliHome's AI reads it, extracts the key information, and automatically creates the appropriate record in your account.
Rather than manually entering the details, you simply forward the email and SimpliHome does the rest.
#What types of emails can SimpliHome process?
The system is designed to recognise and act on several email types:
| Email type | What gets created | |-----------|------------------| | Appointment confirmations | Calendar event | | Meeting invitations | Calendar event | | Booking confirmations | Calendar event | | Prescription notifications | Prescription record for the relevant Circle member | | Utility welcome emails | Bill record with provider details | | Insurance confirmation emails | Insurance policy record |
The AI classifies the email type first, then uses a specialist processor for each type to extract the right details.
#How do I use it?
Forward the email to your SimpliHome inbox address. SimpliHome matches the forwarding email address to your account, processes the email asynchronously, and creates the relevant record.
The inbox address is configured by your Circle's admin as part of setting up an email provider integration (Mailgun, SendGrid, Postmark, or AWS SES). See Settings → Email Intelligence or ask your Circle Owner for the address to forward to.
#What information does the AI extract from calendar emails?
For appointment and event emails, the AI extracts:
- Event title — the name of the appointment or event
- Date — when it's happening
- Start and end time — or whether it's an all-day event
- Location — venue address if mentioned
- Person name — who the appointment is for (used to assign to the right member's schedule)
#How does SimpliHome know which household member an appointment is for?
If the email mentions a person's name (e.g., "Your appointment for Sarah..."), SimpliHome attempts to match that name to a Circle member's calendar schedule. If a match is found, the event is added to their schedule. If no match is found, the event goes to the Circle's default calendar schedule.
#What is a confidence score?
The AI assigns a confidence score to each extraction — a percentage reflecting how certain it is that it correctly identified and extracted the information.
- Above the threshold (default 75%) — the record is created automatically
- Below the threshold — SimpliHome sends you an email asking you to review and confirm the details before creating the record
This prevents poorly-extracted data from silently creating wrong records.
#Can I change the confidence threshold?
Yes, if your administrator has access to the configuration. The threshold is set via the EMAIL_CONFIDENCE_THRESHOLD environment variable. The default is 75% — meaning extractions above 75% confidence are auto-created, below are sent for manual review.
#How will I know if a record was created automatically?
Records created from emails are tagged with source: email so you can identify them. You'll also receive an in-app notification when a new calendar event or other record is created via email intelligence.
#What happens to the email after it's processed?
The email content is used solely to extract the relevant data. It is not stored permanently. The extracted data is what gets saved as a record in SimpliHome.
#Does this feature require an OpenAI API key?
Yes. Email AI Smart Capture uses OpenAI's GPT model to parse email content. The Circle's administrator needs to configure an OpenAI API key in the environment settings (OPENAI_API_KEY) for this feature to work.
There are API costs associated with processing emails, but they're typically very small (fractions of a penny per email) as the system uses an efficient model.
#Which email service providers are supported?
SimpliHome supports incoming email webhooks from:
- Mailgun (recommended)
- SendGrid
- Postmark
- AWS SES (Amazon Simple Email Service)
- Generic/custom endpoint for other setups
Each provider has its own webhook URL. Setup instructions are available in the documentation or contact your SimpliHome administrator.
#What if the AI creates a record with wrong details?
You can edit or delete any record that was created by the email AI, just like any manually created record. If you notice a recurring issue with a particular type of email, check the confidence settings — if the threshold is too low, you may be getting auto-created records from low-confidence extractions.
#Is my email content sent to OpenAI?
The text content of forwarded emails is sent to the OpenAI API for processing. OpenAI's data usage policies apply. Email subject lines, body text, and relevant metadata are shared with OpenAI to enable the extraction. No email credentials or external account access is involved — you forward specific emails you want processed.
#Where can I learn more?
Read the full Email AI Smart Capture guide.