start a new outlook email as a draft

get the new email written before choosing who gets it. the bot can save an outlook draft with a subject, body and optional files. recipients can stay blank.

by the dusk bot team · checked 12 november 2026 · how we made this

it starts a new conversation rather than replying in an old thread. saving needs read and write access, but this action does not send the email.

pixel art: a green pixel bot and a lime pixel bot beside the Outlook mark on a white tile, a mailbox with a letter and a briefcase, on a lilac hill in front of green terraced fields, one saying "new introduction drafted"

where it helps

prepare an introduction from your brief with the recipient left for you
save an event invitation with the venue brief attached
turn a project outline into an unsent announcement for an approved list

the short version

get the introduction written while you decide who needs it. give the bot the purpose and facts it can use. subject and body are required. to, cc, bcc and attachments are optional; addresses can stay empty.

answering an existing conversation? use create draft reply instead. that keeps the thread, but dusk counts that separate action as a send, so it follows your sending setting.

step by step

connect outlook with read and write for draft creation
say this is a new conversation; give the brief and recipient choice
ask for the subject and body here before saving if you want a preview
open the saved draft, read the addresses and open its attachments; pause when outreach ends

send this to your bot

paste this into a chat with your bot

each thursday at 09:50, read new outreach briefs added this week to the linked 'ready for introduction' drive folder for hazelspoke interiors. propose a fresh outlook email for each brief here. show its subject and body. wait for my agreement before saving a standalone draft with recipients blank. attach only the brochure named in that brief. skip briefs with an existing matching draft. never send or reply to old emails.

when: thursdays at 09:50
needs: google drive read only; outlook read and write to create drafts and find existing ones

what comes back looks like this (an example)

new draft proposal
subject: introducing hazelspoke interiors
body: a short introduction from vera’s studio brief
recipient: blank
ready for you to agree before it goes into drafts.

what can go wrong

this does not reply inside an old thread. use the separate draft-reply action for that.
formatting needs the right option. tell the bot to enable html for html content, or use plain text.
read only cannot save drafts. restrict allowed actions to this one if no other outlook changes are needed.

permissions and asking first

dusk bot counts Create email draft as a change: it alters something in Outlook, and the sending setting does not cover it. a bot you allow only to read can never call it.

the permissions Outlook asks for to run it: Mail.ReadWrite.

inputs

input	required	what it is
`body`	yes	Content of the email draft; use `is_html` to specify if HTML or plain text.
`subject`	yes	Subject line for the email draft.
`is_html`	no	Specifies if the `body` is HTML.
`attachment`	no	Optional file(s) to attach.
`cc_recipients`	no	Optional list of CC (carbon copy) recipient email addresses.
`to_recipients`	no	Optional list of primary 'To' recipient email addresses.

from composio's catalog for Outlook (action OUTLOOK_CREATE_DRAFT, read 12 november 2026⁴). your bot fills these in from what you tell it.

try it in 2 minutes

connect outlook and allow new drafts
give a two-line brief and a subject
ask for a draft with recipients blank
open the saved email and read it

mistakes people make

using a new draft to answer an old message

choose draft reply when keeping the conversation matters.

treating weekly outreach as a repeated introduction

read new briefs from a folder and skip ones already drafted.

questions

can i save a draft without a recipient?

yes, leave the recipient blank. only subject and body are required. add addresses when you know who should receive it.

does this send the email or reply in the old thread?

you get a fresh draft in outlook. it starts a new conversation. sending it and drafting a reply in an old thread use separate actions.

sources

dusk bot docs: files and apps
dusk bot docs: routines
dusk bot docs: computer permissions
composio, Outlook toolkit (catalog version 20261104_00), checked 12 november 2026

drafted with ai help from the dusk bot docs and the sources listed on this page, then checked against them. if something here is wrong or out of date, write to [email protected].