[Objective] This research proposes a method to automatically transferring e-mails received by government websites, aiming to reduce labor costs of managing public email boxes. [Methods] First, we chose four representative classification algorithms, including Naïve Bayes, Decision Tree, Random Forest and Multi-Layer Perception, and compared their classification resutls of e-mails received by the websites of Mayor’s Offices in Beijing, Hefei and Shenzhen. Then, we designed a method of automatically transferring these emails. Finally, we gave suggestions on the application of our method in the real world settings. [Results] Multi-Layer Perception yielded the best performance in our study, with the macro average precision and recall reaching more than 0.85, and all micro average indicators reaching more than 0.93. Naïve Bayes took the second place. Random Forest had a high macro average precision, but poor recall score. Decision Tree had an average precision and recall results. [Limitations] We did not examine the impacts of skewed distribution of received emails and eliminated the departments receiving few emails. [Conclusions] The proposed method optimizes the operation of public e-mails, which improves the efficiency of online government and reduces administrative costs.