> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.hiveinspect.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.
# Send an Email by Hand with Compose Email
> Send a one-off email from Hive Inspect with Compose Email: pick recipients, an inspection and one of your automation templates, fill in placeholders, attach files, preview, and catch up on messages you forgot to automate.
In the dashboard: open an inspection, then Quick Actions → Automations → Compose Email. Or Automations → Compose for an email that isn't about one inspection.
**Compose Email** sends an email you write yourself, right now, from your company's email address. You can start from one of your automation emails, fill in placeholders such as the payment link or the inspection date, add attachments and check a preview before you send.
## When to use Compose Email
* **You didn't set up automations before booking.** Automations you add later don't send messages for things that already happened, such as the booking confirmation. Send those by hand. See [Catch up after setting up automations late](#catch-up-after-setting-up-automations-late).
* **A one-off message** such as gate codes, parking, a change of plan or an answer to a question, sent from Hive so it's saved with the inspection.
* **Sending a link again** such as the agreement, payment or report link, with a personal note.
* **Different wording for one client.** Cancel the automated message on that inspection and send your own.
* **Contacts who aren't on any inspection**, for example every agent with a certain tag.
To send an automated message again exactly as it was, use **Send Again** on the inspection's [Automation History](/how-tos/automation-history#send-a-message-again-send-again) instead.
## Open Compose Email
1. Open the inspection and click **Automations** in the **Quick Actions** card (or, on the **Inspections** page, **⋮ → Automations**).
2. Click **Compose Email** at the top right of the **Automation History** page.
The inspection is already selected, and its contacts are offered under **Contacts on this inspection**.
Go to [Automations](https://dashboard.hiveinspect.com/dashboard/automations) and click **Compose** at the top.
No inspection is selected. You can still pick one on the page.
## Write and send the email
**To** is the only recipient field you must fill. Add people in any of these ways:
* **Contacts on this inspection:** click a name to add it, or **Add all**. Added names turn green with a tick. This box shows only when an inspection is selected.
* **Search your contacts:** type at least two letters of a name or email, then click the contact.
* **Everyone with a tag:** type part of a contact tag's name and click it under **Add all contacts with tag**. Every contact with that tag who has an email address is added, shown in purple.
* **Any email address:** type it and press **Enter**, a comma or **Tab**. Addresses that aren't valid aren't added.
Remove someone with the **×** on their name, or press **Backspace** in an empty field to remove the last one.
Click **Add CC/BCC** to copy others in. CC and BCC work the same way as **To**.
The **Inspection** field connects the email to an inspection. With an inspection selected:
* placeholders such as the address, date, client name and payment link are filled in from it;
* the email is saved on that inspection's [Automation History](/how-tos/automation-history#emails-you-sent-with-compose-email) as **Manual Email**, with its opens and bounces;
* its contacts are offered under **Contacts on this inspection**.
Click the field to choose another inspection. The list shows your 50 inspections with the latest dates. Type part of the address to find others. Click the **×** to send without an inspection.
**Email Template** lists every email automation you have, including ones that are switched off (marked **Inactive**). Type in the search box to find one by name or subject.
Picking a template copies its **Subject** and message into the email, replacing what you typed. You can then change anything. Your automation itself isn't changed.
You don't have to pick a template. You can write the email from scratch.
Type the **Subject** and the **Email Body**. The toolbar has bold, lists, alignment, font size, colour, links, images, video and tables, like the automation editor.
To add inspection details, click **Insert Placeholder** and pick one, or type in the search box to find it. The **i** button next to it opens the full placeholder reference.
Useful ones for a manual email:
| Placeholder | What it becomes |
| - | - |
| `{{{payment_link}}}` | A **Pay here** link to the client's payment page |
| `{{{customer_agreement_link}}}` | A link to sign the agreement |
| `{{{invoice_link}}}` | A link to the invoice PDF |
| `{{{customer_reports_portal_link}}}` | A link to the client's reports portal |
| `{{{customer_inspection_link}}}` | The inspection review page (order details, add-ons, sign and pay) |
| `{{{property_address}}}`, `{{{inspection_date}}}`, `{{{inspection_time}}}` | The inspection's address, date and time |
| `{{{client_first_name}}}` | The client's first name |
See [Placeholders in automations](/how-tos/automation-settings#email) for the rest.
Under **Attachments**, click the box or drag files onto it. Wait until each file shows a green tick.
* Up to **5 MB** per file and **10 MB** in total.
