How to Use Copper to Run a Sales Pipeline From Gmail

The short answer: install and pin the Chrome extension, sign up with your Google account so recent email syncs, add leads straight from the Gmail sidebar and relate threads to them, build one pipeline of three to seven stages, switch on the Slipping flag, add a task automation for every new lead, on Professional add a workflow rule for won deals, and run a Friday review in which Copper GPT reads the pipeline and a person updates it.

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The job: the sales conversation already happens in Gmail, and the pipeline should keep up with it without anyone retyping it. Copper's design starts from that premise. For the product and its plans, see the Copper glossary entry.

Before you set it up:

• Know what the first sync covers. It takes the last 90 days or 1,000 emails, whichever comes first, per the Gmail integration guide. For example, a rep who gets 60 emails a day reaches 1,000 in 1,000 / 60 = 16.7 days, so the first sync covers under three weeks. Adding a person later pulls in their last 365 days of email with your team.
• Bring your stage names. The stages in your spreadsheet or whiteboard become the pipeline; Copper's own advice is three to seven.
• Choose the Friday numbers. How many deals carry the Slipping flag, and how many moved stage that week.

What you need

• Google Workspace and Chrome. The extension works in Gmail, Google Calendar and on other websites, per the extension guide.
• A plan. Pipelines and task automation are on Basic; workflow automation starts on Professional, per the plan comparison (checked on 24 October 2026). The 14-day trial needs no card.
• An admin for workflow rules, which only Copper admins can create.
• A paid ChatGPT plan for step 8.

Step 1: Install and pin the extension

Download the Copper extension from the Chrome Web Store and pin it to the toolbar, as the extension guide shows, so it is one click away on every page.

Step 2: Connect Gmail and set the email preference

Sign up with your Gmail address and the sync starts. Then go to Settings, Email Settings and Templates, Preferences, and pick an Email Preference. Choose Send and Reply from Copper if you want templates and bulk send, or keep links opening in Gmail, per the Gmail integration guide. People you write to who are not yet records appear as Suggested Contacts on the Today dashboard.

Step 3: Add leads from the inbox

With the extension open, hover over a sender's address. If the address exists, Copper shows the record; if not, it offers to add a Person or a Lead and fills in job title, social profiles and company details it finds, per the add a lead guide. Click Add to Copper, complete the required fields your admin set and save.

Step 4: Relate the thread to the deal

Open an email, click the Copper icon, choose Relate To and type the record's name: a lead, person, company, opportunity or project, per the relating emails guide. Attachments are saved with it, and the email shows in the record's activity feed.

Step 5: Build one short pipeline

From Pipelines in the left navigation, create from scratch, copy or start from a template, name it Sales, choose Opportunities and keep sales tracking on, per the pipeline stages guide. Name stages as milestones, such as Discovery Call Booked and Proposal Sent, and handle won and lost with the status field rather than extra stages. Add a second pipeline only when the work follows a different process.

Step 6: Turn on the Slipping flag

In the pipeline's Flags settings, set the inactive-days threshold for Slipping, and a value threshold for High Value if you want both, per the flags guide. Deals above the threshold get a mark on their card.

Step 7: Automate the follow-up tasks

Go to Settings, Automation, Task Automations and click Add New. Name it, choose Lead as the entity and Created as the trigger, then define a task such as Call to qualify, with an activity type, owner and due date, per the task automation guide.

On Professional, add a workflow rule for won deals: Tools, Automations, Workflow Automation, Add Workflow; trigger on Opportunity with Specific field is updated, Status equals Won and pipeline equals Sales; action Create a Task named Send thank-you note, due CURRENTDATE(). Save, then check the Workflow On toggle, because the workflow guide warns that saving can leave a rule off.

Step 8: Let Copper GPT prepare the review

Add the Copper GPT to ChatGPT, sign in with api.copper.com and authorise it. On Friday, ask a narrow question from Copper's examples: which Sales deals are expected to close this month, or what tasks are due this week. The GPT can only read, so the human check is built in: you take its list into Copper and change stages, dates and values yourself. It sees email metadata but not email bodies.

What Copper's guides warn about

• Internal email. Messages between Copper users or addresses on your own domain do not sync.
• Duplicate tasks. A workflow on Update or Created runs on every change, so a create action can fire many times.
• Calculated fields. Inactive Days and Days in Stage are not direct updates; rules on them need Check Once a day.
• Chains. One workflow rule cannot trigger another.
• Look-alike GPTs. Several GPTs called Copper are unrelated; use the one with the Copper logo.

A trial is there to get your inbox connected, and once weeks of email sit in Copper, leaving feels costly. Decide on day 14 by what the Friday review showed you, not by how much history has piled up.

FAQ

Why are some of my emails missing in Copper?

The first sync stops at 90 days or 1,000 emails, and email within your own domain never syncs, per the Gmail integration guide. Adding the person as a record pulls in up to 365 days with them.

Can a workflow rule send the thank-you email itself?

No. The workflow guide limits rules to creating and updating records and points to Email Automation for sending.

Can Gemini help instead of ChatGPT?

Yes, in Chrome on an open Copper record: Copper's Gemini guide gives prompts for a summary, next steps and risks, and asks you to verify the answer before using it.