AI Agent - Mar 19, 2026

How to Use Arvin AI to Summarize, Rewrite, and Respond to Emails Without Leaving Your Inbox

How to Use Arvin AI to Summarize, Rewrite, and Respond to Emails Without Leaving Your Inbox

Introduction

The average professional receives 121 emails per day, according to a Radicati Group study — and spends roughly 28% of their workweek reading and responding to them. That’s over 11 hours per week dedicated to email alone. For many knowledge workers, email isn’t just a communication tool; it’s a time sink that competes with focused, high-value work.

AI-powered browser extensions like Arvin AI are changing this equation. Instead of switching tabs to ChatGPT to ask for help with an email, Arvin’s sidebar sits right next to your inbox — whether you use Gmail, Outlook on the web, or another browser-based email client. You can summarize long threads, rewrite drafts for tone and clarity, generate contextual replies, and translate foreign-language messages, all without ever leaving your inbox.

This guide walks through exactly how to do each of these tasks, step by step.

Prerequisites

Before diving in, make sure you have the following set up:

  • Google Chrome (or a Chromium-based browser like Edge or Brave)
  • Arvin AI extension installed from the Chrome Web Store (search “Arvin AI” or visit arvin.chat)
  • An active Arvin account — the free tier works for trying these features, though Pro unlocks higher usage limits
  • Access to your email in the browser (Gmail at mail.google.com or Outlook at outlook.com)

If you haven’t installed Arvin yet, see our companion guide: How to Set Up Arvin AI in Under 5 Minutes.

Use Case 1: Summarizing Long Email Threads

Long email threads are one of the biggest productivity killers in any inbox. A 15-message thread about a project update can take 10 minutes to read through — but the actionable content might be just 3-4 sentences.

Step-by-Step: Summarize an Email Thread in Gmail

Step 1: Open the email thread. Navigate to the email thread you want to summarize in Gmail. Make sure the full thread is expanded (click “Show trimmed content” if necessary to reveal earlier messages).

Step 2: Activate Arvin’s sidebar. Press the keyboard shortcut to open Arvin (default is Ctrl+J on Windows or Cmd+J on Mac). The Arvin sidebar panel will appear on the right side of your browser window.

Step 3: Use the “Summarize” action. Click the Summarize Page option in Arvin’s sidebar. Arvin will read the visible content of the email thread and generate a concise summary.

Step 4: Alternatively, select specific text. If you only want to summarize part of the thread — say, the last 5 messages — highlight those messages with your cursor, then right-click and select Arvin > Summarize from the context menu. This gives you a focused summary of just the selected portion.

What You’ll Get

Arvin typically produces a summary that includes:

  • Key decisions made in the thread
  • Action items mentioned by participants
  • Open questions that still need answers
  • A timeline of how the conversation progressed

Pro Tips for Email Summarization

  • Be specific with follow-up prompts. After the initial summary, you can ask Arvin: “What are the specific action items for me?” or “What deadlines were mentioned?”
  • Use it for catching up. If you’ve been out of office and return to a full inbox, run through your unread threads with Arvin’s summarizer to triage quickly.
  • Combine with labels/filters. Summarize all emails under a specific label to get a project-level overview.

Use Case 2: Rewriting Email Drafts for Tone and Clarity

Writing the right email is often harder than it should be. A message that’s too formal feels stiff; too casual feels unprofessional. A message that’s too long gets skimmed; too short seems curt. Arvin’s rewriting features help you strike the right balance.

Step-by-Step: Rewrite a Draft in Gmail

Step 1: Compose or open a draft. Start writing your email in Gmail’s compose window, or open an existing draft. Write your initial version without worrying too much about polish — get the content down first.

Step 2: Select the text you want to rewrite. Highlight the paragraph or entire email body you want Arvin to improve.

Step 3: Trigger Arvin’s rewrite feature. Right-click the selected text and choose Arvin > Rewrite from the context menu. Alternatively, open the Arvin sidebar and paste the text with a prompt like “Rewrite this email to be more professional and concise.”

Step 4: Choose a tone or style. Arvin offers several rewriting options:

  • Professional: More formal language, appropriate for clients and executives
  • Casual: Friendly and approachable, good for team communication
  • Concise: Cuts unnecessary words while preserving meaning
  • Expand: Adds detail and context to brief messages
  • Persuasive: Strengthens your argument or request

Step 5: Review and paste. Read through Arvin’s suggested rewrite. If it’s good, copy it back into your compose window. If it needs adjustment, tell Arvin what to change: “Make it shorter” or “Keep the first paragraph but rewrite the second.”

Practical Rewriting Scenarios

Original ToneTarget ToneWhen to Use
Casual draftProfessionalEmailing clients, executives, or external partners
Angry/frustratedNeutral/constructiveWhen you’re upset but need to stay professional
VerboseConciseWhen the recipient is busy or senior
Brief/abruptWarm and detailedWhen relationship-building matters
Technical jargonPlain languageWhen explaining to non-technical stakeholders

Use Case 3: Generating Quick Replies

Not every email requires a carefully crafted response. Many messages just need a quick acknowledgment, a yes/no with context, or a brief answer to a straightforward question. Arvin can generate these replies in seconds.

Step-by-Step: Generate a Reply in Gmail

Step 1: Open the email you need to reply to. Click on the message that needs a response.

Step 2: Open Arvin’s sidebar. Press Ctrl+J / Cmd+J or click the Arvin extension icon.

