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Perplexity’s NEW Features are MIND-BLOWING: Email Assistant, Memory & More

Sofia Alvarez
perplexity new features

perplexity new features

Table of Contents

🚀 What’s New in Perplexity — Quick Overview

Perplexity just shipped a major set of productivity-focused features designed to turn a general-purpose AI into a true personal assistant. The highlights:

Below I’ll expand on each feature, show you how to configure them, share concrete examples of how I use them, and point out current limitations and best practices.

📧 Setting Up the Perplexity Assistant (Email + Calendar)

If you want to stop manually triaging your inbox and scheduling meetings, the new Assistant is the feature you need to set up first. Here’s how the Assistant works and a step-by-step to configure it.

What the Assistant does

How to set up your Assistant (step-by-step)

  1. Open Perplexity and go to the left-hand sidebar — click on “Assistant.”
  2. Add your full name and organization (optional) so the assistant uses proper signatures and context.
  3. Set your meeting availability: choose days and time ranges. I recommend blocking off days you never want meetings (e.g., Fridays, weekends) and setting daily windows for focused work.
  4. Customize meeting default duration and buffer times (meeting length and gaps between meetings).
  5. Set your time zone and default meeting location (virtual, office address, or custom locations for multiple offices).
  6. Choose autonomy level for scheduling: fully autonomous (assistant schedules and confirms), propose times only (assistant drafts options for you to approve), or manual.
  7. Enable email automation: labels, automated drafting, and categorization rules. Tailor which emails to ignore and how replies should be written (tone, signature, closing lines).
  8. Personalize assistant preferences: preferred style of responses, how to handle cold outreach, and any rules for not replying to specific senders or topics.
  9. Connect your inbox and calendar via the Connectors screen (more on this later).

Practical examples

Limitations and performance notes

The assistant is powerful but still maturing. If your account has tens of thousands of emails, initial processing may be slow — expect the assistant to process emails progressively over hours rather than instantly. Autonomy helps but start with conservative settings (propose times) until you trust it fully. And always verify sensitive scheduling actions until you’re comfortable.

🧠 Memory Beta — Make Perplexity Remember What Matters

Perplexity’s Memory beta gives the AI persistent context so it can answer better and automate with long-term preferences. Turning it on unlocks three features: preview searches, memory saving, and memory management.

What Memory can do

How to enable and manage Memory

  1. Open Perplexity and navigate to Personalization (or Preferences).
  2. Scroll to “Memory (beta)” and toggle the features you want: allow preview searches, save & use memories, etc.
  3. If you want privacy for a query, use Incognito Search — incognito results won’t be stored in Memory.
  4. Use the “Manage Memories” screen to review saved memories, search them, and delete anything you don’t want stored. Warning: deletion is permanent.

Best practices for Memory

📅 Tasks & Scheduled Automations — Let Perplexity Run On Your Schedule

Tasks turn Perplexity into a recurring automated worker. Anything from a daily news digest to a monthly market forecast can be scheduled and sent to you automatically.

Types of scheduled tasks

How to create and schedule a task

  1. Go to Tasks in Perplexity’s sidebar.
  2. Click “Create” or choose from presets like “News Digest” or “Market Forecast.”
  3. Write or customize the instructions — e.g., “Summarize the top 5 AI news items of the day with links and one-sentence action items.”
  4. Select cadence: once, daily, every weekday, weekly, monthly, yearly. Choose specific days and times.
  5. Set expiration (if needed) and notification preferences: in-app, email, mobile push, or none.
  6. Choose what model and sources to use for the task: web search, academic databases, SEC filings, or social media — depending on the preset you need.
  7. Save and activate. Perplexity will run the instruction on schedule and deliver results to the places you selected.

Advanced routing and model selection

When creating tasks you can choose both the model Perplexity should use and the sources it searches. For example:

This level of control makes tasks useful for teams that need consistent, domain-specific updates without manual effort.

🔌 Connectors — Let Perplexity Act Inside Your Apps

One of the biggest productivity leaps is the Connectors feature. Instead of only giving Perplexity read-only access, connectors allow it to perform actions in your tools.

Supported connectors

What you can do with connectors

How to enable connectors safely

  1. Go to Connectors in Perplexity settings.
  2. Choose the services you want Perplexity to access and grant OAuth permissions as required.
  3. Review the scope of each connector carefully — limit write access if you only want read capabilities.
  4. Use the autonomy setting on the Assistant to control whether Perplexity acts automatically or only suggests actions.
  5. Periodically audit connector tokens and revoke access you no longer need.

Use-case examples

🛒 Purchases & Reservations — Buy and Book Through Perplexity

Perplexity now supports assisted purchasing and booking. This is a powerful convenience — but it requires careful setup and clear approval flows.

What it can do

How to enable and use Purchases & Reservations

  1. Open Tasks and choose “Purchases” or “Reservations.”
  2. Provide shipping address, phone number, and preferred billing method during setup (Perplexity will ask for your approval before purchases).
  3. When you trigger a purchase task, review the assistant’s recommendation and approve or modify before ordering.
  4. Track deliveries and confirmations within the app — shipping is often free when completing orders through Perplexity.

