# Mail — a step-by-step guide

Mail shows every incoming message and what the assistant did with it: wrote a draft, skipped it, recognised a machine, or decided no reply is needed. For each you can find out why.

**Before you start**

- **An open assistant** — Mail is in the menu on the left, under Drafts.
- **About 3 minutes** — The tour takes a moment.

## Step 1 of 8: What arrived in the mailbox

On the screen: In Mail, a list of every message the assistant saw in the chosen period.

Do this: Each row is one incoming message: when it came, who from, the subject and what the assistant did with it. Where there is a draft, the **Draft** link leads straight to the prepared reply.

## Step 2 of 8: Pick a status

On the screen: Above the list, buttons with statuses and counts.

Do this: Click a status to see only those messages. **drafted** — the assistant prepared a reply. **skipped** — by the Filter instruction the message needs no reply. **automatic** — machine mail (notifications, auto-replies), which the assistant does not read at all. **no reply** — the assistant read the message and decided no reply is needed.

> Note: Less often you see **limit** (the message ran into one of the limits in Behaviour and limits), **rejected** (the draft failed a check and was not created) or **failed** (not even the third attempt worked). More in Why some mail gets no draft.

## Step 3 of 8: Find a message

On the screen: The search field and the period.

Do this: Type part of the subject, or the sender's name or address. Next to it you choose how far back the list goes.

## Step 4 of 8: The assistant's decision

On the screen: The Decision column for messages the assistant wrote a reply to.

Do this: **reply** — the draft answers on its own. **escalate** — the draft answers what it can and says the matter is passed on (by the Routing instruction). **no reply** — no draft was made.

## Step 5 of 8: Why the assistant decided so

On the screen: An opened row of a skipped message with the reason and the cost.

Do this: Click the row (or the arrow on the right). Under it you see why the assistant decided as it did and what processing the message cost.

## Step 6 of 8: When it decided wrongly

On the screen: Three buttons in the opened row.

Do this: **Draft a reply** writes a reply right away, whatever the assistant decided. **Process again** takes the message through the whole way again, as if it had just arrived — useful after changing the instructions. **To the trial set** saves the message so you can try changes of the instructions on it.

> Note: The assistant's owner and editors see the buttons. When the assistant skips mail it should not, adjust the Filter instruction.

## Step 7 of 8: The message detail

On the screen: After clicking the subject, the message's page with the Triage card.

Do this: Everything is together here: how the assistant sorted the message and why, what it decided about the reply, what the processing cost and how many attempts there were. The same three buttons are at the top right.

## Step 8 of 8: Drafts for this message

On the screen: Under the triage, the drafts made for the message.

Do this: Click a draft's number to open it. When you have the message processed again or ask for a draft, another one appears here.

**You know what the assistant does with the mail** — When you do not like what the assistant skips or answers, change the Filter instruction — and have the message processed again.

- **A message without a draft?** — Why some mail gets no draft goes through every status.
- **Want to try changes safely?** — Save messages into the trial set — the Trial set guide.