Brief connects to and syncs from the systems where your work lives. The more sources you connect, the more context Brief can maintain on your behalf.
Below is every source Brief supports and what it takes from each. For operating the screen itself — granting a permission, choosing which calendars Brief reads, reading a card that has turned red — see Connection settings.
| Source | What Brief syncs |
| Gmail | Inbox and folders. Brief surfaces key emails in your daily briefing. |
| Outlook (Microsoft 365) | Inbox and folders. Brief surfaces key emails in your daily briefing. |
| Google Calendar | Your primary calendar by default. Used for daily and meeting briefings. |
| Microsoft Calendar | Your primary calendar by default. Used for daily and meeting briefings. |
| Google Chat | Conversations you participate in. |
| Slack | Conversations you participate in. |
| Microsoft Teams | Conversations you participate in. |
| Zoom | Meeting transcripts and AI Companion meeting summaries. |
| Google Contacts | Your address book, enhanced with AI embeddings for relationship recognition. |
| Microsoft Contacts | Your address book, enhanced with AI embeddings for relationship recognition. |
| Todoist | Your tasks and priorities. |
| Google Tasks | Your tasks and priorities. |
| Slack Lists | Your tasks and priorities. |
| Microsoft To Do | Your tasks and priorities. |
Five accounts, more sources than five
Settings → Connections offers five accounts to connect: Google, Microsoft, Zoom, Todoist and Slack. That is a shorter list than the table above because most of these sources arrive through one of the five rather than connecting on their own.
Connecting a Google account brings Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Contacts, Google Tasks and Google Chat. A Microsoft account brings Outlook, Microsoft Calendar, Microsoft Contacts, Microsoft To Do and Teams chats. Zoom, Todoist and Slack each connect on their own, and Slack carries both your conversations and Slack Lists.
So the count on the Connections screen is not the count of what Brief reads. One Google account and one Slack connection cover most of the table.
Zoom carries one condition the others do not. Brief reads the transcript rather than the audio, so Zoom has to be producing one: turn on Create audio transcript in Zoom, under Recording in your own settings or Recording & Transcript if you administer the account, in the advanced cloud recording settings. It applies to cloud recordings only and it is not retroactive, and Zoom requires a Pro, Business, Education or Enterprise account with cloud recording enabled. Zoom's instructions are in Enabling or disabling audio transcription for cloud recordings, and Set up your communications connectors covers it alongside the rest of the first-run setup. For meetings you don't record, Zoom AI Companion can produce the transcript instead, as Set up your communications connectors describes.
How much to connect
Brief does not require all of these to be useful. The minimum useful set is email plus calendar from the same provider (Google or Microsoft). Add chat, Zoom, contacts, and tasks to expand the insights Brief will deliver to you.
Watch it work
- Video: Syncing tasks — a commitment caught in a Slack message, suggested as a task, and synced to the list you already use.
- Video: Brief application overview — where connected data surfaces once it is in.