Integration in Your Daily Life: Connect ChatGPT-5 to Your Workflows
Reading time: approx 10 min
So far, we have focused on how ChatGPT-5 can transform teaching. But AI's potential also extends to simplifying your own administrative tasks. Through a feature called Connectors, you can give ChatGPT-5 permission to interact with other programs you use daily.
This lesson shows how you can connect your tools to save time, with a realistic picture of what is possible today.
What you will learn
- What "Connectors" are and how you securely connect them to your accounts.
- How you connect ChatGPT-5 to Google Calendar and Gmail.
- Practical examples of prompts for managing your schedule and inbox.
- Important limitations regarding read/write actions, availability, and security.
The Fundamentals: What are Connectors?
Think of Connectors as secure bridges between ChatGPT and other apps. When you activate a Connector, you are not giving the AI your password, but you are approving specific, limited permissions via a secure standard (OAuth).
What ChatGPT can do depends on plan/region. Standard Connectors primarily retrieve information (read actions), write actions (e.g. creating calendar entries or saving Gmail drafts) usually require Agent or Custom Actions with explicitly approved permissions.
Part 1: Getting started connecting your tools
Connecting your tools is a simple process.
Step-by-step guide:
- Go to Profile → Settings → Connectors and select the app you want to connect.
- Follow the on-screen instructions to log in to your account and approve the permissions.
- In some cases, you can also connect via the paperclip icon/'Use connectors' directly in the chat.
Important about availability Availability varies both by plan and region. Example: several new Pro-connectors are not available in EEA/UK/CH currently, for businesses there are extended connectors (incl. Gmail/Calendar) in Team/Enterprise/Edu.
Part 2: Practical workflows for teachers (Illustrative examples)
Focus on read actions to get overview and summarize information.
Workflow 1: Manage your calendar
Prompt for overview (read action):
Use the Google Calendar connector and give me a summary of my meetings and lessons this week, grouped by day.Prompt to find gaps (read action):
Find three 30-minute gaps on Wednesday and Thursday afternoon next week.Prompt to create event (conditional write action):
*(If write actions are enabled via Agent/Action:)* Create a new event 'Planning time with work team' on Friday at 2:00 PM and suggest guests [email], otherwise, give me a ready ICS draft that I can import myself.
Workflow 2: Master your inbox
Prompt to summarize (read action):
Summarize the three latest unread emails from the principal and list any deadlines.Prompt to create draft (conditional write action):
Write the text for a reply to the latest email from [person]. *(I paste the text myself, or save as draft if Agent/Action or external automation exists).*
Part 3: Security and privacy you have control
Giving an AI access to your data requires thought and awareness of risks.
- Revoke permissions: You can at any time view and revoke ChatGPT's permissions in the security settings of your Google account.
- Temporary chats: Use the temporary chat feature for sensitive topics. These conversations are saved for up to 30 days for security review but do not appear in your history and are not used to train the models.
- Warning for prompt injection: Do not open unknown shared files/documents (e.g. in Google Drive) when Connectors are enabled. Suspicious documents may contain hidden instructions that try to trick the AI into leaking information from your conversation.
- Central administration (for schools): For Google Workspace, an IT administrator can set up and manage the organization's connections centrally.
Next steps
You now have the tools to streamline your workday. In the final lesson, 'From Theory to Practice: Design Your First Lesson with ChatGPT-5', we tie together the entire course. You will then have the chance to use everything you have learned to design a complete, AI-supported lesson activity from scratch.