Summary
Outreach is how you contact faculty from University Intelligence. You draft from a suggestion or a publication, the message is written for you as a starting point, and it sends from your own Outlook or Gmail inbox, so replies come back to you and thread normally.
The Outreach log keeps every draft and sent message, with any replies attached. Get to it from View Outreach Log on the today queue, or the Outreach chip in the Faculty Engagement header.
When to use
To act on a suggestion from the today queue or the signals feed
To congratulate an author on a paper you just found
To follow up on a message that has not had a reply
To review what you have sent, and read the replies you have received
To set up your sending mailbox before your first message
Before you begin
You must connect a mailbox before you can send anything. There's no shared sending address; every message goes out through one of your own connected accounts. You can write and save drafts without one, but Send stays unavailable.
You need either Outlook or Gmail. Connecting happens in a popup window, so allow popups for this site.
Complete the University Intelligence setup first: your workspace must have University Intelligence enabled and your institution must be identified.
Step-by-step instructions
1. Connect your sending mailbox.
Open the Outreach log. At the top, Where your outreach ships from explains where mail goes out from. Select Connect Outlook or Gmail and complete the sign-in in the window that opens.
Result: The window closes and your mailbox appears as a connected account, showing the address and when it was connected. You can now send. Each connected mailbox can be disconnected from the same panel.
2. Start a draft.
From the today queue or the signals feed, use the draft action on a suggestion: Draft congrats, Draft intro, or Draft follow-up. You can also start from a publication.
Result: The composer opens with a subject and body already written, based on the signal and the faculty member's work, and signed with your name.
3. Find the recipient's email address.
The recipient field starts empty. Select Reveal email to look the address up, or type it yourself if you already know it.
A lookup can end four ways:
A verified address. Use it with confidence.
A likely address. Our best guess, which may be wrong. Verify it or send yourself a test first.
Nothing found. Type the address yourself, or use Try again with a fresh search to look again without reusing the earlier result.
A public profile instead. When no address could be found but the person exists on a public page, you get a link to it so you have somewhere to go.
Result: Once there is a valid address in the field and a mailbox selected, Send becomes available. Until then the button explains what is missing.
4. Edit the message, or have it rewritten.
Edit the subject and body directly. To change the writing without doing the wording yourself, pick a rewrite style (Concise, Warmer, Formal, or More specific) and apply it. Write your own prompt lets you give a specific instruction instead.
Result: The message is rewritten in place. Your own edits stay put unless you ask for a rewrite.
5. Send yourself a test first.
Enter your own address in the test field and select Send test.
Result: The message arrives in your inbox exactly as the recipient would see it. This is the fastest way to check formatting, your signature, and whether a likely-but-unverified address looks right before you use it.
6. Save a draft, or send.
Save draft stores the message without sending. Send delivers it through your connected mailbox.
Result: A saved draft confirms it went to your Outreach log. A sent message moves to Sent, and if it came from the today queue, that suggestion is now complete. Saving a draft alone doesn't complete it.
7. Work the outreach log.
The log lists everything. Filter with All, Drafts, or Sent, and search to find a specific message. The stats at the top show how many drafts are waiting and how much you've sent.
Result: Selecting a row opens it on the right, with the full message, its status, and any replies received. You can copy the message, send it again, or delete it. Deleting asks for confirmation first.
8. Read replies.
When someone replies, the reply appears on that outreach with a count on the row in the list.
Result: The thread reads in order, so you have the whole conversation in one place without leaving University Intelligence.
9. Open the contact in your CRM.
Sending publishes the outreach to FirstIgnite CRM automatically; there's nothing to push. Once it has synced, Access in CRM opens that person's profile in a new tab.
Result: While it's still syncing you see Syncing to CRM…, which resolves on its own. If your workspace doesn't have FirstIgnite CRM, you see an option to learn about it instead.
Tips
Send a test before you trust a looked-up address. It costs you ten seconds, and it's the difference between a good first impression and a bounce.
The draft is a starting point, not a finished message. It's written from real signals, but one specific sentence from you is what makes it feel personal.
Replies come to you, not to us. Because mail sends from your own mailbox, the conversation continues in your inbox as normal. University Intelligence shows you the thread; it doesn't intercept it.
Your sending reputation is your own. Sending from your inbox rather than a shared address is why these messages deliver like the rest of your mail.
Saving a draft doesn't complete the suggestion. If you started from the today queue, the suggestion stays in your queue until the message actually sends.
Connect more than one mailbox if you send on behalf of different roles. The composer lets you pick which one a message goes out from.
Common issues
The connect window never opened.
Your browser blocked the popup. Allow popups for this site and select Connect Outlook or Gmail again.
Send is greyed out.
Two things are required, and the button tells you which is missing: a valid recipient address, and a connected mailbox to send from. Fix or type an address, and check that a mailbox is selected.
No email address could be found.
Type the address in yourself if you know it, or use Try again with a fresh search to look again. Where a public profile was found instead, use that link to make contact another way.
The address looks wrong.
A likely address is a guess, not a confirmation. Correct it by typing over it, and send yourself a test before using it.
"Couldn't send outreach"
The send failed. Check your mailbox is still connected and try again. Your message isn't lost; save it as a draft if you need to step away.
"No outreach yet" or "No drafts in flight"
Nothing has been created for that filter yet. Switch to All, or start a draft from the today queue.
"Nothing matches that search"
Try a broader search, or clear it to see everything again.
The CRM link has not appeared.
It shows Syncing to CRM… until the sync completes, then becomes a link on its own. Nothing is required from you.
Frequently asked questions
Where does my email actually send from?
Your own connected Outlook or Gmail mailbox. There's no shared FirstIgnite sending address, which is why connecting a mailbox is required before you can send.
Can FirstIgnite read my inbox?
No. The connection is used for two things: sending the messages you write, and matching replies to those messages so they appear in your Outreach log. It doesn't browse, index, or store the rest of your inbox. You can disconnect the mailbox at any time from the Where your outreach ships from panel, which removes the access.
How reliable is a revealed email address?
It depends on the result. A verified address has been confirmed. A likely address is a guess and can be wrong. The interface tells you which one you have, and you should send yourself a test before relying on a guess.
Is the draft written by AI?
Yes. The starting draft is generated from the faculty member's work and the signal that prompted it, and the rewrite options are AI powered too. Read and edit before sending; it's your message going out under your name.
Do I need to push a sent message to the CRM?
No. Sending publishes it automatically. The button on each row only opens the contact once the sync has completed.
Can I delete a message I sent?
You can delete the record from your Outreach log, with a confirmation step. That removes it from University Intelligence; it doesn't unsend an email that's already been delivered.
Why did my suggestion come back to the today queue?
If you saved a draft without sending, the suggestion was never completed. Follow-up suggestions also reappear on purpose when a message has gone without a reply for a while.