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Timeline Reconstruction Guide

Your goal is to identify major life events from email patterns. Don't just list emails—synthesize them into a coherent narrative of significant moments.

What Belongs in a Timeline

Include (Major Life Events)

  • Moves: Relocations to new cities/homes
  • Jobs: New positions, promotions, company changes
  • Relationships: Marriage, significant partnerships
  • Family: Children, major family changes
  • Education: Degrees completed, certifications earned
  • Major purchases: Home, car, significant investments
  • Travel milestones: International moves, extended travel

Exclude (Too Granular)

  • Individual trips or vacations
  • Minor purchases
  • Day-to-day work activities
  • Routine appointments
  • Social events

Evidence Patterns for Each Event Type

Relocation Detection

Strong signals:

  • Shipping address changes over time (compare old vs new)
  • Utility setup emails at new address
  • "Change of address" confirmations
  • Moving company bookings
  • Real estate closing documents
  • Lease signing confirmations

How to date it:

  • Look for utility "service start date"
  • Moving company booking date
  • First shipment to new address

How to describe:

~[Month Year]: Moved to [City, State]
Evidence: Address change in Amazon shipping (old: X → new: Y), utility setup confirmation

Career Changes

Strong signals:

  • Offer letter emails with company name
  • "Welcome to [Company]" onboarding emails
  • Domain changes in user's sent email headers
  • LinkedIn job update notifications
  • "Your first day" calendar confirmations
  • Resignation acknowledgment emails

How to date it:

  • Offer letter date
  • First onboarding email
  • Domain change in sent mail

How to describe:

~[Month Year]: Started at [Company] as [Role if visible]
Evidence: Onboarding emails from company.com, domain change in sent mail

Relationship Milestones

Strong signals:

  • Wedding registry creation
  • Venue booking confirmations
  • Marriage license correspondence
  • Name change notifications
  • Joint account setup emails

How to date it:

  • Registry creation date
  • Wedding date from venue booking
  • Name change processing date

How to describe:

~[Month Year]: Married [Partner Name if visible]
Evidence: Wedding registry, venue confirmation for [date]

Children

Strong signals:

  • Baby registry creation
  • Hospital/birth center correspondence
  • Pediatrician first appointment
  • "Congratulations" emails from close contacts
  • Family leave correspondence

How to date it:

  • Registry creation (pre-birth)
  • Hospital correspondence dates
  • First pediatrician appointment

How to describe:

~[Month Year]: Child born ([Name if visible])
Evidence: Baby registry, pediatric care setup

Education Milestones

Strong signals:

  • Enrollment confirmations
  • Graduation/commencement information
  • Diploma/degree notifications
  • Certification completions
  • Student loan status changes

How to date it:

  • Graduation date from ceremony info
  • Certification issue date
  • Enrollment start date

How to describe:

~[Month Year]: Completed [Degree/Certification] from [Institution]
Evidence: Graduation confirmation, certificate issued

Major Purchases

Strong signals:

  • Mortgage closing documents
  • Car purchase/lease confirmations
  • Large financing approvals
  • Insurance policy starts for major assets

How to date it:

  • Closing date
  • Purchase confirmation date
  • Insurance effective date

How to describe:

~[Month Year]: Purchased home in [City/Neighborhood]
Evidence: Mortgage closing documents, homeowner insurance setup

Synthesis Techniques

Cross-Reference Multiple Sources

Don't rely on single emails. A move is confirmed by:

  • Address change in shipping +
  • Utility setup +
  • Maybe moving company booking

Look for Clusters

Major life events create email clusters:

  • Wedding → venue + registry + travel + photographer
  • New job → offer + onboarding + HR + IT setup
  • Move → utilities + shipping + services

Establish Rough Dates

Use "~[Month Year]" format for events where exact date is unclear. Better to be approximately right than precisely wrong.

Consider Causality

Events often trigger others:

  • New job → might explain relocation
  • Marriage → might explain home purchase
  • Child → might explain career pause

Timeline Format

Present findings as a markdown timeline:

## Life Timeline

### ~[Year]
- **[Month]**: [Event description]
  - Evidence: [Brief citation of supporting emails]

### ~[Year-1]
- **[Month]**: [Event description]
  - Evidence: [Brief citation]

Confidence Indicators

Use qualifiers when evidence is incomplete:

  • Confirmed: Multiple corroborating sources
  • Likely: Strong single source
  • Possible: Weak or ambiguous evidence (mention but flag)

Privacy Considerations

  • Don't include specific addresses (city/state is fine)
  • Don't include financial amounts
  • Don't speculate on reasons for changes
  • Don't include health-related events
  • Don't include legal matters

When Evidence is Sparse

If there isn't enough data for meaningful timeline:

  • Say so honestly
  • Note what period the emails cover
  • Mention that events before email history or outside Gmail wouldn't appear