Step 3: Ask Arvin to draft a reply. In the Arvin chat, type a prompt like:

  • “Draft a reply confirming I’ll attend the meeting on Thursday”
  • “Write a polite decline for this invitation — I have a scheduling conflict”
  • “Reply saying I’ll review the document by Friday and send feedback”
  • “Acknowledge receipt and ask for the Q2 numbers to be included”

Step 4: Refine if needed. If the generated reply is close but not quite right, provide feedback: “Make it shorter,” “Add that I’ll bring the updated slides,” or “Make it more casual.”

Step 5: Copy into Gmail’s reply field. Once you’re satisfied, copy Arvin’s output and paste it into Gmail’s reply compose window. Review once more, then send.

Reply Templates You Can Adapt

Here are common prompts that work well with Arvin for email replies:

  • Meeting confirmation: “Draft a reply confirming attendance at [event] on [date], and ask if I should prepare anything.”
  • Polite decline: “Write a polite decline. Reason: [reason]. Suggest rescheduling to next week.”
  • Follow-up request: “Reply asking for an update on [project/deliverable]. Keep it friendly but direct.”
  • Acknowledgment: “Reply acknowledging receipt of [document/info] and say I’ll review by [date].”
  • Delegation: “Reply redirecting this request to [colleague name] who handles [topic]. CC them.”

Use Case 4: Translating Emails

If you work with international teams, clients, or partners, you regularly receive emails in languages other than your primary language. Arvin’s translation features handle this without switching to Google Translate or DeepL.

Step-by-Step: Translate an Incoming Email

Step 1: Open the foreign-language email.

Step 2: Select the text you want to translate. Highlight the entire email body or the specific sections you need.

Step 3: Use Arvin’s translate feature. Right-click and select Arvin > Translate or open the sidebar and ask: “Translate this to English.” Arvin supports a wide range of languages including Spanish, French, German, Portuguese, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Arabic, and more.

Step 4: Read the translation in the sidebar. The translated text appears in Arvin’s sidebar panel, making it easy to read alongside the original.

Step-by-Step: Write a Reply in Another Language

Step 1: Draft your reply in your native language. Write your response in English (or whatever language you’re most comfortable with).

Step 2: Ask Arvin to translate. Select the draft and prompt Arvin: “Translate this reply to French” or “Rewrite this email in Spanish, maintaining a professional tone.”

Step 3: Review and send. If you can read the target language at a basic level, review the translation for obvious errors. For critical communications, consider having a native speaker review before sending.

Translation Quality Notes

Arvin’s translation quality for common language pairs (English ↔ Spanish, French, German, Portuguese, Chinese, Japanese) is generally strong for business communication. For highly technical or legal content, a dedicated translation service like DeepL or a human translator remains advisable.

Combining Features: A Full Email Workflow

Here’s how all four features work together in a real workflow:

Scenario: You receive a lengthy email thread (12 messages) from a French-speaking client about a project deliverable. You need to understand the thread, draft a professional response in French, and loop in your manager.

  1. Summarize: Open the thread, activate Arvin, summarize the entire thread. Result: “Client is requesting revised timeline for Phase 2 deliverables. Key concern is the delay in API integration. They suggest a call next Tuesday.”

  2. Translate: Select the client’s most recent message and translate it to English to catch nuances the summary might have missed.

  3. Generate reply: Ask Arvin: “Draft a professional reply in English acknowledging their concerns, proposing Wednesday instead of Tuesday for the call, and confirming we’ll have a revised timeline ready.”

  4. Rewrite for tone: Review the draft. It’s a bit too casual. Ask Arvin to “make this more formal and diplomatic.”

  5. Translate to French: Select the final English draft and ask Arvin to translate it to French, maintaining the professional tone.

  6. Forward summary to manager: Copy the original summary, paste into a new email to your manager with a note: “Here’s a quick summary of the client thread — they want to discuss revised timelines.”

Total time: 4-5 minutes for a task that might otherwise take 15-20 minutes.

Tips for Getting the Best Results

  • Be specific in prompts. “Summarize this email” works, but “Summarize this email thread focusing on action items and deadlines” works better.
  • Iterate, don’t start over. If Arvin’s first output isn’t perfect, refine it with follow-up instructions rather than writing a new prompt from scratch.
  • Use keyboard shortcuts. Learning Arvin’s keyboard shortcut (Ctrl+J/Cmd+J) saves significant time over clicking the extension icon.
  • Review before sending. AI-generated email content is a draft, not a finished product. Always review for accuracy, especially names, dates, and figures that the AI might hallucinate.
  • Set default language preferences. In Arvin’s settings, you can configure your preferred translation languages to skip the “translate to [language]” step.

Privacy Considerations

When using any AI tool with email content, keep these privacy points in mind:

  • Arvin processes text through cloud-based AI models. Sensitive financial, legal, medical, or personal information in emails is sent to external servers for processing.
  • Check your organization’s policies. Some companies restrict the use of AI tools with internal communications.
  • Avoid using AI tools with confidential attachments. Stick to summarizing and rewriting email text, not processing sensitive documents.
  • Review Arvin’s privacy policy at arvin.chat for details on data handling and retention.

Conclusion

Email doesn’t have to be a time sink. By integrating Arvin AI into your inbox workflow, you can cut through long threads in seconds, polish your drafts without agonizing over word choice, generate replies in moments, and communicate across languages without switching tools.

The key is to treat Arvin as a drafting assistant, not an autopilot. Review every AI-generated email before sending, add personal touches where they matter, and use the time you save to focus on work that actually requires your full attention.

References