Who this is for. AP Helpdesk Analysts. See the Roles and Access.
The reply block is the last block in the task detail pane. It is headed by a Review badge and a count, for example “1 reply / submission”, followed by Review the draft reply.
You can only work a draft on a task assigned to you. On a task assigned to someone else the reply block is read only: the recipients, the draft and the Tone setting are displayed, but there is no editor, no Attachments section, no instructions expander and no Approve & Send, Discard or Forward. This is governed by assignment, not by role. A Super Admin sees the same read-only block on another user’s task. To act on a task, assign it to yourself first.
Figure 1. The reply block on a task assigned to you.
Answer gap questions first
When the Agent Co-worker could not find everything it needed, an Answer block appears above the reply, headed with a count such as “2 gap questions”. Each question is numbered and carries a WHY THIS MATTERS note explaining what the answer is needed for.
Type into Enter your answer… beneath any question, then select Submit answers & regenerate draft. That button stays unavailable until at least one answer is entered; the hint below it reads “Answer at least one gap to regenerate the draft.” Skip all is always available and leaves the draft as it stands.
Figure 2. Gap questions shown above the reply block.
Add instructions before the draft is rewritten
An expander labeled Anything else to include in the reply? sits above the draft. It is present on every task that has a live draft. Expanding it reveals an Enter response... field and a Regenerate draft button.
Type what the reply should cover, then select Regenerate draft. The Agent Co-worker rewrites the draft with your instruction taken into account. Regenerate draft is unavailable while the field is empty.
Three controls replace the whole draft. Regenerate draft, Tone and Submit answers & regenerate draft each rewrite the draft from scratch, and any wording you typed into the editor by hand is lost. Set your instructions and the Tone you want before you edit the draft by hand, not after. Tone sits below the editor, but it has to be chosen first.
Figure 3. The instructions expander, open, with Regenerate draft still unavailable.
Reply header
From and To arrive prefilled. From is fixed to the connected mailbox and cannot be edited, while the recipients are yours to adjust.
Table 1. Recipient fields
| Field | Behavior |
|---|---|
| From | The connected mailbox address, for example ap.helpdesk@yourcompany.com. Read only. The field is disabled. |
| To | Prefilled with the sender as a removable chip. Use Add recipient... to add more. |
| Cc / Bcc | Links at the right of the To row. |
| Subject | Prefilled with the original subject carrying a reply prefix (RE: or Re:, following the incoming mail). Editable. |
Draft language
The draft carries a language selector, a two letter button such as EN with a chevron beside it, and a two state toggle. The toggle’s right hand label follows the selected language: with English selected it reads English (Translated); select German and it becomes German (Translated). While a translation is being produced the label names the target language followed by (Translating...).
The languages offered are English, Chinese, Japanese, German, French, Spanish, Arabic, Portuguese, Hindi, Russian, Korean, Italian, Dutch, Turkish, Swedish, Thai, Danish, Polish, Hebrew, Czech, and Vietnamese, twenty one in all. The list scrolls; Vietnamese is the last entry.
Figure 4. The draft language list. The list scrolls beyond Portuguese.
Selecting Original shows the drafted source text and restores the rich text editor. Selecting the (Translated) side shows the translation as read only. The editor and its toolbar are withdrawn, so a translated draft cannot be edited by hand.
The toggle decides what is sent. Whichever side is selected when you choose Approve & Send is the version the recipient receives. Choosing a language is not enough on its own: a draft with DE selected but the toggle left on Original sends the English text. To send the translation, select the (Translated) side before sending.
Tone
Tone offers three options: Concise, Balanced, and Detailed. The option selected when a task arrives varies from task to task.
Selecting a Tone rewrites the draft immediately and, like Regenerate draft, discards any wording you typed by hand. Choose it before you edit, even though the control sits below the editor.
Figure 5. Attachments, Tone, and the actions at the foot of the block.
The editor
The draft body is a rich text editor. Undo, redo, font family, font size, bold, italic, underline, link, and three alignment options sit on the toolbar, followed by bulleted and numbered lists, outdent and indent, text color, highlight color, and a table control. Which controls are visible depends on the width of the pane; at narrower widths the later controls move under an overflow control at the end of the toolbar.
Below the draft, Attachments reports a count and offers Attach file. With none present it reads “No attachments. Select “Attach file” to add one.” Files the Agent Co-worker produced for the reply, such as a remittance advice or a payment status export, are listed here and marked Generated.
Send, discard, or forward
Each action ends the draft differently, so check what it sends before you select it. Approve & Send goes out immediately, without confirmation.
Table 2. Actions at the foot of the block
| Action | Does |
|---|---|
| Approve & Send | Sends the draft to the recipients listed, immediately and without a confirmation step. |
| Discard | Opens the Discard Draft dialog, which requires a reason. |
| Forward | Forwards the original inbound email, not the draft, to an address you enter, and closes the draft as forwarded. |
Approve and send a draft
There is no confirmation dialog: the reply goes out as soon as you select Approve & Send. The block is then replaced by a Response Sent Successfully record carrying the time sent, a View sent email → link, the recipients, the subject, the Tone used, and the sent draft in read only form. The instructions expander and the three actions are withdrawn.
Sending does not close the task. Mark task done, at the top right of the detail pane, is unavailable while a draft is awaiting review and becomes available once the reply has been sent. You still have to select it to complete the task.
Discard a draft
Selecting Discard opens the Discard Draft dialog, headed “Select a reason to complete this action.” Confirm Discard stays unavailable until a reason is chosen; Cancel closes the dialog and leaves the draft untouched.
Table 3. Discard reasons
| Reason | Shown as |
|---|---|
| Not Needed | No reply required |
| Incomplete Content | SOR data insufficient for the reply |
| Incorrect Content | SOR data wrong or stale |
| Handled Externally | Resolved outside console |
| Other | Edge cases including rewrite scenarios |
Figure 6. The Discard Draft dialog.
After you confirm, the task stays open. The reply block is replaced by a Draft Discarded record showing the time, the subject, the reason chosen, who discarded it, and a View discarded draft expander holding the discarded text.
Discarding is final for that draft. The instructions expander and Regenerate draft are withdrawn along with the three actions, so a discarded draft cannot be regenerated from the reply block. What remains is View discarded draft and Mark task done, which becomes available.
Forward a draft
Selecting Forward opens a Forward this draft panel below the actions.
- Enter an address in Recipient email....
- Add an Optional note for the recipient... if you want to explain why you are forwarding it.
- Select Forward.
The Forward button in the panel is unavailable until a recipient address is entered. Select Cancel to close the panel without forwarding.
Forwarding sends the original inbound email, with your note above it and a Fwd: subject line, not the draft. It does not reassign the task, but it does end the draft: the pipeline moves to forwarded, and the instructions expander and the three actions are withdrawn, so the draft can no longer be sent or regenerated.
Figure 7. The Forward this draft panel.
Related information
- For the same draft shown alongside the processing stages, see Task Side Panels.
- For the task detail pane, see Read a Task.