How Drumkit reads your email
Last updated: October 23, 2026
Once you sign up, Drumkit reads each new email that arrives in your inbox, works out what it is, and gets the sidebar ready before you open it. When you first connect, it also catches up on the last 24 hours of mail you already had. It doesn't go back through your whole inbox.
What happens when an email arrives
- Drumkit receives the email. Your inbox is connected through Microsoft or Google when you sign up, so new mail reaches Drumkit even when the sidebar is closed.
- Kit sorts it. Kit decides whether the email asks for something Drumkit can help with, and pulls out the details: lanes, dates, equipment, stops, reference numbers.
- The sidebar is ready when you open the email. Kit tells you what it found, for example 2 lanes to quote or 1 load to build, and fills in the form for you. Fields Kit filled in are marked AI-filled.
Nothing goes to your customer or into your TMS at this point. You review it, then you send or build.
What Kit looks for
If the email is… | Kit shows | Where it opens |
|---|---|---|
A request for a rate on one or more lanes | N lanes to quote | Quick Quote tab in the New view |
A tender or load to set up in your TMS | N loads to build | Load Building tab in the New view |
An update about a load you already have (carrier details, an appointment, a check call) | N carrier updates, N appointment updates or N check calls | The load in the Active view |
Which of these you see depends on what's turned on for your team. If you don't build loads in Drumkit, for example, you won't see loads to build.
One email can hold more than one thing. A shipper might ask for three lanes and attach a tender. Kit lists each one so you can work through them.
Emails from before you signed up
Apart from that short catch-up when you first connect, Drumkit reads mail that arrives after you connect your inbox. To have Kit read an older request, forward it to yourself. The forward counts as a new email, so Kit reads it like any other, including the original message and attachments.
Forwarding to yourself is also the quickest fix when Kit missed something. A teammate can forward you a request too. Kit reads forwarded mail the same way.
How long it takes
Most emails are ready by the time you open them. Long threads and emails with large attachments take longer. If you open an email before Kit is done, you'll see Still processing this thread's latest email... in the Kit panel. Leave the email open. The sidebar fills in by itself when Kit finishes.
If it stays that way, or Kit says No suggestions found. on an email you expected it to catch, see Kit is still reading, or didn't find my request.
FAQs
Does Drumkit read every email in my inbox?
Drumkit receives the new emails that arrive in the inbox you connected, so it can sort them before you open them. It only puts something in the sidebar when an email is a request it can help with. Personal mail and newsletters get nothing. For more on how your data is handled, see Security and your data.
Does it read attachments?
Yes. Kit reads PDFs (including scanned ones), Word files, Excel files and CSVs attached to the email. See What Drumkit reads: attachments and follow-up emails for the limits.
What if the customer sends a correction later in the thread?
If the request is still open, Kit updates it in place with the new details. See What Drumkit reads: attachments and follow-up emails.
I see a yellow banner that says my email provider reported an issue.
Drumkit has lost its connection to your inbox, so new emails aren't being read. Click Click here in the banner and sign in again. See Sign in, sign up or reconnect.
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