---
key: send-an-email
title: Send an email from Nova
audience: staff
section: communications/email
routes: ["/communications/email"]
permissions: ["communications.email.message.send"]
features: ["communications.email"]
since: 0.0.1
updated: 0.0.1
status: published
summary: Write a new email from a connected mailbox, add recipients, a subject, attachments and a template, then send it or save it as a draft.
keywords: [compose email, new email, write email, send mail, cc, bcc, attachment, draft, signature]
related: [read-and-sort-your-email, connect-a-microsoft-inbox, fix-an-inbox-that-stopped-syncing, reply-to-a-ticket]
---

In the sidebar, open **Communications**, then **Email**. The page address is `/communications/email`. Mailboxes and folders sit on the left, the message list in the middle, and the reading pane or the composer on the right.

## Before you start

- At least one mailbox has to be connected. If the page reads **No email accounts connected**, press **Connect email account** or see [[connect-a-microsoft-inbox]].
- Your role needs permission to send email. Without it, **Compose** does not appear.

## Steps

1. Press **Compose** above the **Mailboxes** list, or **New** at the top of the message list. The composer opens on the right.
2. Under **From**, pick the mailbox the email should come from. Nova starts with the mailbox you are looking at, if it can send. If you manage mailbox connections, **Connect another mailbox…** opens Email Accounts. When you have unsaved changes, choose **Save then leave**, **Leave without saving**, or **Keep editing** first. A failed save keeps you on this page.
3. Under **Recipients**, type a name or an email address in **To**. Pick the person from the contact suggestions, or press Enter after a full address; each recipient becomes a chip you can double-click to change. Typed and pasted addresses are matched to contacts and customer accounts too. If several contacts or accounts use the address, choose one under **Who is this email for?**, then press **Use selected recipient**; **Leave it unlinked** keeps the address without a customer link. Press **Add Cc** or **Add Bcc** to copy other people.
4. Type the **Subject**.
5. Write your message in the box that reads **Write your message…**. To use a saved template, choose it under **Templates**. Review the template preview, then choose **Insert into message** to add it below your writing, **Replace with template** to replace the subject and authored message, or **Keep my message** to cancel. Your signature, reply history, recipients and files stay. Insert keeps a subject you have already written. A template with missing information must be completed before it can be used.
6. To attach files, press the paperclip (**Attach files**), or **Attach from Nova** to pick a file already stored in Nova.
7. Press **Send**. The composer shows **Sending your email…** and pauses editing until the mailbox accepts the message. You can open another message, switch folders, or go to another Nova page while it sends. Nova shows **Email sent** wherever you are when it finishes.