* PDF, Word (.doc, .docx), Excel (.xls, .xlsx), CSV, TXT, JPG, PNG, GIF and WebP.
For a report, send the report link instead of attaching the PDF. Report PDFs are often bigger than 5 MB.
Click **Refresh Preview** on the right. Hive fills in the placeholders and shows the email as it will be sent, with the recipients, subject, message and attachments.
* **Replaced** (green) lists the placeholders Hive filled in.
* **Not replaced** (orange) lists the ones it couldn't fill. They'd be sent exactly as typed, braces included. Pick an inspection, or delete them.
The preview doesn't update by itself. Click **Refresh Preview** again after each change. The email that goes out also carries your company's email layout, like your automated emails.
**Send Email** (at the top and bottom of the page) turns on once there's at least one **To** recipient, a subject and a message, and every attachment has finished uploading. The line at the bottom shows what you're about to send, for example "Sending to 1 recipient, 1 CC, 1 attachment".
Hive sends the email straight away and takes you back to the page you came from. The email isn't held for sleep hours.
## How the email is sent
| | With an inspection selected | Without an inspection |
| - | - | - |
| **To recipients** | Each **To** recipient gets their own separate email. They don't see each other's addresses. | One email to everyone in **To**. They can all see each other's addresses. |
| **CC and BCC** | Copied once, on the email to the first **To** recipient. | Copied on the one email. |
| **Placeholders** | Filled in from the inspection. | Only company details (such as `{{{company_name}}}`) are filled in. |
| **Where it's saved** | The inspection's **Automation History**, as **Manual Email**, one card per **To** recipient, with opens and bounces. | Not shown on any inspection. |
It comes from the same sender name and address as your automated emails, and replies go to the same reply-to address. See [Send emails from your own domain](/faq/automations-and-emails#emails-going-to-spam-own-domain).
**Client placeholders always mean the inspection's client, not the person you're writing to.** If you send "Hi `{{{client_first_name}}}`" to the buyer's agent, the agent reads the client's name. For an agent, type their name yourself or use an agent placeholder such as `{{{buyer_agent_first_name}}}`. If the inspection has two clients, client placeholders list both, for example "Jordan & Sam".
Writing to many contacts by tag without an inspection? Put them in **BCC** and your own address in **To**, so they don't see each other's addresses.
## Catch up after setting up automations late
A common case: you booked inspections before you set up your automations, so the clients never got a confirmation, agreement link or payment link. Here's how to catch up.
Import or create the automations you need. See the [Automation Starter Pack](/how-tos/automation-starter-pack). When Hive asks how to apply each one, choose **Include existing future inspections**, so they're added to inspections already on your calendar that haven't started yet.
Reminders on those inspections get send times straight away. Messages for things that already happened, such as the booking confirmation for an inspection that's already confirmed, don't send by themselves.
Open the inspection, then **Quick Actions → Automations**.
* If the confirmation is listed as **Waiting**, click **Send Now** on it. It goes out with your automation's wording.
* If it isn't listed, click **Compose Email**, keep the inspection selected, add the client with **Contacts on this inspection** and pick the confirmation automation under **Email Template**.
Click **Refresh Preview** and check that the payment and agreement links and the date are filled in. Then click **Send Email**. Repeat for the buyer's agent if they should get their own copy.
From then on, new bookings get your automated messages without any extra steps.
## Common questions
No. Compose sends email only. To text a client, use **Send Now** or **Send Again** on a text automation in the inspection's [Automation History](/how-tos/automation-history), reply from **Messages** if you have a [dedicated phone number](/how-tos/dedicated-phone-number), or send the report links by text with **Quick Actions → Send Reports**.
No. It sends as soon as you click **Send Email**. To send something at a set time, use an automation.
If you picked an inspection, on its **Automation History** as **Manual Email**. Click **View Sent** to see it and **Send Again** to resend it. Emails sent without an inspection aren't listed on any inspection.
No. It only copies the subject and message into this email. Your automation and its schedule stay the same.
Something's missing: a **To** recipient, the **Subject** or the message. It's also greyed out while an attachment is still uploading.
It isn't a valid address, or it's already on the list. Check for spaces or a missing dot, then press **Enter**.
## Where to go next
* [Automation History for an inspection](/how-tos/automation-history)
* [Automation Starter Pack](/how-tos/automation-starter-pack)
* [Automation Settings: Basics](/how-tos/automation-settings)
* [Quick Actions on an inspection](/how-tos/inspection-quick-actions)
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