Auto-draft replies

The job: open your inbox to find replies already written, not blank compose windows. This recipe sets up a trigger automation that watches incoming mail and, for messages that need a response, writes a draft on the thread in your voice. It never sends. Drafts sit in your drafts folder until you review and send them yourself.

Touches: Inbox, Gmail or Outlook Mail, Automations.

Prep: Connect Gmail or Outlook. Run Learn my style first if you want the drafts to match your voice.

Set up auto-drafting

Set up an automation that drafts replies for me. When a new email arrives that clearly needs a response, write a draft reply on the thread in my voice and leave it in my drafts folder. Don't send anything; I'll review and send myself. Skip newsletters, automated notifications, and anything that doesn't need a reply. If you're unsure whether a message needs a reply, skip it.

What you'll see back: Dispatch creates a trigger automation on incoming mail. From then on, emails that need a reply have a draft waiting on the thread for you to review. The automation only ever drafts; it never sends. Creating a draft and sending are both writes that pass through the permission gate, and sending in particular always stays with you. It applies to new mail going forward, not your existing backlog.

Try variants

• "Only auto-draft for people in my contacts, not cold outreach": narrow who it drafts for.
• "For anything from my team, draft a short acknowledgement even if no reply is strictly needed": widen the rule.
• "Stop auto-drafting": Dispatch disables the automation.