Email drafts in your own mailbox

Updated Markdown

The Email draft target writes a personal email to each contact from your template and puts it into the Drafts folder of your own mailbox (Gmail or Outlook). ListPlus sends nothing. You open each draft, read it, change it if you like and send it yourself from your mail program.

Before you start#

  • Connect your mailbox: Settings → Connected accounts (or Flows → Connected accounts), choose Gmail or Outlook and sign in. Each person connects their own mailbox.
  • The target needs the Pro plan at least, like every target that reaches a connected tool. Only owners and admins set up or change a pipeline; every member can send its entries.
  • The workspace owner can switch email drafts off for everyone in the workspace policy (Email drafts in members' own mailboxes), and they also need Connected systems to be on. A send then answers that the owner switched it off.

Set it up#

  1. In Flows, click Create pipeline and choose Email draft ("A personal email to the contact, as a draft in your mailbox").
  2. Enter a Subject. Variables next to the field inserts placeholders such as First name or Company name.
  3. Write the Text in the editor (see below).
  4. Under Signature, choose Our signature (below) and write it, or Add later in mailbox.
  5. Check the mail under Preview with a contact (see below), then click Create pipeline.

The editor#

The toolbar has bold, italic, underline, strikethrough, link, bulleted and numbered lists, font size, text color and Clear formatting. Enter starts a new line, as in your mail program; press Enter twice for an empty line.

  • Placeholders are inserted with Variables at the right of the toolbar: search a field by name, grouped by contact, company and sender. They show as small chips in the text. Your first name and Your name are filled with the name of whoever sends.
  • Click a placeholder to set a fallback, the text that appears when a contact has no value, for example "there" for a missing first name.
  • A placeholder without a fallback is required. The pipeline's data check holds every contact without that value (at To review), so no draft ever says "Hello ,".
  • Colors and font sizes are allowed. The editor then reminds you that they make an email look like a newsletter: some spam filters count that against it, and some mail programs show them differently.
  • AI paragraph adds a paragraph the AI writes per contact. See "AI texts and the content check in email drafts".

Whose mailbox#

The form shows under Drafts where your drafts go ("Your drafts go to …"), or offers Connect a mailbox when you have none.

  • Release: Manual. Whoever clicks Send gets the drafts in their own mailbox. Several colleagues can share one pipeline; each of them gets the drafts they send.
  • Release: Automatic. The drafts go into the mailbox of the person who set up the pipeline. If that person leaves the workspace, the pipeline pauses and the owner is e-mailed.
  • If you connected more than one mailbox, the one you connected last is used.
  • The Email draft target never puts drafts into a colleague's mailbox. (The Other app target can lay a draft into any current member's mailbox — see "Whose connected account a pipeline uses".) Without a mailbox of your own, the entry fails with "You have not connected a mailbox yet".

One draft per address#

A pipeline makes one draft per email address, ever. If the same person comes again, from another list or added again later, the entry ends with "Skipped – this pipeline already made a draft to this address", at no cost. Another pipeline (with another template) can still write to that address. The Block list (Settings → Block list) applies as for every external target: a contact on it is held at To review with "On the block list". A contact without an email address is held there too.

How many at a time#

  • One click on Send makes at most 50 drafts; the rest keeps waiting for the next click, and a note says how many.
  • With Release: Automatic and no daily limit of its own, the pipeline makes at most 50 drafts a day.

Preview with a contact#

Preview with a contact shows the mail as it would be drafted, from the form as it stands; you do not have to save first, and nothing is drafted.

  • Pick a list and a contact. You see From, To, Subject and the mail, and whether the contact is Ready for a draft or what is missing (the data check) or that it is on the block list.
  • Required contact data lists what every contact needs: the email address and each placeholder without a fallback.
  • AI paragraphs show as "[AI: …]". Generate AI example writes them for this contact; it costs what the AI uses but creates no draft, and the real draft of this contact does not pay for them again the same day.

Test it first#

Send test (under Test connection at the end of the action) makes one draft from a real record in your mailbox, addressed to you and marked "[Test]" in the subject. It never reaches the contact and does not count for "one draft per address", but it costs the same as a draft (plus its AI texts). It uses the saved settings, so save your changes first. The preview above shows the mail before you test it.

On the record#

The record's In pipelines box shows draft created with Open in mailbox, which opens the draft (or, once sent, the email) in Gmail or Outlook.

Sending the drafts#

  • Gmail app on a phone: a draft first opens for reading; tap the pencil (edit) to get the send button.
  • Your own signature: a draft made by ListPlus does not get your mail program's signature by itself. Insert it when you open the draft (Outlook: Insert → Signature; Gmail: the pen icon in the draft).
  • Mail programs that connect via IMAP (for example Apple Mail with a Gmail account) send a copy and leave the draft in the Drafts folder; delete it there. Open in mailbox then still points to the draft.

What it costs#

A draft costs the credits shown on the target's tile, charged once it was created. A skipped repeat costs nothing. AI texts and the content check are charged on top by what the AI really uses (see "AI texts and the content check in email drafts").

Sending rules are yours#

You send these emails yourself, from your own address. In Germany, advertising by email usually needs the recipient's prior consent; in the US, CAN-SPAM expects your postal address and a way to opt out. Check what applies to you before you send.

Related topics: email-draft-ai · company-knowledge · pipelines-overview · pipeline-data-check · automatic-release · connect-crm-and-sheets.

FAQ#

Does ListPlus send the emails?#

No. ListPlus only puts drafts into your own mailbox. You read each one and send it yourself from Gmail or Outlook.

Which mailboxes work?#

Gmail (including Google Workspace) and Outlook (Microsoft 365). Connect yours under Settings → Connected accounts.

Why did a contact get no draft?#

Look at the entry in the pipeline. "To review" means the contact has no email address, a placeholder without a fallback has no value, or the contact is on the block list; "Skipped" means this pipeline already made a draft to that address.

Can the same person get two drafts?#

Not from the same pipeline: it makes one draft per address, ever, and skips repeats at no cost. A different pipeline can write to the same address.

Why do I only get 50 drafts at a time?#

A drafts folder with hundreds of new mails is hard to work through, so one Send makes at most 50. Click Send again for the next 50; an automatic pipeline makes at most 50 a day unless you set a daily limit.

Where does my signature come from?#

Either from Our signature in the pipeline, or, if you choose Add later in mailbox, from your mail program. A draft made by ListPlus does not get that one by itself, so insert it when you open the draft.

Can my colleagues use my pipeline?#

Yes. With manual release, each colleague who clicks Send gets the drafts in their own mailbox, never in yours.

How do I send a draft from the Gmail app?#

Open the draft and tap the pencil (edit). The send button appears in the editing view.

Why is the draft still in my drafts folder after sending?#

Some mail programs that connect via IMAP, such as Apple Mail with a Gmail account, send a copy and keep the draft. Delete the draft there; sending from Gmail or Outlook themselves removes it.

What does "Open in mailbox" open?#

The draft in Gmail or Outlook, or the sent email once you sent it from there. It is shown in the record's In pipelines box.

Can our data protection officer forbid email drafts?#

Yes. The workspace owner can switch off "Email drafts in members' own mailboxes" in the workspace policy; no member can then make drafts, while the other connected systems keep working.