Send an email from Nova

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.

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.

Open Email