Setting up an autopilot
Create a newsletter autopilot with the five-step wizard, try a sample issue, and turn it on. Afterwards, fine-tune everything on the autopilot's own page.
Before You Start
An autopilot needs four things before it can write an issue:
- A verified sending address. Only addresses on a verified, not paused domain can be picked — see Custom Email Domains.
- A template with a Content area. Every issue is written into it — see Email Templates.
- Content to write from, ticked for this autopilot in step 4 of the wizard or later on the brand's Content sources page.
- AI credits, from your subscription or your wallet balance.
The Setup Wizard
Go to Newsletter › Autopilot and click New autopilot. The Set up Newsletter Autopilot window walks you through five steps ("Step 1 of 5" and so on).
Intro
Pick the Brand the autopilot writes for (it can't be changed later; with only one brand it is chosen for you) and give it a Name — up to 80 characters, shown on the campaigns it creates. Underneath, the wizard says how much the brand has to write from: "N pieces of content across M sources are available to write from". If it says Nothing to write from yet, use Open Content sources to add content first. Click Start.
Schedule — "When should issues go out?"
| How often | When issues go out | Default |
|---|---|---|
| Weekly | On the weekdays you pick. All seven means daily. | Tuesday |
| Every 2 weeks | On the weekdays you pick, every second week, counted from the day you turn the autopilot on. | Tuesday |
| Monthly | On one Day of the month, 1–31. 31 means the last day of any month. | 1 |
| After the previous one | A set number of days (1–365) after the previous issue finished sending. | 7 days |
Then set the Send time (default 09:00), the Timezone (default: your browser's) and Written ahead of the send by — 1 hour, 6 hours, 1 day (default), 2 days or 3 days. With approval on, this is how long you have to read each issue.
Campaign — "The campaign each issue becomes"
These settings apply to every issue. Each issue is an ordinary campaign you can open, edit and cancel.
| Setting | What to know |
|---|---|
| Sender address | Required. Only addresses on a verified, not paused domain are listed. |
| Sender name | Filled in with the brand's name once you pick an address. Up to 120 characters. |
| Template | Required. Only templates with a Content area are listed. |
| Audience | All active contacts (default), Segments or Groups — one kind at a time, up to 50 segments or groups. The live count below reads "N contacts right now". |
| Send priority | Low, Normal (default) or High. When several campaigns wait on the same domain, the higher priority goes out first. |
| Daily send limit (drip) | Off by default. Switched on, it sends at most this many e-mails a day (500 to start with); the remaining readers get the issue on the following days. |
Content — "What may it write from?"
| Setting | What to know |
|---|---|
| Source tick boxes | Nothing is ticked by default. Until at least one source is ticked, you can't turn the autopilot on or generate a sample. |
| About the readers | Who receives the newsletter and what they care about. Up to 1,000 characters. |
| Standing instructions | Applied to every issue: tone, things to always or never mention, a closing line. Up to 4,000 characters. |
| Language | The brand's language (default) or one of 17 languages. |
| Length | Short (2–3 sections), Medium (4–5 sections), Long (6–8 sections) or Varied (default). Varied never picks the same length as the previous issue. |
| Generate images | On by default. Images per issue: 1–3 (default 1). Image model lists each model's price per image. Image style (up to 500 characters) is added on top of the brand's image style. |
| Text model | The model that plans and writes the issue. Default uses your workspace's standard models. |
Review
Check the summary: Schedule, Written, Audience with its contact count, Issues per month, Cost per issue, Content sources ticked and — only without a subscription — Sending each issue in credits. If a daily send limit would make one issue take longer to send than the gap between issues, a warning says the issues will overlap; it doesn't stop you.
Require my approval is on by default: every issue waits as a draft until someone approves it. Switch it off and each issue is scheduled as soon as it is written — you'll be asked to confirm when you turn the autopilot on.
Try a Sample First
Generate a sample on the Review step saves the autopilot turned off and writes one real draft campaign — about a minute, a bit longer with images. It is billed like any issue and is never sent.
When it's ready you see its subject and topic, and can choose Open the draft, Turn on Autopilot or Keep it off for now. The sample stays in the autopilot's issue history as Sample, and its campaign name ends in "· sample".
Turning It On
On the Review step, Turn on Autopilot saves and starts it; Save, keep it off only saves it. Turn on Autopilot and Generate a sample stay unavailable until at least one content source is ticked.
When the first issue is written depends on the schedule:
- Weekly, Every 2 weeks, Monthly — ahead of the first send time, by your Written ahead of the send by setting. If that moment has already come, it's written right away.
- After the previous one — the first issue is written right away and goes out at the first send time that is at least one "written ahead" period later.
A notification goes out when the draft is ready for approval (or, with approval off, when the issue is scheduled).
The Autopilot's Page
Open an autopilot from the list to see its page. At the top:
- On / Off and Save — Save becomes available once you change something.
- Name (editable) and Writes for — the brand, fixed at creation. Click it to open that brand's Content sources.
- A status panel: "Next issue: written …, sends …", "Writing an issue now…", or a note that the autopilot is off.
- The last issue could not be written, when the last issue failed — with the reason and Write it again.
- Waiting for your approval, when a draft is ready — with Open the draft, Approve & send and Regenerate.
The five settings cards
| Card | What you change there |
|---|---|
| 1 Schedule | How often; the days, the day of the month or the days after the previous issue; Send time, Timezone and Written ahead by. |
| 2 Content | About the readers, Standing instructions, Language, Length and Text model. |
| 3 Images | Generate images, Images per issue, Image model and Image style. |
| 4 Sending | Sender address, Sender name, Template, Audience, Send priority and Daily send limit. |
| 5 Approval | Require my approval. |
Click Save after editing. Changes apply to issues written from now on — a draft that is already waiting keeps the settings it was written with.
Generate a sample, below the cards, writes one real draft with the saved settings and adds it to the issue history within a minute or two; it is never sent. It is unavailable while an issue is being written, and warns you if you have unsaved changes.
Switching the autopilot on here also needs at least one ticked source. Switching it off asks for confirmation first — what it cancels is explained in Issues and approval.
The List Page
Newsletter › Autopilot shows one card per autopilot:
- On or Off, the brand (click it to open the brand's Content sources) and the schedule in words, for example "Weekly · Tue · 09:00 Europe/Budapest".
- One status line: "Waiting for your approval: …" (click it to open the draft), the last error, "Writing the next issue…", "Next issue: written …, sends …", "Next issue: after the current one finishes" or "Turned off — nothing is written".
- At the bottom: the audience, the status of the latest issue, and Approval required or Sends on its own.
Search by name, filter by Status and Brand (shown when you have more than one brand), and sort by Created, Next issue or Name. New autopilot opens the wizard.