# Reviewing email drafts as a team

> How a team approves the agent's email drafts from the Inbox — the Drafts tab, the four ways to answer a draft (approve, rewrite with a note, try again, edit by hand), the version trail, the review lock that stops two people sending the same reply, reviewers per mailbox, and what every chip and "held because" reason means.

Source: https://docs.amomic.in/console/email-drafts

---

On a mailbox set to **Drafts for approval**, the agent writes every reply and a person sends it. On a mailbox set to **Auto-reply**, the agent sends on its own until a limit stops it — then it writes a draft and waits. Either way the draft lands in the [Inbox](/console/inbox), and this page is how a team clears them: who sees them, the four ways to answer one, what happens when two people open the same draft, and what each label means.

Reply modes and auto-reply limits are set per mailbox; see [Pick the agent and how it replies](/channels/email#pick-the-agent-and-how-it-replies).

## Where drafts show up

A conversation with a draft waiting carries **Draft waiting** in [Primary](/console/inbox-primary), and the **Drafts** tab lists every waiting draft as one table, grouped by mailbox, oldest first.

![The Drafts tab: a table grouped by mailbox, warranty@veloriahome.in with two drafts waiting and support@veloriahome.in with two, showing for each the customer and subject, a chip such as AI draft v1 or Rewritten with note v3, why it is waiting, how long, who is reviewing it, and Send and Open buttons](https://docs.amomic.in/screens/inbox/drafts.light.webp)

*The Drafts tab is for clearing a morning's mail without opening every thread.*

| Column | What it shows |
|---|---|
| **Customer · subject** | Who wrote, and the thread's subject (*(no subject)* when it had none). |
| **Draft** | Where the current revision came from and its number — see [What the chips mean](#what-the-chips-mean). |
| **Why it is waiting** | *Mailbox is set to drafts for approval*, or the limit that held an auto-reply — see [Held because…](#held-because). |
| **Waiting** | How long since the agent first wrote a draft on this thread, whatever has been done to it since. |
| **Reviewing** | **{name} reviewing** while a colleague has the draft open; a dash when nobody does. |
| **Send** | Sends the draft exactly as it is, from the mailbox. Greyed out while someone else is reviewing it. |
| **Open** | Opens the conversation on the **Primary** tab, with the draft card and the whole thread. |

The mailbox select narrows the table to one mailbox when the channel filter is **Email**. When nothing is waiting you see *No drafts waiting*.

## The draft card

Open a thread with a draft and the card sits between the header and the transcript, headed **Draft waiting for approval**.

![An email thread open in the Inbox with the draft card: the heading Draft waiting for approval, a chip Rewritten with note v3 by Priya Nair, the note to the agent in quotes, the draft text, and the buttons Approve & send, Edit, Rewrite and Discard with the line Sends as support@veloriahome.in to kavya.hegde@outlook.com, then Versions (2)](https://docs.amomic.in/screens/inbox/primary.light.webp)

*The card says where this revision came from, who asked for it and what they asked, then the text, then the four ways to answer.*

Top to bottom:

- **The chip** — **AI draft v1**, **Rewritten v2**, **Rewritten with note v3** or **Edited by {name} v2** — and, on a rewrite, **by {name}**: who asked for it.
- **Held because {reason}.** on the right, when an auto-reply was held by a limit rather than by the mailbox's mode.
- **Note to the agent: “…”** when the current revision was rewritten with a note.
- The draft text.
- **Approve & send**, **Edit**, **Rewrite**, **Discard**, and the line *Sends as {mailbox} to {customer}.* so you always know which address will send and to whom.
- **Versions (n)**, when earlier revisions exist.

Below the card, **Reply by email** lets you write your own reply instead; see [Email threads](/console/inbox#email-threads).

## Four ways to answer a draft

| You want | Do this | What happens |
|---|---|---|
| Send it as it is | **Approve & send** | The reply leaves from the mailbox at once. *Reply sent from {mailbox}.* |
| The agent to try again with your guidance | **Rewrite**, type a note, **Rewrite with this note** | The agent writes a new revision following your note. Nothing is sent. *Rewritten with your note.* |
| The agent to simply try again | **Rewrite**, then **Just try again** | A new revision with no note. Nothing is sent. *The agent wrote a new draft.* |
| To fix the words yourself | **Edit**, change the text, then **Send edited reply** or **Save draft** | Your text is sent, or saved as a new revision for later. |
| Nothing sent at all | **Discard** | The draft is dropped. *Draft discarded. Nothing was sent.* The thread stays in the Inbox, and the customer's next mail gets a fresh draft. |

### Rewrite with a note, or just try again

![The Rewrite popover over the draft card: the line Tell the agent what to change, four chips Shorter, Warmer, More formal and Offer a call, a note typed into the box, and the buttons Rewrite with this note and Just try again](https://docs.amomic.in/screens/inbox/draft-rewrite.light.webp)

*The chips are the notes people give most; the box takes anything else, up to 500 characters.*

**Rewrite** opens a small panel: *Tell the agent what to change. Same knowledge, same voice — your note as the instruction.* Tap a chip (**Shorter**, **Warmer**, **More formal**, **Offer a call**) to add it to the note, or type your own — *mention the refund policy and keep it to three lines* is the placeholder's example. **Rewrite with this note** needs a note; **Just try again** sends none.

