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Outlook

Write one email and SpecStream puts a draft for each result in your Outlook Drafts folder, addressed to the email that result published and filled in with its own values. You read each draft and send it yourself.

SpecStream for OutlookChat & work

What you need

  • A SpecStream account, free to start.
  • A Microsoft account with an Outlook mailbox.
  • A collection of matches from a finished request, with a published email on some of them.

  1. 1. Connect Outlook

    Open Connections, choose Outlook and select Sign in to Outlook. Sign in with the Microsoft account whose Drafts folder should receive the drafts.

    Microsoft asks you to approve Mail.ReadWrite, which lets SpecStream write drafts in your mailbox, and offline_access, which keeps the connection working between visits.

    You can set the export up before you sign in. Nothing is written until you connect and write the drafts.

  2. 2. Choose the results

    Under Records from, choose the collection. All of its results start selected, so clear the ones that should not get an email. Only matches from a finished run can be used. An imported list needs its matches found first.

    A result gets a draft when it has an email its source published. Results without one are left out, and SpecStream never writes to an address it inferred from a pattern.

  3. 3. Write the email once

    Enter a Subject and a Message. Put a result's own values in with fields. Select a button under Add a field to the message to insert one at your cursor, or type it in braces, like {name} or {organization.name}.

    Each draft fills in with that result's values. A field the result doesn't have comes out empty, so read the preview in the next step before you write.

    The subject holds up to 255 characters and the message up to 20,000. Drafts are plain text.

    An example
    Subject: A question for {name}
    

    Hi {name},
    

    I run a small bookkeeping practice and found {name} while looking at local businesses. Could we talk for 15 minutes this week?

  4. 4. Review and write the drafts

    Review shows how many of the results have a published email, and how the first draft reads, with its To, Subject and message.

    Select the Write button, which shows the number of drafts. SpecStream writes them to your Drafts folder and sends none. Save export keeps the setup for later and writes nothing.

    When the drafts are written, SpecStream lists each result as drafted, updated, or skipped without a published email. Open draft opens a draft in Outlook.

  5. 5. Read and send from Outlook

    Open your Drafts folder in Outlook. Edit a draft, delete it, or send it. SpecStream never sends a message, so a draft goes out only when you send it.

Write the same results again

Writing a result again with the same message updates its draft while that draft is unsent, so copies don't pile up. A result whose values haven't changed isn't written a second time.

If you already sent or deleted the earlier draft, a result whose values changed gets a new one.

If Outlook doesn't confirm a draft, the export asks you to Check delivery. SpecStream then looks for the draft in your mailbox before it writes anything again.

Keep drafting new results

On the Review step, turn on the checkbox that starts Write a draft for each new result. After the export, each result that newly qualifies with a published email gets its own draft, written from the same message. Every draft still waits for you.

Write to one result

To email a single result, open it, choose Email, then Write in Outlook. A row's menu has the same choice. A new message opens in Outlook on the web, addressed to the email the result published and starting from the message you last wrote for drafts. It needs no connection and sends nothing. Write in Gmail does the same in Gmail.

What SpecStream does in your mailbox

SpecStream uses Mail.ReadWrite to create drafts in your Drafts folder, to update a draft it wrote while it is unsent, and to look for a draft it wrote itself, by an identifier it puts on each one. It never sends a message and it doesn't list your inbox.

SpecStream stores the sign-in encrypted. The privacy policy and the security page have the details.

Cost

Writing drafts costs nothing on any plan. The requests that find the results are paid from your SpecStream balance and show their maximum before they start. Balance, quotes and billing explains how.

Disconnect

Open Configured in Connections, open the actions menu (⋯) on Outlook and select Disconnect. SpecStream deletes the sign-in it holds. Drafts already in Outlook stay there. Every other connection is in Connect your tools. Reach support at [email protected].

More

SpecStream for Outlook covers what it does in Outlook on one page. Every other tool has its guide in Connect your tools. You see the most a request can cost before it starts, and only the matches come out of your balance. Billing has the details. For help, email [email protected].