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Why this matters

Right now, for an email to trigger your flow, it has to be sent directly to your Parabola email address. Auto-forwarding removes that manual step entirely. Emails that arrive in your regular inbox — from vendors, carriers, or any other sender — can automatically route to Parabola based on rules you define. This is what makes the Extract from email step truly hands-free.
This lesson walks through setup in Gmail, but the same logic applies to Outlook and most other email providers.

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Video overview

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Step-by-step instructions

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1. Prepare your Extract from Email step in Parabola

When you first add a forwarding address in Gmail, it sends a verification email to confirm the destination is valid. That verification email will land in your Parabola flow — so you’ll need to configure the step to receive it before setting up forwarding.
1
In your Parabola flow, drag in a new Extract from Email step.
2
Configure it to pull in email content, not just attachments.
3
Click Update Results to save this configuration.
You’ll use this address to forward emails into your Parabola flow. Don’t forget to copy this email address.

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2. Set up forwarding in Gmail

1
Go to Gmail → click the gear icon → See all settings.
2
Navigate to the Forwarding and POP/IMAP tab.
3
Click “Add a forwarding address.”
4
Paste the email address from your Parabola step and click Next → Proceed.

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3. Confirm the Gmail forwarding request via Parabola

1
Back in Parabola, wait for the Parabola flow to run from receiving the verification email.
2
Click to “View email content” and click on the auto-forwarding link
3
Follow Parabola’s prompt to view an external URL
4
Once you’re on the confirmation URL, click “Confirm”
Gmail will now recognize the Parabola address as a valid forwarding destination.

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4. Create a Gmail filter to automatically forward specific emails

1
In Gmail, go to Settings → Filters and Blocked Addresses → Create a new filter.
2
Set criteria such as:
  • From: nycwarehouse@gmail.com
  • Subject: New York City Warehouse Inventory
  • Has attachment: ✅
3
Click Create filter, then:
  • Check Forward it to and select your verified Parabola email address.
  • Click Create filter.

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5. Clean up your flow (If necessary)

1
If you created a temporary Extract from Email step just for the verification, you can now delete it.
2
Your Parabola flow will continue to receive the filtered, auto-forwarded emails daily.

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Other troubleshooting tips

  • If you do not see the email content come into the flow after a few minutes, double-check the email settings on that step/flow. Click on the gear icon in the lefthand side of the step where it says “view all flow email settings”. Make sure the checkbox “Reject emails that do not contain valid attachments” is unchecked.
  • If it is already checked, check your email inbox for an email with the subject line, “Sorry, we were unable to process your email attachment”. The verification link from gmail should be available in the email content of this email. Click on the verification link and you should have successful verified this forwarding address!

Building challenge

There’s no building challenge associated with this lesson. Revisit these steps when you’re ready to officially configure your auto-forwarding rules. 
Last modified on March 5, 2026