The rewrite is written by the same agent that wrote the first draft, with its own instructions and persona, working from the customer's mail and the current draft, with your note as the instruction. It reshapes the reply; it does not go back to the knowledge base to research the answer again. If the facts are wrong rather than the wording, fix the text with **Edit**, and fix the knowledge for next time.

A rewrite becomes the new current revision: the chip reads **Rewritten with note v3** (or **Rewritten v2**), **by {name}** names you, and your note shows under the heading. The revision it replaced moves into the version trail, and in the transcript its bubble is marked **Replaced by a newer draft**.

### Edit by hand

![The draft card in edit mode: the draft text in an editable box, and the buttons Send edited reply, Save draft (greyed out until the text changes) and Cancel](https://docs.amomic.in/screens/inbox/draft-edit.light.webp)

*Save draft keeps your wording as a new revision without sending it.*

**Edit** turns the text into a box. Then:

- **Send edited reply** sends what is in the box, from the mailbox. If you changed nothing, the stored draft goes.
- **Save draft** stores your wording as a new revision — the chip becomes **Edited by {name} v2** — and sends nothing: *Draft saved. Nothing was sent.* It is only enabled once the text differs from the draft.
- **Cancel** throws your changes away and shows the stored draft again.

If a rewrite or a colleague's save lands while you are editing, your box keeps your text; the check on send protects you (see [When the draft changed under you](#when-the-draft-changed-under-you)).

## The version trail

![The draft card with Versions (2) expanded: AI draft v1 at 10:25 AM and Rewritten v2 at 11:01 AM, each with the first lines of its text](https://docs.amomic.in/screens/inbox/draft-versions.light.webp)

*Earlier revisions, oldest first. The current one is the card itself.*

**Versions (n)** under the buttons opens the earlier revisions, oldest first: the chip label with its number, when it was written, the note it was written from in quotes, and the first two lines of its text. The current revision is not in the list — it is the card. The trail keeps the last ten revisions.

The transcript tells the same story: each replaced draft is a bubble marked **Replaced by a newer draft**, the current one **Draft — not sent**, and once something goes out, **Sent by email**. A draft nobody sent because a person replied instead reads **Not sent — a person replied instead**; a discarded one, **Discarded — not sent**.

## What the chips mean

| Chip | Meaning |
|---|---|
| **AI draft v1** | The agent wrote it on its own when the mail arrived. Every thread starts here. |
| **Rewritten v2** | Someone chose **Just try again**. The agent wrote it afresh with no guidance. |
| **Rewritten with note v2** | Someone rewrote it with a note; the note is shown under the heading. |
| **Edited by {name} v2** | That person changed the text by hand and chose **Save draft**. |

The number is the revision: it goes up by one on every rewrite or saved edit, so **v3** means two things have been done to the agent's first draft. **by {name}** beside a rewrite chip says who asked for it.

## Held because…

On a mailbox set to **Auto-reply**, a draft exists because something stopped the agent from sending. The card says **Held because {reason}.**, and the Drafts tab shows the same reason under **Why it is waiting**.

| Reason | What it means | Where it is set |
|---|---|---|
| *Mailbox is set to drafts for approval* | Nothing held it: the mailbox's mode is **Drafts for approval**, so every reply waits. | **Automation → How should the agent reply?** |
| *the agent has already replied the maximum number of times on this thread* | The thread reached **Max auto-replies per thread**. | **Automation**, under Auto-reply |
| *the mailbox reached its daily auto-reply limit* | The mailbox reached **Max auto-replies per day**. | **Automation**, under Auto-reply |
| *outside the mailbox's auto-reply hours* | The mail arrived outside **Auto-reply only during these hours**. | **Automation**, under Auto-reply |
| *the mailbox's kill switch is on* | The **Kill switch** is on, so nothing is sent until it is turned off. | **Automation** |
| *someone from your team is handling this thread* | A person replied on the thread, and the mailbox's quiet hours have not passed. | **Automation → After someone from your team replies, stay quiet for** |
| *the mailbox could not send it* | The send failed at the mail server. **Re-check** the mailbox on **Channels → Email**, then approve again. | — |

See [Limits on auto-reply](/channels/email#limits-on-auto-reply) for what each setting does.

## Two people, one draft

Opening a thread that has a draft takes a short **review lock** on it. It lasts five minutes, is renewed every two minutes while you have the thread open, and is released when you move to another conversation or leave the page. The lock is what stops two people polishing, and sending, the same reply.

