Not every team runs entirely on Lark.
Sales might live in Outlook, engineering in Slack, a client in Teams.
Lark Base workflows and automations can reach into all of them, either listening for an incoming email or message to start a process, or sending one out when something changes in your data.
What You Can Connect
Four apps are supported, each available as both a trigger and an action.
| App | As a trigger | As an action |
|---|---|---|
| Outlook | When an email is received | Send email |
| Gmail | When an email is received | Send email |
| Teams | When a channel message is received When a chat message is received |
Send a channel message Send a chat message |
| Slack | When a channel message is received When a chat message is received |
Send a channel message Send a chat message |
Two typical patterns: a marketing team triggers a lead follow-up process the moment an enquiry arrives, or a product team pushes a scheduled update log out to an email address or a chat channel.
Before You Start
- You need manage permission for the base to edit workflows or automations.
- Setup can only be done on the Lark desktop app or the web version.
- For business email accounts, your organisation administrator must complete organisation authorisation first, using the Outlook or Gmail administrator account within the workflow and consenting on behalf of the organisation. This is a one-off. Individuals can then connect their own accounts.
Tip: Once an account is authorised, it stays available. You can reuse it across other triggers and action nodes without going through authorisation again.
Using an App as a Trigger
The setup is the same whichever app you pick.
- Open the base and click Workflow in the lower-left corner.
- Click Start From Scratch to open the workflow editor.
- Choose your third-party trigger from the list, such as When an email is received in Outlook.
- In the pane on the right, click Connect an account and complete authorisation.
- Set your trigger conditions, which vary by app. Leave them empty and the workflow fires on every new message.
- Add the action nodes you want, then save and activate. An Add record node is the common choice, so each incoming email or message creates a record in Base.
Email triggers: Outlook and Gmail
Both offer the same five condition fields: keywords in the subject, keywords in the body, sender address, recipient address and CC address.
Teams and Slack triggers
Message triggers add a location step. For a Teams channel you choose the team first, then the channel within it.
Slack skips the team step, since channels sit directly under your workspace.
Here is what each trigger lets you filter on:
| Trigger | Where it listens | Conditions available |
|---|---|---|
| Outlook or Gmail email | The connected mailbox | Subject keywords, body keywords, sender, recipient, CC |
| Teams channel message | Any team you belong to, then a channel within it | Subject keywords, content keywords, mentioned users |
| Teams chat message | Any chat visible to you | Message keywords |
| Slack channel message | Any public or private channel visible to you | Content keywords, mentioned members |
| Slack chat message | Any personal or group chat visible to you | Message keywords |
Note: Keywords and email addresses are all case-insensitive, and partial matches count. You can enter up to 50 keywords per category, up to 20 email addresses per category, and mention up to 20 users.
Using an App as an Action
Again, one recipe covers all six action nodes.
- Open the base, click Workflow, then Start From Scratch.
- Pick and configure any trigger. At scheduled time is a useful one for recurring reports.
- Click do this and choose your send node, for example Send email with Outlook.
- Connect an account, fill in the destination and content, then save and activate.
Sending an email
The Outlook and Gmail nodes take a recipient, optional Cc and Bcc, a subject, the body, and attachments. Every field can either be typed manually or pull data from an earlier step in the workflow.
Important: Attachments cannot be uploaded directly. The only way to attach a file is to reference an attachment field from a previous step in the workflow.
Sending a chat or channel message
Teams needs a target team and a target channel; Slack needs only the target channel.
The chat versions of both nodes work identically, except you pick a chat instead of a channel.
Note: The two platforms expect different markup. Teams messages accept HTML formatting, while Slack messages use Markdown. Content written for one will not render correctly in the other.
Limits at a Glance
| Setting | Limit |
|---|---|
| Keywords per condition category | 50 |
| Email addresses per condition category | 20 |
| Mentioned users in a trigger condition | 20 |
| Recipients, Cc and Bcc | 20 each |
| Email subject | 100 characters including punctuation |
| Email or message content | 10,000 characters including punctuation |
| Attachments per email | 20 files, 20 MB total |
Practical Use Cases for SMEs and Startups
- Lead capture: An enquiry arriving in Outlook or Gmail creates a record in your CRM base and starts the follow-up sequence.
- Scheduled reporting: A weekly trigger emails a summary to stakeholders, or posts it into a Teams channel.
- Client escalations: A Slack message containing a keyword such as “urgent” creates a ticket record automatically.
- Cross-tool handovers: A record reaching approved status posts a message into the delivery team’s channel, wherever that team works.
- Invoice dispatch: A status change sends an email with the invoice attached, pulled from an attachment field on the record.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Which third-party apps can Lark Base workflows connect to?
Outlook, Gmail, Slack and Teams. Each can act as a trigger, listening for an incoming email or message, or as an action that sends one.
Do connected accounts carry over when I copy a workflow?
No. Copying, importing, exporting or duplicating a workflow or automation strips the connected accounts, and you will need to reconnect them in the copy.
Do I need admin help to connect a work email account?
For business email, yes. Your organisation administrator has to complete organisation authorisation once, using the Outlook or Gmail administrator account and consenting for the organisation. After that, individuals connect their own accounts freely.
Can I attach a file to an automated email?
Only by referencing an attachment field from an earlier step in the workflow. Direct uploads are not supported. The limit is 20 files totalling no more than 20 MB.
What happens if I leave the trigger conditions blank?
The workflow runs on every new email or message received at that location. Conditions are optional filters, not requirements.
Can I format an automated message?
Yes, but the syntax differs. Teams messages and emails support HTML formatting such as bold, italics, headings, dividers and hyperlinks. Slack messages use Markdown.
Do I need to reconnect my account for every workflow?
No. Once an account has been authorised, it can be selected directly in any other trigger or action node without repeating the authorisation.
Joining Up the Tools Your Team Already Uses
The value of these integrations is not that Lark can send an email. It is that the boundary between your data and the places your team communicates stops being a manual step.
Pick one process that currently relies on somebody remembering to copy something across, and let a workflow do it instead.
Ready to Power Your Business with Lark?
Lark Base is just one part of an all-in-one platform that brings messaging, meetings, documents, approvals, and automations together for your entire team.
As the Platinum Partner for Lark in Malaysia, Exabytes offers tailored Lark plans, hands-on onboarding, and dedicated local support to help your team connect the tools they already rely on.
