Explore the power of ChatGPT AI connectors—Gmail, Google Calendar, Drive, Slack, Canva, Zillow and more. Learn how to search, read, and query your apps directly in ChatGPT.
A Comprehensive Guide to ChatGPT Connectors and How to Use Them
In 2025, ChatGPT hasn’t just become smarter—it’s becoming your personal productivity assistant. The new ChatGPT AI Connectors let you link your core tools (email, calendar, storage, chat, design, booking, real estate) so the AI can read and reference them in chat. This opens up an era of context-aware prompts, where ChatGPT no longer “asks you to copy and paste stuff from Gmail or Drive”—it can operate directly on your connected data (in read-only mode).
In this post, we’ll walk through each major connector, show sample use cases, and highlight tips & limitations to get the most out of them.
What Are ChatGPT AI Connectors?
A “connector” is a bridge between ChatGPT and external applications (Gmail, Google Calendar, Slack, Google Drive, Canva, Zillow, Booking.com, etc.). Once you authorize access, ChatGPT can read (but not modify) content from those apps and incorporate it into your conversations or prompts.
Key points:
- Read-only access: Connectors let ChatGPT read, fetch, search, and summarize content, but cannot send, edit, delete, or create content in those apps.
- Automatic referencing: For Gmail, Calendar, and Contacts, ChatGPT can automatically use connected info when relevant in chat.
- Deep research and synced modes: Some connectors (like Drive) support syncing or indexing for faster retrieval.
- Permissions and scopes: You’ll grant ChatGPT limited scopes (read, search, metadata) when connecting; always review them.
Connector Deep Dive & Use Cases
Here’s a breakdown of each connector you asked about, with sample prompts and best practices.
🔍 Gmail Connector
Capabilities:
search_email_ids: search your inbox by keywords, date ranges, tags or labelsbatch_read_email: open multiple emails and fetch summariesread_email: open a single email to view sender, recipients, subject, and body- Read-only only — cannot send, delete, or draft messages
Sample Prompts:
- “Search emails from June 2025 about Q3 marketing budget and summarize them.”
- “Batch read all unread emails from [client@example.com] and present action items.”
- “Read email ID xyz123 and show me the subject, sender, body.”
Best Practices:
- Use search filters (dates, senders, labels) to narrow results and avoid overwhelming output.
- Ask for summaries or action items instead of full email bodies when dealing with many messages.
- Use batch vs single reading depending on volume: batch for bulk, single for detail.
Limitations & Caution:
- Because it’s read-only, ChatGPT can’t reply or draft for you (unless via a separate agent interface).
- Sensitive content: always verify that you’re comfortable granting read access to your inbox.
📅 Google Calendar Connector
Capabilities:
search_events: filter events by date/time windows, keywords, or attendeesread_event: open a specific event to see details (time, description, attendees)- Read-only — cannot create, edit, or delete events
Sample Prompts:
- “Search events this week with ‘Client’ or ‘Review’ in the title.”
- “Read event ID abc456 and show me time, description, attendees.”
- “Give me a daily agenda for tomorrow with times and meeting names.”
Use Cases:
- Ask ChatGPT to summarize your weekly calendar: “What’s my schedule look like next week?”
- Identify conflicts or free blocks: “Where do I have at least 2 hours free this afternoon?”
- Prepare for meetings: “What prep should I do for my 3 pm meeting tomorrow?”
Limitations & Tips:
- The connector can’t schedule or cancel events—those actions must happen in your calendar app.
- Be precise with event IDs when reading specific events.
- Avoid overly broad prompts like “read all events” in large calendars; it may return unwieldy data.
📂 Google Drive Connector (Docs, Sheets, Slides, etc.)
Capabilities:
- Search your Drive with keywords or complex multi-query searches via
file_search.msearch - Open and summarize documents (Docs, Sheets, Slides)
- Read-only—cannot upload, edit, or create files
Sample Prompts:
- “Search for documents in my Marketing folder containing ‘Q4 roadmap’ and return titles + snippets.”
- “Open doc ID def789 and summarize the executive summary.”
- “Multi-query search: find files containing both ‘budget’ and ‘forecast’ in last 6 months.”
Best Practices:
- Use targeted folder paths or names to narrow search scope.
- Ask for summaries, especially for long docs.
- For spreadsheets, note that complex formulas or macros may not fully translate; treat them as plain text.
💬 Slack Connector
Capabilities:
slack_search: query messages, threads, channels via keywordsslack_fetch: open a particular message or threadslack_get_profile: get a user’s profile info- Read-only — can’t post or edit messages
Sample Prompts:
- “Search Slack for threads in #product up to 2025-10 mentioning ‘roadmap’.”
- “Fetch the thread with ID xyz789 and show me message content and replies.”
- “Get profile of @john_doe: title, bio, contact info.”
Use Cases:
- Retrieve past decisions from chat: “What did we decide in the #sales channel two weeks ago?”
- Trace communication threads: “Show discussion around feature X.”
- Profile lookup: “What’s Jane’s role in Slack?”