## What you see

- Nova saves the draft on its own as you type; the note beside the buttons reads **Saving…**, then **Saved**, or **Couldn't save** if it could not. **Save draft** saves pending changes straight away into the mailbox's **Drafts** folder. It is unavailable when there is nothing left to save or while the draft is opening. **Save and close composer** does the same and closes the composer.
- A recovery copy saved in this browser belongs to the person who wrote it. Reopen the composer after a refresh to recover it; signing in as someone else does not expose that draft.
- Press **Compose** to start another email even when the previous draft needs your attention. Nova keeps that draft's unsaved changes on this device; reopen it from **Drafts** to continue. Pressing **Compose** while you are already writing a new email keeps that email open.
- Expand the attachment count to see the files. Press **Remove** beside a file and confirm **Remove** to take it off the draft. Removing an inline image also removes it from the message body.
- Select **Signatures** in the composer to choose an existing signature. **Remove signature** takes out the signature without removing your message. **Manage signatures** in that list opens the signature editor.
- Select **Dictate** to speak your message. The full-width **Speak your message** panel shows microphone activity. Choose **Insert text** to finish recording and add the words, or **Cancel dictation** to leave your message unchanged.
- Draft attachments keep their names when you reopen the draft. Select a supported file to preview it; use **Previous file** and **Next file** to move through the attachments without closing the viewer. Images, PDFs, Word documents, audio and videos use the same viewer. A file that is still being checked shows its progress.
- Replies keep the original message readable above the editor. **Expand reply** hides that context; **Show original message** brings it back. Click the recipient summary to edit To, Cc or Bcc, then **Done** to fold it away. **Reply options** offers **Edit subject** and, when available, **Reply all**. **Forward original** saves and closes your reply before opening a separate forward. Your sending mailbox stays visible.
- Common formatting tools stay visible on a computer. **More formatting** reveals headings, colours and tables. In a narrow reading pane or on a phone, open **Formatting** first.
- **Reply** and **Forward** in the reading pane open the same composer; **Send** is the primary action. Send and draft actions stay below the scrolling message, so long replies cannot cover them. On a phone, **More draft actions** holds **Discard**.
- **Saved · updating mailbox…** means Nova has saved your draft and is automatically updating the mailbox. **Saved · mailbox unavailable** means Nova has your draft and is retrying the mailbox connection. You can keep writing; there is no manual syncing step. Wait for **Saved** before continuing in Outlook or another email app. If both apps changed the same part of the draft, choose **Review versions** to compare the copies. **Use my changes** saves your changes into the mailbox; **Use mailbox version** loads the other copy. **Keep editing** returns to your draft without choosing. A browser recovery copy protects typing before a server save; it does not mean the email was sent.
- Outlook may adjust how a saved signature or message is stored without changing its appearance. Nova recognises those adjustments automatically. You only need to choose a version when the copies contain different changes.
- **Discard** removes the draft from the connected mailbox and Nova. The confirmation shows **Discarding draft…** until it finishes. There is no recoverable Nova copy after discard; on a phone it sits in **More draft actions**.
- A default signature, when you have set one up under **Signatures** in the **Mailbox settings** menu, is added for you. Nova adds the space above it, so you do not need to add a blank line to your saved signature. Saving and reopening preserves the spacing you wrote.
- **Outbox** shows queued sends and their delivery status. Sending continues on the server when you change pages, reload, or close your browser. A confirmed send leaves Outbox and appears in **Sent**. A send that needs attention remains visible; an uncertain delivery is checked before any retry.
- Sent mail appears in the mailbox's **Sent** folder once the mailbox reports it.

## If something looks different

- **Your draft is kept here**: Nova checks again automatically while you continue writing. Select **Try again** to check sooner, or **Choose draft version** to check the mailbox and choose which copy to keep. **Close draft** lets you leave; Nova preserves unsaved changes in this browser when it can verify a recovery copy. Reopen the draft to continue. **View saved versions** lets you review earlier saved copies.
- If the mailbox version was selected but has not opened, choose **Try again** to load it. That version is already saved. **Compose** lets you start another email while the mailbox is unavailable.
- **Compose** is greyed out with a note that the inbox needs reconnecting, or with **Reconnect an inbox before composing.**: no connected mailbox can send right now. When you can fix it, the notice at the top of the page has a button that takes you to the inbox's card under **Email Accounts**; otherwise it reads **Ask an admin to fix this inbox.** You can also open **Manage inboxes** from the **Mailbox settings** menu. See [[fix-an-inbox-that-stopped-syncing]].
- **Send** is briefly unavailable while a draft save finishes. It also stays unavailable while an attachment is uploading or failed, or a video attachment needs a permission your role does not have.
- **Send** reads **Retry safely**: Nova could not confirm whether the last attempt went out. Press it, and Nova checks before sending again so the customer does not get the email twice.
- A notice says the mailbox needs reconnecting, is disconnected or is suspended by the provider: mail stops arriving and nothing can be sent from it until someone reconnects it on its card under **Email Accounts**. **Reply**, **Forward** and **Send** are greyed out with the reason meanwhile.
- A notice says Nova stopped syncing the mailbox: you can still send, reply and forward from it. Only new mail stops arriving, until someone presses **Try again** on its card. See [[fix-an-inbox-that-stopped-syncing]].

[[route:/communications/email|Open Email]]