Perks and discounts

Perplexity includes a “Pro perks” area with affiliate discounts and credits for services like Aura, GoodRx, Eight Sleep, Thumbtack, LegalZoom, and travel partners (Avis/Budget). These are plan-dependent and can save you money when buying through the assistant.

🔒 Privacy, AI Data Retention & Incognito Mode

Privacy is a big topic when you allow an AI to access email, calendars, and storage. Perplexity gives you explicit controls for data retention and training data usage.

AI data retention settings

Memory management and deletion

Use the Manage Memories screen to audit and delete stored entries. Keep in mind deletion is permanent. If something is sensitive, use incognito or manually delete it after the fact.

Practical privacy tips

⚠️ Tips, Troubleshooting & Known Limitations

I’ve used these features extensively as they launched. Here are practical tips and common issues you might encounter:

Processing speed

If you have a very large mailbox (tens of thousands of emails), initial processing will be gradual. Don’t expect the Assistant to instantly label and reply to every message — let it run overnight if needed.

Autonomy tuning

Start conservative: use “propose times” for scheduling and “draft only” for email replies. Increase autonomy as you gain confidence. Always monitor first week changes closely.

Connector permissions

Grant the minimum permissions required for the task. If you only need Perplexity to read calendars, don’t grant write access. Regularly re-evaluate connector permissions.

Memory hygiene

Review saved memories regularly to ensure they’re accurate. Delete or update memories that become outdated (job titles, preferred vendors, etc.).

Error handling

📈 Real-World Use Cases — How I Use Perplexity to Save Hours

Here are practical ways to apply these features to real work scenarios:

❓ Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

How do I turn on Perplexity’s Assistant?

Go to the left-hand sidebar in Perplexity and click “Assistant.” Fill out your name, organization (optional), set availability windows, meeting durations, and autonomy levels. Connect your email and calendar via Connectors to enable email and scheduling actions.

Will Perplexity automatically send emails from my Gmail?

Only if you grant it permission and set autonomy to allow sending. You can keep it in “draft-only” mode so it drafts replies and waits for your approval. Start with draft mode until you trust it.

Can I delete memories once saved?

Yes. Go to Personalization > Manage Memories to view and delete entries. Be aware deletions are permanent.

What happens if the Assistant makes a scheduling mistake?

Autonomy settings determine error risks. If fully autonomous, review your calendar and undo any mistaken invites. If you prefer low risk, use “propose times” so no automatic invites are sent without your approval.

Are purchases secure?

Perplexity requires you to approve purchases and enter shipping/billing details. It may use affiliate links and pro perks. As with any online purchase, monitor confirmations and payment methods for security.

Which connectors should I enable first?

Enable the calendar connector first if scheduling is your priority, then email for triage and drafting. Add Drive, Notion, or Linear only when you need them for tasks to reduce initial complexity.

How do I prevent Perplexity from using my data for model training?

Turn off AI data retention in Preferences. Use Incognito Search for queries you don’t want saved. Review and revoke connector permissions as needed.

Can teams use these features together?

Yes — tasks and connectors are useful for teams. For shared contexts, set clear permissions and define which tasks are team-wide versus personal. Use Notion or shared Drive folders to centralize outputs.

📝 Meta Description & Tags (for SEO)

Meta description: Perplexity’s latest updates add an email & calendar Assistant, Memory beta, scheduled Tasks, connectors, and purchases — learn setup, use cases, privacy controls, and tips.

Suggested tags: Perplexity AI, AI assistant, email automation, calendar AI, memory beta, scheduled tasks, connectors, AI productivity, Rob The AI Guy, AI automation.

🖼️ Multimedia & Implementation Suggestions

To make this article even more useful on your blog, include the following media elements:

Include internal links from this post to other AI automation tutorials or guides (e.g., “AI automation workflows”, “email automation clients”). For external citations, reference Perplexity’s docs (https://www.perplexity.ai/) and industry reports about AI automation impacts (e.g., Goldman Sachs report on AI job changes).

✅ Final Recommendations & Call to Action

Perplexity’s new feature set is one of the most tangible leaps toward a usable, practical AI assistant. If you want to reclaim hours from email and calendar work, here’s my suggested rollout plan:

  1. Enable Assistant and set availability and autonomy to “propose” for the first two weeks.
  2. Turn on Memory for non-sensitive preferences and confirm that saved memories are accurate.
  3. Connect Calendar (then Email) using read-only or limited write permissions at first.
  4. Create one or two scheduled Tasks that deliver real value (e.g., daily news digest, a weekly report) to build trust.
  5. Only enable purchases/reservations after you’re comfortable with recommendation quality and have configured payment/shipping settings securely.

If you want help implementing these features in your workflow, or want a full audit of your AI automation setup, I run AI Automation School where I teach practical automations and personal workflows. Sign up here: https://www.skool.com/ai-automation-school/about

Want more hands-on walkthroughs? Try setting up one task today — a single recurring digest — and watch how much time it frees up. Small wins compound fast when you let AI handle repetitive tasks.

 

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