Draft emails with Operator

Ask Operator to write an email for you. It saves the email as a draft in your Outlook or Gmail mailbox, written in your usual style, and it can attach files from Alcova. Operator never sends an email. You read the draft and send it yourself.

What firms use it for

• A follow-up after a meeting. On the meeting's page, open Ask Operator and select the Write follow up email suggestion. See Ask about the page you are on.
• Sending advice documents. "Draft an email to Alice and Bruno Abbott with the review presentation attached. Ask them to call me with any questions."
• Asking a client for paperwork. "Draft an email to Sarah Nguyen asking for her latest super statement and two recent payslips."
• Sending a document to an accountant. "Draft an email to Tom Whitfield at tom@whitfield.example.com.au, attaching the Gallaghers' 2026 tax statements from their folder in Client Context."
• Passing on a file you received. "Find the insurance quote Bruno emailed me last week, and attach it to a draft for Alice."
• Replying to a client. "Draft a reply to James Donnelly's last email, thanking him for the documents."

Ask for a draft

1. Ask Operator. Say who the email is to, what it should say and which files to attach. See Ask Operator.

2. Operator shows a Confirmation required card with the email's To, Subject and Account. The card does not show the email's text or its attachments.

   Check the details, then select Approve. To change something first, enter what Operator should do instead, then select Do this instead. See Approve actions and answer questions.

3. Operator saves the draft in your mailbox. The step shows Drafted: and the subject. Operator's reply shows the email and a link to the draft.

4. Open the draft in Outlook or Gmail. Read it, make any changes, then send it.

Attach files

Operator can attach any file you can open in Alcova:

• files you attached to your request
• files Operator made in the conversation, such as a presentation or a Word document. See Create Word documents and presentations.
• files in Client Context, Firm Resources or My files
• files attached to another email in your mailbox. Operator first saves a copy in the conversation, then attaches it.

Name the file and where it is, for example "the Abbott review presentation in their folder in Client Context."

These limits apply:

• Operator attaches files only. To send a folder, name the files in it.
• Two attachments on one email cannot have the same file name. Rename one of them first.

Change a draft

Reply in the same conversation and say what to change. For example:

• "Make it shorter, and mention the meeting on Thursday."
• "Attach the updated statement instead of the old one."
• "Remove the attachments."

Operator changes the same draft in your mailbox, and asks for your approval again. It can also find and change a draft you started yourself, for example "Add the fact find to my draft to Sarah Nguyen."

If you have already edited a draft in your mailbox, make further changes to the text there too. When Operator rewrites a draft's text, it replaces what is in the draft. A change to attachments or the subject leaves the text as it is.

Reply to an email

Ask Operator to reply, for example "Draft a reply to Bruno's last email." Operator finds the email and saves a reply draft in the same thread.

The Confirmation required card shows the Subject of the email, the Type, which is Reply or Reply all, and the Account.

A reply draft cannot carry attachments. To send a file, ask Operator for a new email instead.

What Operator does not do

• Operator never sends. Every email it writes stays a draft until you send it.
• Drafts go in your own mailbox. This applies even when a colleague has shared their inbox with you. See Share your inbox with a colleague.
• Operator does not write to an address marked Do not contact. If a recipient's email address is marked Do not contact, Operator tells you why it cannot draft to that address.

If you select Don't ask again in this conversation, Operator stops asking only for drafts that match the one you approved. Another draft may still ask for your approval.

If something goes wrong

• Additional permissions required: Alcova needs your permission to save drafts in your mailbox. Select Grant access, then sign in and allow the access it asks for. When Permission granted shows, ask Operator to try again.
• A file is too large for Outlook. Operator tells you which file. Attach a smaller copy, or split the file.
• The draft is not in your mailbox. Check the Account on the card. If you have more than one email account connected, tell Operator which one to use, for example "Use my Outlook account."

Related

• Ask Operator
• Approve actions and answer questions
• Create Word documents and presentations
• Work with files in Operator