Shorten my email without losing the important context
Cuts a long email down to what matters, keeping the facts, the ask, and the context the reader actually needs.
The prompt
Shorten my email so a busy reader can take it in at a glance, without dropping anything they need.
My email: [PASTE EMAIL]
Reader: [WHO - e.g. "my VP", "a client lead", "a peer on another team"]
What the reader already knows: [CONTEXT THEY HAVE vs. DON'T]
Target length: [e.g. "half the length", "under 120 words"]
How to cut:
1. Find the one point or ask the email exists for, and move it to the first two sentences.
2. Keep every fact, number, date, owner, and deadline. Cut repetition, warm-up sentences, hedging ("just", "I think maybe"), and backstory the reader already has.
3. Keep context only if the reader would make a worse decision or ask a follow-up question without it.
4. Use bullets only for 3+ parallel items. Put deadlines in bold.
5. Keep my voice and level of formality; do not make it sound robotic.
Return:
1. The shortened email with a clear subject line.
2. What I cut - a short list, so I can restore anything that mattered.
3. Context check - anything I removed that the reader might still need, flagged [CONFIRM].
4. Word count before and after.
Do not add new facts, promises, or numbers that are not in my original.
Highlighted [brackets] are blanks to replace with your own details.
Fill in the blanks and use this promptMore Email & Workplace Communication prompts
What to fill in
- PASTE EMAIL
- WHO - e.g. "my VP", "a client lead", "a peer on another team"
- CONTEXT THEY HAVE vs. DON'T
- e.g. "half the length", "under 120 words"
- CONFIRM
How this prompt is built
This prompt follows the Few-Shot structure (Few-shot prompting). A few-shot prompt includes one or more worked examples of the input and the output you want, so the model can copy the pattern instead of guessing it.
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