🏨 Booking.com Connector
Capabilities:
generate-search: find hotels, rentals by location & dateget-hotel-details: fetch amenities, pricing, availabilityget-hotel-offers: surface deals or special rates
Sample Prompts:
- “Search in Paris for hotels from Dec 10–15, 2025.”
- “Get details on hotel ID xyz, including amenities and price.”
- “Fetch offers for beachfront homes in Barcelona in June.”
Use Cases:
- Travel planning: compare hotels and amenities without leaving ChatGPT.
- Quick lodging research: “Show me 3-star hotels near city center under $150/night.”
Caveats:
- This is a connector for browsing—not booking. You’ll still complete bookings in the native platform.
- Always double-check live availability & currency via Booking.com directly.
🎨 Canva Connector
Capabilities:
generate-design: start or modify a design (logos, posts, slides)resize-design: adjust the design for different formats (Instagram, LinkedIn, stories)get-design: fetch existing design for further editing
Sample Prompts:
- “Generate a social media post template for a product launch (1080×1080).”
- “Resize this LinkedIn banner to Instagram story format.”
- “Get design ID abc and let me make a version with different colors.”
Use Cases:
- Rapid visual prototyping: “Mock up a flyer for our webinar.”
- Multi-format rollout: design once, resize automatically for multiple channels.
🏘️ Zillow Connector
Capabilities:
search-homes: find homes for sale or rent by location, filtersget-home-details: show specs, price estimates, featuresget-market-trends: fetch housing market data by city or ZIP
Sample Prompts:
- “Search homes in Seattle, WA with 3 beds, 2 baths, ≤ $800k.”
- “Get details for home ID xyz123: size, year built, Zestimate.”
- “Retrieve market trends for San Francisco ZIP 94114 over past year.”
Use Cases:
- Real estate discovery and comparisons inside ChatGPT.
- Neighborhood trend analysis or investment research.
Advantages & Value of Connectors
- Contextual awareness
Connectors bring your actual data into ChatGPT, so prompts can reference past emails, calendar events, or docs without copy-paste. - Time savings & friction reduction
You no longer need to switch tabs or hunt for content; ask ChatGPT to fetch or summarize directly. - Higher-level prompting
Because ChatGPT can consume your data directly, your prompts can operate at a strategic level (“summarize this quarter’s correspondence”) rather than a mechanical level. - Scalable workflows
Over time, you can chain connectors: e.g. search an email → find attached doc in Drive → summarize it → relate to a calendar meeting.
Risks, Limitations & Security Considerations
- Read-only constraint: Connectors cannot act (send, edit). If you want automation (e.g. sending emails), you’ll need agent features or external automation tools.
- Data privacy & scope: Always review permission scopes before connecting. Limit access when possible.
- Prompt injection risk: Because ChatGPT is reading external data (like calendar invites), malformed or malicious content could influence responses. (Research has flagged calendar invites as a vector.)
- Sync latency / indexing: For synced connectors (like Drive), there might be delays in indexing new files.
- Complex documents and formatting: Charts, images, macros or embedded media may not translate cleanly into AI summaries.
- Platform limitations: Connector access may vary by tier, region, or rollout phase. For example, Gmail & Calendar connectors are now broadly available to Plus users.OpenAI Help Center
Tips for Prompt Design with Connectors
- Be explicit: Mention which connector you want to use if ambiguity exists (e.g. “using Gmail, search …”)
- Chain logically: Use intermediate steps (search → fetch → summarize) rather than asking for everything in one giant command.
- Ask for structured output: e.g. “Return a table with columns: Sender, Date, Action Items”
- Limit output size: For large inboxes, ask only top N results (e.g. “top 5 emails matching …”)
- Validate results: Especially initially, cross-check outputs with the original app to ensure nothing is lost or misinterpreted.
Example Workflow: Quarterly Review Prep
Here’s a sample end-to-end flow using multiple connectors:
- Email review
- Use Gmail
search_email_idsto find client update threads from the quarter batch_read_emailto summarize key metrics, requests, and action items
- Use Gmail
- Document pulling
- Search Drive (
file_search.msearch) for “Q3 reports” and open the financial summary sheet - Summarize key numbers and commentary
- Search Drive (
- Calendar alignment
- Use Calendar
search_eventsto pull meetings with stakeholders in Q3 - Read event descriptions to align topics
- Use Calendar
- Synthesis
- Feed email + doc + meeting summaries into ChatGPT: “Draft a consolidated Q3 review memo.”
This kind of cross-connector workflow illustrates why these tools multiply productivity rather than just add incremental capabilities.
ChatGPT AI connectors transform your personal kit of apps—Gmail, Drive, Calendar, Slack, Canva, Zillow, Booking.com—into a unified intelligent workspace. While they’re read-only and carry some caveats, they remove friction and empower you to ask higher-level questions rooted in your real data.
Want help writing prompts for your specific workflow, or integrating connector usage into your content plan or operations? Sign up for our newsletter to learn more.