![An email thread whose draft is locked by a colleague: the row in the list says Kabir Mehta reviewing, and the draft card shows a banner Kabir Mehta is reviewing this draft with a Take over button; Approve & send, Edit, Rewrite and Discard are greyed out](https://docs.amomic.in/screens/inbox/reviewing.light.webp)

*While a colleague has the draft, the row and the card both say so.*

While a colleague holds the lock:

- the row in the list says **{name} reviewing** on its right edge, and so does **Reviewing** on the Drafts tab;
- **Send** on the Drafts tab is greyed out;
- the card shows **{name} is reviewing this draft** with a **Take over** button, and **Approve & send**, **Edit**, **Rewrite** and **Discard** are greyed out.

**Take over** asks for the lock again. It succeeds once the other person's lock has lapsed — they moved on, or five minutes passed without them keeping it. While theirs is fresh, the banner stays. If an action slips through anyway, the server refuses it with *{name} is reviewing this draft.*

A lock that cannot be taken for any other reason never blocks you: the card stays usable, because a lock must not also stop the mail going out.

## When the draft changed under you

Every send carries the revision number you were reading. If the draft moved on in between — a colleague rewrote it, saved an edit, or the customer wrote again and the agent drafted a fresh reply — the send is refused and the card reloads with the new revision: *This draft changed — review the new version.* Nothing is sent until someone approves the version that is actually there. The same check applies to **Send** on the Drafts tab.

## Reviewers per mailbox

By default every admin is notified when a draft is waiting. A mailbox can name its reviewers instead, on **Channels → Email**, the mailbox's **Automation** tab, under **Reviewers**.

![The Automation tab of support@veloriahome.in on Channels → Email, showing the Reviewers group with the workspace's six members as checkboxes, Priya Nair and Kabir Mehta ticked, and the help text They get the notification when a draft is waiting in this mailbox. Leave empty to notify every admin.](https://docs.amomic.in/screens/email/reviewers.light.webp)

*Reviewers are per mailbox. Members can be reviewers; the role does not matter.*

Tick the people who watch that mailbox and choose **Save automation**. From then on **they** get the notification when a draft is waiting in that mailbox, and admins who are not ticked do not.

Leave the list empty to go back to notifying every admin. Reviewers can be members, not only admins; being a reviewer does not change what else they can do. Reviewers decide who is told, nothing more: every draft is visible to everyone on the **Drafts** tab and in [Primary](/console/inbox-primary), and anyone can send one.

## After you send

- **Approve & send** and **Send edited reply** send from the mailbox, and the agent keeps the thread: the customer's next mail gets a new draft (or an automatic reply, on an Auto-reply mailbox). The conversation leaves Primary and the Drafts tab.
- **Reply by email** — your own words, not the draft — also drops any waiting draft (its bubble reads **Not sent — a person replied instead**), and the agent steps back on the thread for the mailbox's quiet hours. See [Email threads](/console/inbox#email-threads).
- Sent replies sit in the mailbox's own Sent folder, with the mailbox's signature under them.

## Troubleshooting

| What you see | Why, and what to do |
|---|---|
| **Approve & send** is greyed out | A colleague is reviewing (see the banner), the mailbox this thread came from is no longer connected (the panel says so, with a link to **Channels → Email**), or the draft is empty. |
| **Save draft** is greyed out | The text in the box is the same as the stored draft. Change something, or **Cancel**. |
| **Rewrite with this note** is greyed out | The note is empty. Type one, tap a chip, or use **Just try again**. |
| *This draft changed — review the new version* | Someone or something replaced the draft since you opened it. Read the new one and act on that. |
| *{name} is reviewing this draft.* | They hold the lock. Wait, or **Take over** once it lapses. |
| *Couldn't send the reply.*, *Couldn't rewrite the draft.*, *Couldn't save the draft.* | The request failed. Try again; if sending keeps failing, **Re-check** the mailbox on [Channels → Email](/channels/email#mailbox-health). |
| A draft on an **Auto-reply** mailbox you expected to go out by itself | Read **Held because…** on the card; the limit that held it is on the mailbox's Automation tab. |
| Drafts keep arriving while nobody watches | Name **Reviewers** on the mailbox so the right people are notified, and clear the **Drafts** tab one mailbox at a time with the mailbox select. |

## Related

::: cards

::: card Primary, All and the filters
[What is in Primary](/console/inbox-primary), what noise All adds, and the filters.
:::

::: card Set up email
[Reply modes, auto-reply limits, signature and mark-as-read](/channels/email#pick-the-agent-and-how-it-replies) per mailbox.
:::

::: card Inbox
[Reading an email thread](/console/inbox#email-threads): the panel, Reply by email and pausing the agent.
:::

:::